For the past ten years, the U.S. Department of Education has bestowed the Green Ribbon award to schools across the nation for their outstanding environmental philosophies and actions.

SLUH first applied for the Green Ribbon award in 2014, only to find that the state of Missouri was no longer participating. Two years ago, however, Missouri was reinstated within the award, and SLUH applied again. Although SLUH did not recieve the award last year, that did not stop the school from trying again.

SLUH will send senior Darion Mullins and sophomore Ocean Okohson-Reb to Washington D.C. in September to receive the Green Ribbon award for its work with sustainability.

“This year, we took the application from last year, analyzed who could add more and who could strengthen it, and retooled it all,” said history teacher and moderator of the Sustainability Club, Anne Marie Lodholz. “It’s a process that we’ve been working on, as an institution, for five years.”

The application process for the Green Ribbon award is broken down into three pillars. The first is focused on the facility. “It’s basically environmental impact. How much energy are you using, how much water are you using, what are you putting in the trash, how do you control pests, anything that has to do with the space itself,” said Lodholz.

The second pillar is focused upon the health and well-being of the community. “It touched on chemicals, what psychological services do you provide for your community, how much exercise do your community members get, how do you advocate and educate your population on nutrition, how do you educate health,” Lodholz said. “It’s all aspects of your community, not just the students.”

The third and final pillar is focused on curricular and co-curricular activities and how they support sustainability.

“It’s really interesting,” Lodholz said. “How many times do you talk about sustainable environmentally-driven careers or what kinds of certification or what kinds of conferences does your faculty go on?”

According to Lodholz, most of the school contributed to SLUH’s receiving the Green Ribbon. Some active members, she notes, are the coaches, the school nurse, the facility managers, and the Dean of Students.

“The reason that we finally were able to get this wasn’t because we finally became sustainable. It was because we finally had an opportunity to sit down and build off an early application and gather enough information,” Lodholz said.

Other schools in the St. Louis region are beginning to partake in similar movements as well. Schools such as Maplewood and Richmond Heights have been recognized as some of the best in the country. According to Lodholz, their smaller size allows for the schools to adapt with ease. Nerinx Hall has also inquired about the award.

Being awarded the Green Ribbon has inspired new attitudes among the SLUH community. The award could be a stepping stone for SLUH to grow in awareness of new issues. Lodholz hopes that the awareness will generate excitement and enthusiasm within the SLUH community, leading to even more participation.

“It becomes like a platform and that’s really awesome because it’s a national platform,” Lodholz said.

Other parts of the SLUH community are getting excited about the Green Ribbon award as well. “I think it gives us a sense of accomplishment but also a sense of what we’re doing,” said Tom Zinselmeyer, history teacher and one of the members in charge of putting together the application. “And ultimately we still have a ton of stuff to do to be a little more deliberate in the mission.”

“(The award) recognizes that we’ve made it to point A, but from here we need to move to point B, then C, then D, and so on,” said co-president of the SLUH Sustainability Club and sophomore Albert Harrold. “Some obvious things we could do are increase our use of the garden and increase the awareness of sustainability in the classroom.”

“To have the Department of Education recognize us as a school that is making great inroads, it’s an honor,” said Principal Ian Gibbons. “The trick is to live up to it, and understand what this means. It doesn’t mean we’re the most sustainable school—we’re probably not— but we’re committing ourselves to strong standards of sustainability.”

“What’s really cool about it is I see it as a visible signal to the community that SLUH has made a commitment longitudinally that has been recognized on a national scale to see how we can care for God’s creation and how we can not only educate ourselves, but a greater community,” said Lodholz.