001[Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] no [Music] hello [Music] so [Music] me [Music] no no no no [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] test one two three four tens one two three [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] a minute good morning distinguished guests and members of the catella family my name is esmeralda ferraguino the 2021-2022 student ambassador i would like to welcome you all to catella high school now could we please stand as we welcome jrotc for the presentation of colors and the pledge of allegiance um all right put your right hand over your heart ready begin i pledge allegiance
002to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated now please join me as we give a warm welcome to our principal dr hernandez [Applause] thank you esmeralda for that introduction it is an honor to be the host site for the 2022 california green ribbon award ceremony i would like to start by acknowledging our guests beginning with our a auhsd board of trustees president al-jabbar [Applause] clerk brian o'neill assistant clerk catherine smith [Applause] member anne-marie randall trejo [Applause] member anna piercy [Applause] superintendent michael matsuda [Applause] our community dignitaries our auhsd executive cabinet and staff our california green ribbon representatives and our fellow green ribbon award honorees that are with us and
003of course our catella community and family let me begin by saying that it starts with our students they are our why our auhsd mission is to create a better world through unlimited you what better example of that than the reason that brings us here today we are all agents of change we believe in reducing the environment the environmental impact and cost we believe in creating opportunities to improve the health and wellness of our students our staff and our schools and we strive to provide effective environmental education which teaches our young people to be civically engaged what we do transcends disciplines we are here to give our students voice and purpose at catella high school recent upgrades to the campus has increased student engagement and encouraged students to be more active participants in the curriculum our
004students embrace the importance of the health and wellness of our school community our efforts in teaching our students about sustainability has empowered them to hone in on the skills they'll use to equip lead and inspire their and and inspire their local communities to act on behalf of our environment i am proud to say we are catella embracing evolving empowering for a limitless tomorrow thank you all for coming especially those of you that traveled from all over california to join us we appreciate you taking the time to join us in this amazing awards ceremony and now it is my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce the auhsd superintendent mr michael matsuda [Applause] thank you so much dr hernandez and let's put another big shout out to the catalas staff for making this happen thank you so
005much you know in 1962 rachel carson wrote the book silent spring i was a kid and i got a chance to read that and that really helped set the stage and build momentum for the enviro what became the environmental movement i'm just going to read one little excerpt from rachel carlson in her 1962 book quote we stand now where two roads diverge but unlike the rhodes and robert frost's familiar poem they are not equally fair the road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy a smooth super highway on which we progress with great speed but at its end lies disaster the other fork of the road the one less traveled by offers our last our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth that's what's at stake here and
006that's what these grid green ribbon awards are all about we are taking the road less traveled the harder road but the road that is necessary to ensure the safety and security and prosperity of future americans our students like to also acknowledge though that this did not happen by itself this is truly an example of a community school effort involving students and teachers back to 2011 when the catella garden was first created 2014 in a partnership with north orange county rop beta that they built the first 10 planner beds 2016 catella was the recipient of a state drops grant which helped secure and captured 95 of rain water you realize in central and north orange county 75 percent of our water comes from underground because of the drought that's drying up but because of catella and
007the way it was constructed we capture a lot of that rainwater in 2018 through a partnership with our teachers union and asta grant we installed the first aquaponic beds along with magnolia high school that helped develop them as well 2019-2022 a partnership with anaheim public utilities and the a mentorships we were able to really expose students to issues around energy and electricity and then in 2020 cal catella received the state bronze award 2021 the civil award and 2022 here we are today so on behalf of our board of trustees our 29 000 students and their families we're very grateful to the state of california for this wonderful wonderful accomplishment thank you very much and at this point i'd like to invite up our board president mr al jabbar [Applause] all right how's everybody doing this
008morning all right well so good morning to everyone who is uh not only here what a concept live right and also everybody who's joining uh live stream i am the proud president of the anaheim union high school district board of trustees my name is al jabar before i introduce the california chief deputy superintendent mary nicely to deliver her keynote speech i would like to highlight with you just some of the reasons why catella high school is being honored today for their innovative efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs improve health and wellness and ensure effective sustainability education catella high school models and educates students about the importance of being stewards of environment through the improvements of educational programs catella high school sustainable garden and learning center which you can tour after the ceremony serves
