[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 80 (Thursday, May 31, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING THE ACADEMY FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP FOR BEING NAMED A GREEN 
                             RIBBON SCHOOL

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                          HON. DANIEL LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 31, 2012

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Academy for 
Global Citizenship in Chicago, Illinois, for its recognition by the 
U.S. Department of Education as a ``Green Ribbon School.''
  Green Ribbon Schools (GRS) is an award program launched in 2011 that 
recognizes schools participating in activities that promote and 
encourage a healthy and environmentally friendly learning environment. 
This year, the Department of Education recognized 78 schools across the 
United States, including the Academy for Global Citizenship located in 
Garfield Ridge on Chicago's Southwest Side.
  The Academy for Global Citizenship engages students in a green 
experience from the moment they set foot on campus. Its asphalt parking 
lot was transformed into an organic garden that the students help sow, 
cultivate, and tend throughout the year. Inside the school students are 
fed organic and locally-sourced meals each day, after which they 
separate their garbage and recyclables, as well as their compost waste 
which is used to fertilize the gardens around the campus.
  In class, students learn about sustainable and renewable energy and 
lifestyles, including a transportation unit that includes the study of 
walking, biking, and alternative fuels, and a wellness class that 
focuses health, nutrition, and environmental sustainability as a lens 
to understand how the world works.
  Through these formal and informal activities, teachers enhance 
students' education as they teach the biology and chemistry behind 
composting and fertilization, the energy physics behind alternative 
energy sources, and the health-science behind good nutrition.
  The Academy for Global Citizenship is also green at the 
administrative level. The school hosts community workshops on topics 
such as small space gardening, backyard composting, and energy use 
reduction. In addition, the school tracks its energy and water usage, 
setting reduction goals each year, and purchasing 100% of its 
electricity from a provider that produces only wind power.
  Green schools, like the Academy for Global Citizenship, benefit our 
communities in numerous ways. In buying food from local sources, they 
contribute to the local economy and local jobs. In reducing their 
energy usage, these schools help improve our energy independence. In 
producing a rich and interactive curriculum on green living, they 
educate our children and create the workforce needed for the future of 
our economy. I am happy to see such important work being done on a 
local level and the Academy for Global Citizenship acting as a model 
for other institutions.
  I commend the Academy for Global Citizenship and I hope my colleagues 
will join me in congratulating all 78 of the Green Ribbon School award 
winners.

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