In 2021, Los Altos High School was granted the Green Ribbon Award by the U.S. Department of Education to celebrate its environmental sustainability. This year, in an effort to honor Green Ribbon schools, the Department of Education announced the celebratory Green Strides Tour across Northern and Central California — including a visit to LAHS.

The Green Ribbon Award aims to recognize environmental efforts of schools promoting public awareness and climate action. LAHS was one of five schools in California to receive the 2021 award. Achievements that earned LAHS the award included the school’s free electric vehicle charging stations, a high recycling rate and initiatives led by the Green Team club.

“Out of 110,000 schools in the country, this put us in the top 2-4% in the nation to win the award,” Green Team co-President junior Kelsey Nguyen said.

The Green Strides Tour acknowledges the environmental action taken by Green Ribbon Schools through site visits. Visitors were given a look into LAHS’s sustainability practices at several locations, including classrooms and facilities, demonstrating the school’s commitment to the environment. Out of the three foundational pillars of the award — minimizing environmental impact, student wellness, and sustainability education — the LAHS site visit showed special emphasis on the second.

“The student wellness aspect of the Green Ribbon award plays a big role on campus but often goes overlooked,” Kelsey said. “We have school counselors and therapists that really make a big priority of student wellness in the face of academics, but it’s still a really prevalent issue, especially in the Bay Area.”

California Associate Special Education Director Shiyloh Becerril, showed appreciation for LAHS’s design which lends itself easily for neurodivergent students to access.

“I liked the open floor plans and open access for students,” Becerill said. “Not all disabilities are visible, and sometimes, the environment can feel difficult for students. Creating open environments often helps students, and this school has done that.”

Another major focus of the tour was the physical structures at LAHS, which were built with sustainability in mind.

“What I think is particularly inspiring is that there are big institutional shifts, like the new building and energy sourcing,” member of the California State Board of Education Jim Brownson said. “And transportation — the fact that almost 40% of the students actually bike or walk to school — was so impressive.”

The tour was student-facilitated by members of the Associated Student Body (ASB) and Green Team, who worked together to make the event a success. Student initiatives like Green Team, in particular, stood out to visitors.

“What Green Team does here, promoting sustainability and encouraging students to be a part of it — that’s really important,” Science Coordinator of the Santa Clara County Board of Education Jennifer Mutch said. “The club is so robust, and it’s just really great to see all the things that they were doing.”

Ultimately, the tour celebrated the school’s collective climate action, serving as an important milestone in climate initiatives on campus. Kelsey stated that this achievement shined an appreciative light on the work already done.

“The award demonstrated our commitment to sustainable practices, our commitment to fighting against climate change and our commitment to the students,” Kelsey said.