009as a place to extend teaching and learning in context with hands-on activities science courses use the site for lab experiments in soil quality testing and seed germination and water cycle katella connects students with green careers by partnering with anaheim's innovative mentoring experience program and the city of anaheim public utilities mentors work with students to inform and prepare them for what is needed to work for the city of anaheim in various green careers such as urban planning electrical engineering for energy conservation water conservation strategies and waste management in 2016 catello is a recipient of the state's drought response outreach program for schools grant the work funded by the grant established catella as a water reclamation site designated to collect filter and recycle water from storms irrigation and cleanup in addition the campus landscape was upgraded to
010native plant species drought tolerant shrubs tree vegetative bios walls and sand pathways the school's catella talks program provides all students the opportunity to conduct research create speech and present on the subject of these choice fellow students judge the talks for selection to be recorded and put on youtube since the program's beginning in 2015 there has been a significant increase in talks that focus on environmental issues and sustainability including human population growth in climate change and recycling as you can see there is much to celebrate today and there is no doubt as to why cattella high school is being honored today now without further ado i am proud and it's my pleasure to introduce mary nicely as chief deputy superintendent of public instruction at the california department of education she is responsible for the overall operations
011and administration of seven branches and implementation of key initiatives identified by the superintendent of public instruction tony thurman including recruitment and retention of teachers of color community schools educator housing and public and private partnership with philanthropy and industry ms nicely also oversees the information and technology branch leading efforts to modernize the department's technology systems she supports the state superintendent's digital divide task force working with internal and external constituents technology companies and major internet providers throughout the state to close the technology clap impacting students and educators for that we thank you thank you very much senior advisor since 2019 sorry prior to her appointment as chief deputy mary worked as the cde as the superintendent senior advisor since 2019. before joining the cde she served as the chief of staff and district director to the then
012assembly member tony thurman representing california's 15th assembly district mary is a first generation burmese american and a proud product of california public schools graduating from monterey peninsula community college in uc berkeley please join me in welcoming our chief deputy public instruction mary nicely [Applause] thank you very much [Applause] let me see if i can tear some things down here thank you board member javar for the warm welcome to the anaheim union high school district and congratulations for being a beacon for this work thank you principal hernandez for hosting us here at the catella high school i can't wait to get outside and see your students in action i will tell you i am joined by my cde team here who are environmental nerds i'm just going to say it right now the excitement that they
013bring to this awards to the uh to just the these amazing students that you have i they just beam they make us beam it is all about our students at the end of the day but thank you so much uh for having us here today i think we were i was mentioning earlier i felt like a slacker it's like wow i was not like that in high school this is amazing amazing and so i'd like to just also welcome some of our local leaders we have avelina valencia district director for the office of assembly and tom daley of the california state assembly avelina welcome as a fellow district director i know how hard your job is great to see you chairman doug chafey orange county board of supervisors welcome [Applause] ah fantastic fantastic um we
014have paulette chaffee we have a power couple here uh ambassador for the oas orange county fourth district and then we have our city leaders elizabeth matamoros council assistant the anaheim mayor's office welcome and then stephen fessel city of anaheim council member so great to have all this leadership here in this room supporting this great effort and welcome to all of our school districts from across the state that are here in county offices that are here that we're honoring as well um it was really wonderful to be able to announce our honorees on earth day this year that was i don't know if that's what we do every year but that was really kind of an amazing thing to be able to do so i'm really glad that that was just a week ago and that
015we could do that and i am so honored to represent superintendent thurman to personally recognize the 2022 california green ribbon schools honorees since we have not been able to do this in person since 2019. as you can see i know these guys know it by heart because they're so excited to be here in person but this year 18 schools two school districts and one county office of education in california are being honored i think that's a i don't know if that's a record number but it's higher than any other state so we you should be very very proud of what we're accomplishing here in california you know the so the gree the california green school ribbons programs engages kids to understand and act on behalf of their environment and this year california green ribbon schools
