Middle School Students Win Another First Place In Annual Green Quest Schools Competition

Check out the full video of this year's Green Quest Schools winners.
Brittany Woods Middle School appears at the 5:31mark.

For the second year in a row, sustainability students at Brittany Woods Middle School won first place in the middle school category in the Green Quest Schools competition, an annual regional contest that recognizes students making a difference as they promote sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

Under the mentorship of sustainability teacher Anne Cummings, the students were honored for their ongoing project, “Keeping it Clean,” a student-driven, school-wide sustainability certification program. 

Students designed a stringent certification program for classrooms in the middle school, enabling teachers and students to commit to specific sustainability practices during their school day. The classrooms were required to demonstrate their commitment to and participation in activities like proper recycling, healthy eating, well-being habits and general eco-friendly activities, such as reducing the production of trash in their classrooms that goes into landfills. 

The students not only reviewed classrooms for certification, but documented the positive environmental impact of the program on the school. By March 2023, 19 BWMS classrooms were certified by eighth grade group leaders who were accompanied by sixth grade sustainability students to learn the review and certification process for continued implementation of the program. 

Cummings said each classroom that is certified gets a special sticker on their doorway. She said the program is intended to prepare Brittany Woods Middle School to apply for a prestigious U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School award within the next few years. 

The lead eighth grade organizers of the project were Jordyn Jones, Ri’Kell Miller and Andre Rogers III. They will be recognized later in May, 2023 by the University City Board of Education at its regular meeting. Organizers of the Green Quest Program will also attend to present the school with a trophy and a $600 check to continue its sustainability efforts. 

Last year, Brittany Woods students won a first place Green Quest Schools award for The Parsley Project, a University City initiative to plant parsley seeds to feed pollinators throughout the community.