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The CurrenT Wednesday, april25, 2012

the Green Ribbon Schools program,organized the Monday event atStoddert to discuss the program andits first set of winners. Attendeesincluded Secretary of EducationArne Duncan, EnvironmentalProtection Agency administratorLisa Jackson and White House

Council on Environmental Qualitychair Nancy Sutley.

Youre one of a very small per-centage of schools that are doingextraordinary things, Duncan told agroup of Stoddert first-graders. TheGreen Ribbon winners are exam- ples of high achievement that allschools can follow.

Stoddert was modernized andexpanded in 2010, a renovation thatincluded installing a geothermalheating and cooling system and twogreen roofs. These and other featureshelped the building achieve a goldrating the second-highest score in the Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED) stan-

dards.But an environmentally friendly building was just one of the U.S.Department of Educations stan-dards in selecting Green Ribbonrecipients. Stodderts Green Teamrecycling program and its outdoorgarden space were other importantcomponents.

Green Ribbon Schools teach ourstudents about the importance ofsustainable living and the vital role a

clean environment plays, saidJackson. Theyre making green apart of every day.

Sidwell Friends, the other D.C.winner, was recognized for its mid-dle school, which was renovated and

expanded in 2006. According to theschools application to the GreenRibbon program, the buildingbecame the first K-12 school facilityin the world to achieve the highestLEED rating, platinum.

The Sidwell building recyclesmuch of its own wastewater andproduces its own electricity through

wind and solar power, the applica-tion states. And an eighth-gradeenvironmental science course isstructured to first teach studentsabout the sustainable features oftheir school building and then toexplain why each is so important.

Its central to the mission of theschool our school is dedicated toenvironmental stewardship,Sidwell associate head of schoolEllis Turner said in an interview.

The Sidwell application alsonotes that thousands of people havevisited the website discussing themiddle schools environmental fea-tures an important component,U.S. officials said, of the GreenRibbon program.

Green Ribbon Schools representthe kind of success stories we wantto see replicated all over the coun-try, Sutley said at the Stoddertevent. As first-year winners of theawards, you have become role mod-els.

This year, the Department ofEducation received just under 100applications for the Green Ribbonrecognition. The agency plans to

continue the program yearly, andhopes for more submissions. For thiscycle, the District nominated twoschools besides Stoddert andSidwell: Wilson High School andWard 8s Thurgood MarshallAcademy Public Charter School.

School systems will have todecide by June 15 whether they planto apply for the 2013 awards; duedates to submit the applicationshavent yet been set.

SCHOOLSFrom Page 1

an amazing kid.

Osborne said Latin wasnt always easy for her. Thefirst year was kind of rough. In seventh and eighthgrade, we were all in the one building it was school,but it wasnt really school, she said, referring to Latinsoriginal home in Christ Church on MassachusettsAvenue. (The school now houses its middle and highschools in two 16th Street buildings.)

But Osborne said that over time, things improved.She got to know the teachers, and that served her wellwhen looking for college recommendations. She saidthings really picked up for her in 10th grade, when shegot a grasp on time-management a skill thatll behelpful while attending college on a bluff overlookingthe Pacific Ocean.

Latins other Posse winner, Fariss Nabih, will takehis full ride to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.Washington Latin officials said its notable for two win-ners of the award, which drew 1,500 D.C. nominees thisyear for 61 slots, to come from the same school.

While the Posse recipients stand out for the size oftheir awards, other students at Latin have fared well inthe scholarship arena as well.

Marvin Browne, for instance, who plans to attendOccidental College in Los Angeles, received more than$300,000 in scholarship offers from the various schoolsthat accepted him. He like others at Latin said sizewas a major factor in picking his destination, and helooked for a small school like Latin. He also foundOccidentals location appealing.

When I went there, it looked like where I wanted tobe, he said. I want to get away more freedom.

Browne said he worked particularly hard on theessay that he submitted to the 10 schools to which heapplied. Thats one of the areas that Latham stresses inguiding her college-bound students.

I encourage them to write many, many drafts, shesaid. Im a total stickler for grammar and punctuation,

so some of the kids sometimes would be afraid to giveme their essays.

She said she doesnt dictate subject material, justencourages students to write something refreshingthats indicative of who they are.

For Browne, that meant writing about his father, whois Trinidadian, and the experiences they shared in thatcountry that spurred Brownes interest in the sciences.He plans to study chemistry at Occidental.

Browne, who lives within walking distance ofLatins Crestwood campus, came to the school in sev-enth grade after attending H.D. Cooke ElementarySchool in Adams Morgan. Latin draws students from allover the city, with Ward 4 offering the biggest portion(27.7 percent), and wards 3 (15.8 percent), 5 (13 per-cent) and 6 (13.1 percent) following.

The school operates on a classical curriculum, whichmeans all students study Latin and work at understand-ing the roots of Western democracy and becomingproductive citizens, said Cutts. Latins student body isdiverse, this year consisting of 55 percent African-American students, 28 percent Caucasian students, 9percent Hispanic students and 4.9 percent Asian stu-dents. Thirty percent of the kids qualify for free orreduced-cost lunches.

Latin has done well enough on standardized tests toearn a Tier 1 ranking from the D.C. charter board.Last year, more than 80 percent of the students at Latintested proficient or advanced on the D.C.Comprehensive Assessment System reading test, andmore than 75 percent scored proficient or advanced inmath.

Now, the school can add its high secondary-schoolacceptance rates to those performance measures.Latham, who frequently works 12-hour days, is clearlya big factor in that success.

I just get nerdy, giddy happy about my work, shesaid, noting that part of the joy has been the opportu-nity to come to a school where I got to build my owncollege counseling program.

Already, shes grown it beyond herself: Latin plansto add a second college counselor starting in the fall.

LATINFrom Page 3

Bill Petros/The Current

A teaching garden providesStoddert students with the

opportunity to grow their ownvegetables, herbs and berries.

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