016were able to maintain sustainable practices and education through the unprecedented challenges created by a global pandemic thank you for your leadership this has been a really rough two years but for you to be able to continue this work i just really i just want to really thank you really thank you for doing that so you know the diverse accomplishments of all the green ribbon honorees showcases the various inspirations that gave rise to thriving sustainable environments in your communities this demonstrates the resourcefulness of communities to bring these fantastic ideas to life i think i've learned a number of things just this morning that are really just fantastic to know just just from the drought initiatives that you put in place are really incredible the superintendent thurman and i do thank you for investing your time and
017effort for teaching our students to become good stewards of the environment you have thoughtfully evaluated your resource use and made conservation plans for your schools leading the way for your communities to see that taking care of their environment is a worthy investment and sometimes i think we there's there's a a a false narrative we can't do both we can't have jobs in a good environment we can't have good transportation and a good environment this is not this is not we can't make those choices anymore we can and should do both you know from global-sized problems like climate change to local challenges like water quality sustainability education grows the creativity critical thinking skills and environmental literacy our students need to lead now and in the future place-based approaches make the learning highly relevant to your students
018all the skills and experiences within your schools equate to life and job skills for students because they incorporate stem content civic skills and green career pathways thank you all for working so hard often above and beyond your regular duties to ensure we make progress toward reducing our environmental impact while teaching valuable life and career skills there are so many reasons every school should strive to be a great driven school every student will feel environmental impacts unfortunately of a bit of a lack of stewardship by past generations from wildfires in our frontier regions to sea level rise along our coastlines to pour air quality in our valleys to the most prevalent drought your schools make learning relevant to students through the context of environmental stewardship it utilizes inquiry-based learning which then leads to action in our
019local communities the work within your schools empowers students agency and allows youth-led learning and student activism that can lead to global impact your students see environmental injustices and work as stewards and advocate to address them your schools investigate infrastructure solutions and plate water wastewater energy and transportation alternatives you are solution and oriented innovators driven to find solutions you attack problems head on your schools impo inspire and i think they should be inspiring all of us and i know i'm inspired to be able to continue to push these green ribbon awards so thank you every school should have the learning opportunities available at california's green ribbon schools and you are leading the way in sustaining this movement thank you we celebrate you today [Applause] so i will now pass it to george garcia one of my
020colleagues in our california green ribbon schools program lead to say a few words thank you [Applause] thank you mary thank you chief deputy nicely we all appreciate that you uh take the time from your busy schedule to be here with us today and to recognize everything happening here at catella high school and all of our green ribbon schools throughout california it's truly a pleasure to be here today to recognize all the great educational experiences your students teachers and communities are sharing before i get started i wanted to take a brief moment to recognize part of the cde team as mary did aside from myself who was a part of the green ribbon honorary team we also have the support of state superintendent tony thurman and miss mary nicely as well as the support of the
021folks in my division leslie taylor dana some of you have met today and um and ann who is also here who promotes a lot of your work on our social media feeds there are also other many other colleagues at cdn with other departments who are partner agencies who will review applications and help us do the work that gets us to the point where we are today where we can recognize all of your efforts it's really an exciting to be part of this team and to witness so many schools excelling in the three pillars and setting examples for others to follow since 2014 we have recognized 115 schools 32 districts and two county offices of education with the pandemic we did see a small decline in the number of applicants which makes your efforts here so
022much more astonishing you have persevered through a pandemic to continue to reduce environmental impact and champion health and wellness and teaching valuable life and career skills you're an inspiration and a model in whole school sustainability and determination through adversity this is more than just an amazing way of educating our future leaders it's a global movement you are the trailblazers and innovators of this movement schools across the country are looking to you for examples as we all know this is a culmination of many hours of work and yes we know it takes a little time to apply but now it's time to reap the benefits of all that work now it's time to hand out some awards first up will be the 2022 california green ribbon schools green achievers these top five applicants are representing california
