TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Area Public Schools is one of only two in the state to reach full “Green School” status.
The district announced that every school in the district had earned an environmental stewardship designation in the Michigan Green Schools program. Haslett Public Schools in Ingham County is the only other district in the state to earn the 100 percent certification milestone.
“Earning districtwide certification is a proud moment for TCAPS,” Superintendent Dr. John VanWagoner said. “It highlights the incredible work of our students and staff to integrate sustainable practices into our daily school culture across all of our buildings.”
To qualify for this program, schools needed to document a minimum of ten approved environmental activities throughout the school year. Two activities must be completed from each of the four official Green School qualification categories to be eligible: reduce/reuse/recycle, energy, environmental protection and miscellaneous.
Activities could include things like setting up a recycling program, using alternative energy sources at the school, teaching a section on environmental issues and participating in an Earth Day event.
The milestone marks the completion of a sustainability goal established earlier this year. The goal was discussed during the Jan. 12 organizational meeting where a two-pronged approach to reach the spring goal was laid out. One, each school would conduct an inventory of practices, data and resources they had toward the requirements and, two, establish a student-driven approach to implementation.
Students and environmental clubs at the high schools shared ideas and helped implement some of the strategies, VanWagoner said.
While some of the qualifying district projects were larger, like the hoop house at Westwoods Elementary, many were small, simple changes in habit that created an impact. Things like reducing food waste, reducing usage, limiting disposables and turning the lights off, he added.
“Some of those smaller things can go a long ways, even farther in some ways that are good for the environment and also help our clubs and our schools bottom line to be able to make sure we utilize every dollar in the best way we can,” VanWagoner said.
The January goal was to have every school qualify for at least “Green Status,” which means they participated in 10-14 activities. But four schools qualified for “Emerald Status” (West Senior High, Eastern Elementary, Central High and TCAPS Montessori) with 15-19 activities and two had more than 20 activities and reached “Evergreen Status” (Westwoods Elementary and Traverse City High School).
This achievement “reflects a unified commitment to protecting Michigan’s natural resources through education and action,” a district press release said. Full certification ensures that every student in the district is “engaged in meaningful sustainability efforts that benefit the entire Traverse City community.”
This certification is the beginning of the district’s sustainability plan, which runs through the calendar year. Come fall, VanWagoner expects the “bulk” of the implementation to start with the new school year. The Board’s Sustainability Committee expects to begin creating an audit system this fall, pairing up high schoolers with elementary schools and rolling out some pilot programs, he said.
Anything that doesn’t get done this year will roll over into 2027, he said, “but we’re excited for the second half of the calendar year to really see a deeper implementation of some of those items.”
Sustainability is something that students and high school environmental clubs asked the school board to make a priority, VanWagoner said, and late Trustee Holly Bird created the impetus to make it a reality.
The district spent the first semester of this school year to look at current practices, talk to students about how they can become leaders on the issue and find a way to balance environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility.
“There’s some reality of when you can hit a win on all those things, it’s kind of a no-brainer to really go and do those things,” VanWagoner said.