Hartford School Wins Federal ‘Green Ribbon’ Award

An innovative Hartford high school has been named a U.S. Green Ribbon School in honor of its environmental efforts.

On April 22, Earth Day, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Managing Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Christy Goldfuss announced the 2015 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools award honorees.

The Academy of Engineering and Green Technology at Hartford Public High School was one of 58 schools and nine postsecondary institutions recognized for their promising efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, promote better health, and ensure effective environmental education, including civics and green career pathways.

[Photo: Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and AEGT students at the ribbon cutting for the school's solar array system.]

CBIA and many CBIA members, including UTC, which is the school’s corporate sponsor, have had a strong relationship with the Academy since it was founded six years ago.

In 2013, a student team working with one teacher, one project manager and three UConn undergraduates designed, built, tested and shipped a wind/solar array system to power a school and 10 lap top computers for students in the remote village of Saldang, Nepal.

Since then the turbine has been powering the school and a birthing center in the little village 13,000 feet up in the mountains. The Hartford students are awaiting word on the impact, if any, of the earthquake on the Saldang and its residents.

Now, another team of students is working on “Nepal 2.0” to bring power to two more villages. They are pausing, however, to help raise funds for Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake.

The school and team are now looking for a business that can help ship needed items (blankets, footwear) to Nepal.

In addition to the Nepal projects, the school’s other green attributes include, installing solar panels on the rooftop of the school, partnering in local clean-up campaigns, recycling and removing 20 tons of electronic waste from the basement and building numerous community gardens.

The Green Ribbon award “is the culmination, but not the conclusion, of years of work from our students and staff to embrace our [school’s] theme,” said AEGT Principal Michael Maziarz.