023nationally and were confirmed as u.s department of education green ribbon schools or district sustainability award honorees on earth day we'll announce these one at a time please send up your team for a photo when your name is called and our green achievers will have a moment to say a few remarks first altamont creek elementary school in livermore california in livermore valley you joint unified school district altamont creek elementary systemically integrates sustainability into the curriculum focusing on improving health and wellness reducing waste and empowering the community as problem solvers and part of the solution in 2017 oops let me go ahead and sorry about that guys there we go there they are in 2017 altamont creek created a model solid waste program to reduce waste and increase food recovery and donation students collected data about how
024much food was being shared during the lunch period by tallying and categorizing how much how many food share items were put on the and taken from the lunch room share table the school science curriculum teaches students about agriculture through hands-on activities in the two outdoor garden instruction areas in addition all first through fifth grade students at altamonte creek receive instructional time in the school's garden accompanied by california next generation science standard aligned lessons taught in their classroom or school science lab one more time one more round of applause for that [Applause] good morning everyone um i am andrea tapia i'm the proud principal of altamonte creek in livermore california the california green ribbon school program has been a road map for us in our journey in sustainable practices and providing us guidance on how we
025can further reduce our environmental impact as a school and improve the health and wellness of our students and staff while effectively teaching environmental education for us this truly has been a collaborative effort from the start we are fortunate to have many community partners in the bay area that dedicate their time for example the alameda county waste management authority provides additional resources that result in reducing weight food waste by more than 1.3 tons per year the alameda excuse me the altima education advisory board has provided funds to install touchless hydration stations so that students and staff have the ability to reuse bring their reusable water bottles and try to promote water rather than sort of the our sugary drinks we also have an incredibly supportive superintendent in school district our district has been very open and
026willing to support any new green initiatives with their support we've establi established an idol-free zone in the school pickup area which reduces carbon gas emissions and improves the air quality in the area where our students congregate at the beginning and end of the day the school's green leadership council mostly of fifth graders is the think tank committed oh no hold on that's what happens when you use the ipad right instead of the compute is committed to environmental changes on campus this group of students previously met with our director of student nutrition to find ways to eliminate the use of utensil packets with straws napkins and the spork and replace it with specific individual items supplied using sanitary dispensers for items allowing the students to only get what they need for lunch as you walk around
027our elementary school campus of almost 600 students it's evidence students have an environmental lens in all they do from our dedicated green team comprised of students in grades first through fifth grade who support our garden and lunchroom waste to our individual students and families who pack their snacks and lunches using reusable materials to students always taking that extra second to consider which bin to put where their waste belongs our altamonte creek wildcats understand the importance of our environmental footprint in supporting mental health emotional and physical health the altamonte creek health wellness and safety committee provides activities that promote mindfulness and relaxation with meditation and yoga for staff and our students our tk through 5th grade students meet for cross-grade level mindfulness lessons as part of our fitness program the california green ribbon recognition is due
028in large part um to the effort dedication and enthusiasm of our science specialist fenaghati in closing we're thankful to the california green ribbon school resources and guidance in supporting our school district school site and encouraging us to keep focus on our aspirations and dreams and turning them into meaningful actions thank you [Applause] thank you so much altamont creek next we have catella high school [Applause] in anaheim anaheim union high school district catella high school school models i'm sorry so kel we talked one more time catella high school models and educates students about the importance of being stewards of their environment through site improvements and educational programs in 2016 khs was a recipient of the state drought response outreach program for schools grant the work done through the grant establishes khs as a water reclamation site
029designed to collect filter and recycle water from storms irrigation and cleanup khs connects students with green careers by partnering with anaheim's innovative mentoring experience program and the city of anaheim public utilities mentors work with students to inform and prepare them for what is needed to work for the city of anaheim and various green careers such as urban planning electrical engineering for energy conservation water conservation strategies and waste management katella talks program provides the students the opportunity to conduct research create a speech and present on a subject of their choice these speeches showcase a significant amount of topics focusing on environmental issues and sustainability including human population growth reclamation and climate change i'd like to welcome them up to say a few words it's harder speaking up here than it is to my students [Laughter] i
