Mesa Elementary School was honored on Earth Day for its effort to combat global climate change.
Via a noon webcast Tuesday, April 22, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that the Cortez elementary school was one of 48 schools across the country to be tapped as a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School. He praised award winners for making a difference and setting an example for all Americans.
“Being a green school does not require a new building,” Secretary Duncan said from Washington, D.C. “Any school or district can do what the honorees are doing today.”
Mesa Elementary Principal KD Umbarger said the school was shocked upon receiving the news.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “We really didn’t expect to win.”
Mesa Elementary was one of three schools across Colorado to obtain the federal distinction. Over the past two years, Mesa Elementary students, teachers and staff have all pitched in to help reduce the school’s energy consumption by more than a third.
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet described the school as a prime example of the state’s dedication to both education and environmental sustainability.
“Now, schools across the nation can use Mesa Elementary School as a model,” Bennet said in a press release. “Its innovative approach is reducing facility costs while using hands-on learning to teach kids environmental sustainability skills they can use at home, in the classroom and in their future careers.”
Constructed in 1960, the 44,374-square-feet schoolhouse’s student population is roughly 400. Nearly three in four Mesa students have participated in energy savings, according to Mesa Elementary first-grade teacher Kate Lein.
“Our principal provides weekly environmental messages over the public address system to encourage students to be mindful of their civic responsibility to be good stewards of our corner of the planet,” Lein said. “She praises the efforts of students who take the time to clean up trash and recycle items, as well as encourages students to be conscious of their energy and water consumption.”
Lein said the school’s greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by almost a fifth, 126 metric tons to be exact, between April 2012 and August 2013. The school’s non-transportation energy was also reduced by a third, including a 14 percent reduction in electricity and a near 40 percent reduction in natural gas.
Water consumption has also been drastically cut at Mesa Elementary. Records show the school’s annual water use in 2012 was 13,500 gallons per occupant. In 2013, the amount of water use was cut by more than half to 7,600 gallons per occupant. Specifically, domestic water use dropped by a third from 1.6 million gallons in 2012 to 1.1 million gallons last year.
The Montezuma-Cortez School District is in its third year of working cooperatively with McKinstry, an energy efficiency contractor, to address energy education and operational optimization. All energy savings at Mesa Elementary were achieved without any retrofits or capital upgrades, according to McKinstry program manager Ashley Ruiz.
“Saving energy allows the district to spend less money on utilities each year, and spend more money where it belongs – on students and schools,” Ruiz said.
The list of Green Ribbon Schools includes 39 public schools and nine private schools from 27 states. The schools serve various grade levels, including 29 elementary, 16 middle and 18 high schools, with several schools having various K-12 configurations. Twenty-one of the 2014 honorees serve a disadvantaged student body and 18 are rural.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com