Kentucky Green & Healthy Schools

Welcome

Shelby County High School

Shelby County High School students received an award in 2016 for several projects, including building birdhouses, removing invasive species like winter creeper, and planting a pollinator garden. (photo by Elizabeth McNulty)

Bullitt Central High School

Bullitt Central High School Environmental Club students received an award in 2016 for starting a recycling program, including an educational effort that dramatically increased the amount of recycled material from the school. (photo by Elizabeth McNulty)

West Hardin Middle School

West Hardin Middle School students received a 2016 award for a project involving the design and construction of a solar heater using repurposed aluminum cans, which they displayed here with Secretary Hal Heiner. (photo by Brett Hurst)

West Carter Middle School

West Carter Middle School students received a 2016 award for projects including starting a recycling program, growing vegetables for their school cafeteria, and conducting a clean-up of their wetland/outdoor classroom. (photo by Elizabeth McNulty)

Virginia Chance School

Virginia Chance School Green Team students received an award in 2016 for projects including designing and building a large rainwater catchment system to water plants in their greenhouse and hosting a rain barrel workshop. (photo by Elizabeth McNulty)

Sayre School

Students at Sayre School received an award in 2016 for several projects including container gardens and the Gobble Grease Toss, in which students collect used cooking oil for conversion to biofuels. (photo by Elizabeth McNulty)

Morton Middle School

Students from Morton Middle School received an award in 2016 for several projects included planting a butterfly garden and beginning an aquaponics farm.

Kit Carson Elementary School

Students at Kit Carson Elementary received an award in 2016 for removing invasive species and starting a certified Monarch Waystation.

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The Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools Mission

Empowering students to create healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable schools, and communities

Welcome to KGHS!

Kentucky Green & Healthy Schools (KGHS) is a project-based program that uses the entire school building and grounds as a learning laboratory for students. All grade levels of any public or private schools are invited to join KGHS! To participate, visit Join KGHS.

Program

Through this program, a team of students, teachers, and school administrators (a "Green Team") work together to improve the school facilities in nine different categories. For more information on the different categories of investigation, visit the Program Overview.

Benefits

By making improvements on campus, students can help the school save energy costs, decrease absenteeism, increase student test scores, and create a more sustainable learning environment, among other benefits.

Recognition

Schools are recognized for their efforts through awards and attendance at the annual KGHS Summit.

Partners

KGHS is a program of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education.

Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools logo

Announcements

Radically simplified and standards-aligned!

The KGHS program has been radically simplified:

No more inventories to complete!
No project proposal required!
Only one short form to complete per category!
Aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards as adopted by Kentucky!

The purpose of the program is the same, but a renewed emphasis on authentic learning experiences for students means there will be significantly less paperwork to fill out.

Review the simplified process in the Program Overview, and start a project in 2016-17!

US Department of Education seeks Green Ribbon Schools Applicants

The Kentucky Environmental Education Council and the Kentucky Department of Education urge all Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools to consider applying for this honor. Application will be available soon at the KY GRS page.

KGHS Enrollment Map

This map shows program participation by county.

Enrollment Map