030think every teacher will tell you that i'm stalling while i spy my speech great weather how about those angels good morning my name is deborah lujan i'm the ap environmental and science teacher here at catella i would like to take this opportunity to thank the district our administration and staff fellow teachers and the wonderful students who helped this dream come alive thank you [Applause] this stream started with seed planted by students who started the earth club in the garden club in 2011 and the recycling club in 2013. once we received the drop grant in 2016 our dream became a sustain our our dream to become sustainable blossomed over the years this dream grew into a collaboration of teachers students faculty and community the dream of growing catella into a green sustainable school has taken many
031years but we are not done our plan is to continue to create new programs and opportunities to embrace and empower this whole student and to inspire the green sustainably aware global citizen of tomorrow thank you for this recognition california green ribbon you've been very kind and very wonderful it is an honor and great inspiration to keep our dream growing and to give us hope for tomorrow and beyond our students our future through this our sustainability program in catella we are truly embracing evolving empowering our students for olympus tomorrow we are catella thank you [Applause] thank you catella high school next we have merced union high school district in merced county merced union high school district focuses on conservation and preparation in preparing its students for green careers in 2016 merced union high school district's green
032technology and energy conservation cte students collaborated with the california conservation corps to perform energy audits on all district campuses with the information the students successfully lobbied this district board to install parking area solar panels for each school under a power purchase agreement with no upfront cost to the district prior to the pandemic school gardens provided cafeterias with fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh eggs raised by future farmers of america students during the pandemic the district donated approximately 800 pounds of harvested produce to rescue missions and food banks to help those in need currently [Laughter] personnel from multiple departments around the district are collaborating on a green that school project supporting the development of a school in africa kenya's doraja academy the team is using the u.s department of education green ribbon schools application as a
033template to guide their work i'd like to invite them up to say a few words [Applause] i'd like to thank the department of education for recognizing the work that our students and staff are doing and all of the innovative practices that are moving forward in our district there's no one day that i can point to where all of a sudden we said hey we're going to be a green district that didn't happen what we did was we empowered and supported our staff and our students to move forward with innovative ideas and they rose to the challenge our district directors stepped up and we now have farm to table which does a spotlight on locally produced goods we are now moving to a new transportation facility which will have the infrastructure to have our first electric
034vehicles added to our fleet and three weeks ago we had our flip the switch so all seven of our campuses now are pull are powered by solar power so as our diesel fuel bill went up this year a hundred thousand dollars our electric bill did not go up at all because we now have a flat rate for 20 years that is done by sustainable clean energy [Applause] our district and board stepped up and we now have a two-year cte requirement and pathway requirement for graduation seven of our 14 pathways are sustainable and econo ecologically based and we also have an agreement with uc merced where any student in our district who meets the requirements for entrance to the university of california system has automatic entry into the uc merced i knew that when we get
035the odds [Applause] our sites and our students have stepped up as well and we do have a wide variety of activities and clubs that take place we do have we did have five of the top 10 state finalists in the energy schools energy challenge with yosemite high school having a four-year winning streak in first place we were smart enough to figure out who was doing that and we tapped him to coordinate and publicize the efforts of all of the activities and things that were going on on our campus and that would be mr jeff rivera and i'm glad and happy to have him with us today and he's going to say a word or two about some of the student activities [Applause] it's an honor to work for merced union high school district where they
036not only lead with what you just heard about with solar and making sure that our kids get into college that want to get into college but they also support our students activities one of the ones was the energy competition that you just talked about not only were they competing against the state but the most fun thing was is to compete against each other in our campuses it's a non-athletical event and a lot of times emphasis is put on your sports and not on your green and that's one thing that's great about working for mercedes school district is that we are pushing the envelope for every green avenue possible another thing that the district does and a lot of time doesn't get a lot of emphasis is mental health we have the nurtured heart approach where
