Why Should I participate in the Green Ribbon Schools Program

Be inspired. Inspire others. Get Recognized. Make a Difference. The Green Ribbon Schools program is where health, education, STEM skills, technology and being green combine to propel entire schools towards a happier, healthier and smarter future. It is where students get more involved in school activities, not less, and where teachers and students become the true leaders of their schools and communities.

Teachers
  • Get recognized for your work.
  • Save time by keeping all of your activities organized and in one place
  • Increase the impact of your activities through site features that allow you to team up with all of the teachers and students at your school.
  • Accomplish more and save time with the ability to assign a "Moderator" role to students, parents or other teachers within each of your activities.
Students
  • Make a difference at your school, in your community, and across the world
  • Enhance your career skills, computer skills, ability to learn and self-confidence
  • Be creative and publish your creations
Principals
  • Reduce costs (like Energy, Water, and Waste costs) when your students and teachers participate in activities focused on reducing consumption.
  • Get Recognized: Your school will be recognized as a Green Ribbon School in various publications, websites, e-letters, events, letters to elected officials and many more avenues.
  • Increase test scores, reduce absenteeism, and continue to make your school a healthier, happier and smarter place.
  • Improve health, fitness, and conservation throughout your entire student body and staff.
Parents
  • Get involved at your child's school and be a part of their activities
  • For parents who are the leaders of GRS type activities at their child's school, you can be assigned a Moderator role within activities to make approvals and lead the activity
  • Involvement in GRS enhances your child's career and technical skills, prepares them for college, increases their ability to learn, boosts their self-confidence and makes them healthier, happier and smarter.

Get Started

Show the results of the amazing activities and projects being done at your school and GET RECOGNIZED for your efforts. Green Ribbon Schools give you the opportunity to do all of these things in one place.

You might be asking yourself... "Why should I participate in yet another program, when I'm already so busy?" What is the benefit to me? To my school? Is it really worth my time and effort? Will it really make a difference? And how is it different from all the other programs out there?

We know you are busy, which is why we created a program and a website that is easy to use and can be student-driven. The site has a slew of time saving features for teachers, like the ability for a teacher to assign one or many moderators to an activity to serve as their substitute or proxy in running the activity and making approvals. The site was built with the feedback of teachers, administration and student organizations so that when you work on the site you will find the features that are relevant to you and that meet your needs.

You will benefit personally from the GRS program by finding inspiration and guidance from what others are doing, and by inspiring others in the same way. It can make you a better student, teacher, athlete and even community member. Who knows, the very activity that you publish on the site might inspire another teacher, class, school or entire country to make a change.

Your school benefits not only though the honor of being recognized as a Green Ribbon School, but also by the improvements in health, fitness, and conservation throughout your entire student body and staff. Research shows that children who are physically fit and eat nutritious foods are more ready to learn. Of more recent note are the studies that cite the cognitive benefits from play in nature, including creativity, problem-solving, focus and self-discipline. Social benefits include cooperation, flexibility, and self-awareness. Emotional benefits include stress reduction, reduced aggression and increased happiness. Children will be smarter, better able to get along with others, healthier and happier when they have regular opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out-of-doors. Student performance increases as science lessons feature hands-on learning in outdoor settings. Studies indicate that absenteeism and discipline problems decrease as students become involved in projects that have an environmental focus.

The Green Ribbon Schools program is the first of its kind that focuses on authentic social learning within the education environment.

Through the GRS website you can break down the barriers of the standard 4 wall classroom learning environment and reach an entire world online. You can share your passion for being healthier and greener while inspiring and teaching others.

The Green Ribbon Schools website is a place to collaborate and publish the results of your green activities while getting recognized for the amazing things that you are doing at your school.

And there is no shortage of fun on the site either with the introduction of features like online collaboration, personal profiles and most importantly the ability to create and then publish results pages that will show the world the extraordinary things that your school is doing. Moreover you can easily share your published activities on your school website, through emails, on social media websites and even when reporting your activities to your various student and teacher organizations. As you can see, through this program you can create a powerful community of social learning and shared knowledge inside and outside of your schools walls.

There is no better time than now to get registered and get your school involved in the Green Ribbon Schools program. Get your school started today on the track towards a happier, healthier and smarter future. REGISTER NOW.

Texas Parks & Wildlife
Texas Education Agency
Blue Cross Blue Shield
AMD
HEB
TASC Student Council
PTA
Texas Dept. of Agriculture
Texas Children in Nature
Texas Computer Education Association