Photo by Lauren H. Dowdle
Hoover High School environmental science teacher Janet Ort describes the different areas of the school's outdoor classroom on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
Hoover High School on Wednesday was presented with the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon School Award for the state of Alabama this year for the school’s positive impact on the environment and the health of its students and staff.
The award is given annually to a school in the state for reducing environmental impacts and costs, improving the health and wellness of students and staff, and providing effective environmental and sustainability education.
Hoover High becomes the third school in the city to receive this award. Others that won it previously are Shades Mountain Elementary and Gwin Elementary. Hoover High will be recognized in Washington, D.C., July 8-12.
Principal Jennifer Hogan said the achievement belongs to everyone involved with the school, from the teachers and students to supportive parents.
“It’s a testament to the dedication and hard work of each and every member of our school community,” Hogan said. “We celebrate this remarkable achievement, and at the same time, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to make a meaningful difference around the world.”
Melissa Shields, assistant superintendent for the Alabama Department of Education, commended the school and community for coming together to make all of this possible.
“You did this … looking to find where are there spaces in our community that we can make greener, that we can make healthier and so that our future generations … are living in a space that is beautiful and preserved,” Shields said.
Components that contributed to Hoover High winning this award included adding water filling stations, motion-detecting lights, shareable fruit trays in the lunchroom, outdoor walking trails and an outdoor classroom.
The outdoor classroom incorporates a pollinator garden, frog and toad habitat built by Eagle Scouts, songbird garden, solar energy station, hummingbird feeders, sensory garden and more. They’re currently working on a second phase of the project and should have some of that completed within a year, including the addition of rock pathways, said Janet Ort, an environmental science teacher who helped lead many of the school’s efforts to protect and celebrate the environment and the health and wellness of people in the school community.
Ort said her favorite part has been working with the students.
“Seeing the kids catch the vision and being able to help them accomplish things they didn’t know that they could do [has been the best part],” she said.
Though they’ve accomplished a great deal on the local, state and national level, Ort said this is just the beginning of things to come for Hoover High and its students.
“We’re a school that believes in doing things big,” she said. “We want to find solutions that are sustainable, lasting gamechangers.”