037students have mental health anytime they need it on our campuses but also at nighttime we allow parents or the ability for parents to log on to our zoo meetings so parents can learn about the nurtured heart heart approach and have help at home so that's uh just a couple things that are so great about our district that we're working on mental health health we're pushing the envelope green activities and also being able to join with other green schools and promote what you're doing here all these great things and i thank mr wyman for allowing me to come to these activities because i still what you guys are doing and i offer you opportunity to see what we're doing so that we way we can become a greater greener community so thank you [Applause] thank you
038merced union high school district [Music] next is susun valley k-8 school in fairfield sioux soon unified school district susan valley school enriches its educational program with agriscience on its two acre farm a full-time agriscience teacher designs and coordinates agriscience lessons and project-based learning activities to engage students in caring for all aspects of the school's garden the school combines food nutrition and physical health education in a partnership between the agri-science teacher and the physical education team teachers link what students are growing and eating in the garden with health education focused on nutrition and movement sixth grade students designed and currently maintain two 2500 gallon cistern rain harvester systems that function with solar and wind energy in addition all campus landscape is xeriscaped and site irrigation uses targeted drip systems allowing for specific areas to be watered
039while maximizing water conservation and absorb absorption in 2019 susan valley school built an 8 000 square foot library office staff workspace and innovation lab complex using state-of-the-art materials and systems with an emphasis on plumbing insulation natural lighting natural colors and views that allow the building's occupants to connect with the surrounding landscape in 2021 the complex received the outstanding project award from the learning by design awards of excellence i'd like to invite them up to say a few words [Applause] hello good morning on behalf of sassoon valley k-8 school and the fairfield sassoon unified school district thank you for recognizing our efforts to create a campus and school community focused on environmental sustainability and education sassoon valley is located in a unique and robust multi-generation farming community it begins as a very small k-8 school with
040less than 200 students 11 years ago throughout the years the district saw value in expanding the school so more students could experience the rural feel of sassoon valley elementary with the expansion came the strong commitment to fully embrace the agroscience theme every student and staff member is dedicated to learning innovative and responsible ways so as to better serve our environment in the future growing up my mother was a teacher and my father was a farmer i learned at a very early early age that we have the responsibility to teach sustainability to our children to nurture the earth is to nurture our future our staff students and entire community embrace that responsibility and this award reflects their hard work with me is our agriscience specialty teacher heather morodio our administrative assistant kristen seguin and our district
041project and energy manager marina romero who all contributed to attaining our green ribbon status i want to express sincere apprecia appreciation to all of the sassoon valley staff members our parents and our students who take pride in the endeavor and for being part of the sassoon valley dragon team we know this is a model that can be replicated and will be positively and will positively impact the lives of others i also want to express my gratitude to the susson valley farmers and residents who advocate for their unique and beautiful agricultural landscape thank you little side note um susun valley school reached out to the california department of education me and my team to review their application which i urge any school district or school that is applying for the green ribbon to do you can
042always reach out to our team to review your application your scores and give you some tips and guidance on how to reapply the green ribbon schools award is a journey it's not a one-and-done and you're not competing against anyone else but yourself as you grow this wasn't in my notes but it's really an excellent opportunity to showcase that schools that start this mission start it and reapply every year and it's it's acceptable and kind of expected this is an ongoing journey so please reach out to us if you have questions we'd like to review your application in the future i'd like to invite dr ron reynolds executive director of the california associate of pride association of private school organizations to share the accomplishments of this year's private school california green ribbon school green achiever and
043u.s department of education green ribbon school please help me inviting ron reynolds up to the stage thank you george so i'm the private school guy who's never attended a single day of private school in his entire life and as an exclusive graduate of california's public schools from first grade through grad school at ucla i think i have standing to offer the congratulations of the state's private school community to all of our public school green achievers public schools and districts and all of the public schools and districts that are being recognized as california green ribbon schools thank you thank you so much wonderful achievement but as executive director of the california association of private school organizations it's my distinct pleasure to call up representatives of saint martin of tours academy please come forward st martin of
044tours academy is a catholic elementary school serving 220 students in kindergarten through eighth grade from across san diego county school-wide learning expectations promote global awareness concern for social justice responsiveness to needs within the community and respect for all god's creatures in 2015 sma became the first catholic elementary school in the nation to be declared a fair trade school offering events and curriculum related to fair trade practices and replacing products on campus for global sustainability st martin's academy performs among the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide based on energy star portfolio manager benchmarking sma invested in a rooftop solar system designed to supply all energy required for the school's operations and participates in net energy metering that exports surplus clean energy to the grid sma also installed high energy performance windows a water filtration system
045and air purification systems landscaping on the school campus was replaced with drought tolerant native plants and rocks reducing water consumption grounds feature bios whales reuse tree trunk stump seeding rain barrels and downspouts that direct rain water to fruit trees and the organic garden that k-5 classes maintain students engage in stem activities that explore the environment climate change sustainability and ecosystems they demonstrate their acquisition of subject matter material by engaging in real world challenges on topics such as agriculture ocean life life cycles building models and water usage eighth grade students participated in a regional sea perch challenge an underwater robotics program that teaches students how to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle in partnership with the city of la mesa and their local waste hauler st martin's academy composts food and yard waste and students clean
046up local beaches twice a year congratulations to st martin's of tours academy principal jennifer miller as well as to ann pacheco who has played an instrumental role in shepherding the school along its path to its gre designation in each of the last three years and i'd like to call you over to say a few words [Applause] congratulations thank you thank you ron and george like my name is jennifer miller i'm the proud principal of st martin of tours academy in la mesa and i am very happy here to be here today and i really appreciate the warm welcome dr hernandez your asb rotc cheer squad i don't know if you guys saw the jazz band but if you didn't you missed out it was really an amazing warm welcome so our green ribbon work has
047inspired the st martin academy community our academy was actually declared a fair trade elementary school in 2015 through a fair trade campaigns and a grassroots organization that inspires the change that affects our global community we learned that we can make an impact for people in developing countries by switching out some of the products that have fair trade labels fair trade principles include fair wages good working conditions environmentalists and sustainable and ensures that there is no force to child labor or human trafficking involved children are required to be in school and the premium is paid back to the workers so they can invest into their communities our school has purchased fair trade soccer balls from senda athletics we choose to wear fair trade organic cotton shirts for events from hey now and we use equal exchange
048as our fundraiser for chocolates coffee and tea all of these u.s companies protect our environment and the people who work for them students learn that the supply chain and about the supply chain and how it affects fast fashion the fair trade club that we have on campus has created their own catalog with malia designs which is a company that repurposes bags into beautiful long lasting accessories we had a student represent our fair trade campaign national conference in chicago and in philadelphia and our school has joined this movement with over 350 schools 550 cities and 880 universities in the united states and our own city of la mesa became a fair trade city in 2012. it's very rewarding that this movement is even growing stronger now with los angeles becoming the largest fair trade city in
049north america in 2020 and san luis obispo in 2021 there are seven other cities in california that also have this distinction so changing our products to environmentally green products and making purchases from companies that are environmentally sustainable and who take care of people through the supply chain gives us our staff our students a unique opportunity to make a difference so our hope is to inspire you and other schools to consider fair trade as a way to impact our world along with ribbon when you are considering your purchases and in closing i want to thank my administrative assistant ann pacheco without her this wouldn't be our focus she has really been um you know the one person that has been our cheerleader here on campus and grown in research so i really appreciate you and and
050all of our teachers that couldn't be here today as well as our students thank you thank you to all our green ribbon green achievers as you know the california green ribbon schools program also offers gold silver and bronze level awards to schools districts and county offices that demonstrates a substantial progress working towards the three pillars we would like to take time now to honor these folks at these levels we'll call up honorees by their award levels please send your team up for a photo when your name is called i will begin with the silver level honorees there we go bellamente monterey i'm sorry bellamente montessori academy vista unified school district captain these first two are not here today but we would like to honor them captain leland f norton elementary school san bernardino city unified
051school district [Applause] dr ernest garcia elementary school rialto unified school district [Applause] eisenhower senior high school rialto unified school district [Applause] jefferson elementary school carlsbad unified school district [Applause] they're not here today but we wish them the best jp kelly elementary school rialto unified school district [Applause] minor oaks elementary school ojai unified school district [Applause] nancy r cardiac elementary school rialto unified school district [Applause] parkview elementary school wai nimi elementary school district [Applause] santa cruz county office of education in santa cruz county [Applause] twin rivers charter in southern and sutter county [Applause] okay [Applause] now on to our bronze level honorees dr edward fitzgerald elementary school rialto unified school district [Applause] fulton and aylesbury academy of arts and engineering lancaster elementary school district [Applause] henry elementary vapa school in rialto unified school district [Applause] ugh
052[Applause] raymond temple elementary school centralia elementary school district [Applause] it's [Applause] san mateo union high school district in san mateo county [Applause] congratulations on all to all of you on this wonderful achievement congratulations to all of our 2022 california green ribbon school honorees what an incredible morning it's been um i just want to take a moment to thank you all for all the work you do and to really give a um a sincere thank you from me and personally to allow me into you know your worlds through your applications and um you know i wake up every day very honored to be a part of this and i can only imagine the amount of pride you take to be at this work in your communities you're not only doing this work to help your students
053build healthy habits but you're systematically changing the world's collective environmental consciousness one community at a time a global movement by very local change now as we conclude the ceremony the challenge before you is to continue and grow these sustainable practices you have done the hardest part assessing yourself for your strengths and areas of need and growth now it's time to look forward to your next steps by continuing your sustainability efforts you not only make the world a better place for your students and families but for other schools too your examples educate them about the possibilities of going green please remember to connect and share your practices with others our social media platforms are a great way to connect on twitter and instagram at california green ribbon schools and on facebook at california green ribbon schools
054in may we will begin to spotlight campaign featuring your accomplishments on all of our social media accounts wherever you are in your journey these spotlights are a great way to gain inspiration to help you build and grow your practice i urge you to look for ideas and connect with other honorees i get the opportunity to connect with all of you i'm very lucky these social media accounts and platforms are a great way for you to continue the conversation beyond today's ceremony the green california green ribbon schools award holds space for the awesome commitment of local champions in every form teacher parent principal superintendent facilities manager student and community partner it takes all those people to make green school part of your culture to live the values and maintain the practices that will withstand economics of
055economic up and down turnover new leadership even a global pandemic but we believe more than ever that each of you being honored today will show us how to meet these moments with creativity ingenuity and care we are so proud of you and you should be proud of yourself one more round of applause for all of our honorees today [Applause] thank you honorees and guests for joining us this concludes our awards ceremony now i'd like to pass the mic to christine garcia to lead us on the catella school tour [Applause] good morning i'm christine garcia i'm the five seas coach here at catella high school before we go out for the school tour i'd like to first thank our auhsd public information officer john baltista for providing the live streaming of the ceremony [Applause] so that
056all of the students and staff here at catella across the aohsd district as well as all california honoree schools present or not to be able to be part of the ceremony with us thank you john i'd also like to thank catellas jrotc asb cheer jazz band and all the students that will be participating in the tour students if you could stand up for a minute to be recognized [Applause] we want to thank our students for sharing with you their 21st century skills as communicators collaborators critical thinkers that are driven by their creativity and most of all their civic leadership that drives them to stand up and take action without our students none of this would be possible so thank you students very much [Applause] so for our tour if you would like uh take a
057look at your name badge you have an icon on it either a redwood poppy or a butterfly that's going to represent your tour group and the good news is our culinary pathway classes have prepared some food for you on one of the stops of the tour so if you are have a redwood icon you'll be starting the tour at the east exit and your tour guides are ready for you the poppies will be starting on the west exit of the theater and they are ready for you and our butterflies will be starting at the front entrance of the theater which is actually the back of the theater and you guys get to have the food first so if you could please join your tour group and we will get on with the tour thank you
058very much