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Engaging Minds. Building Futures. 

Project Green Space

In the spring of 2015, Salisbury Academy launched Project Green Space, an initiative to enhance the school’s outdoor learning environment while developing conservation-minded students and an energy-efficient and low-waste school facility. 

 

Since launching Project Green Space, Salisbury Academy has:

earned recognition as an NC Green School of Excellence, making it one of just 9 NC Green Schools of Excellence in the state.

formed close ties with the Catawba College Center for the Environment and other local farms and organizations invested in sustainability, including Muddy Sneakers, The Rowan Redbuds Society, Bread Riot, Happy Roots, and the Rowan Soil and Water Conservation District. 

increased students' environmental literacy through a wide variety of inquiry-based, hands-on science explorations.

rolled out an LED lighting conversion to significantly reduce the school's carbon footprint.

 

 

SA's Outdoor Learning and Play Space

The need for student engagement with the natural world has never been greater. With an understanding that outdoor play fosters many critical learning skills including reasoning, focus, self-control, and persistence - all while enhancing students' academic, physical, and psychological health - Salisbury Academy broke ground in 2017 on a dynamic Outdoor Learning and Play Space. Features of the space include walking trails, a dry creek bed, an amphitheater, discovery gardens, play areas, and a wealth of native trees, plants, and grasses. 

Salisbury Academy's Outdoor Learning and Play Space is a landscape that connects children with nature, encourages them to take risks, and inspires students to investigate, explore, analyze, and create. This space is utilized by both Salisbury Academy and the community at large, whether through nature-based workshops, family days, or even as a field trip site for other schools.


Environmental Curriculum

Salisbury Academy incorporates environmental education into our science curriculum across all grade levels. With the new integration of the North American Association for Environmental Education Standards and the North Carolina Environmental Literacy Plan, students are able to connect environmental concepts with outdoor learning experiences. These inquiry-based opportunities help grow scientific process skills, provide understanding of current environmental issues, and offer service learning experiences beyond the classroom walls. 

A healthy lifestyle through increased movement, garden-based nutrition and outdoor play is promoted through Salisbury Academy's wellness culture. Outdoor play is encouraged in all grades and healthy eating is encouraged school-wide. The establishment of the school's edible garden allows students to study the importance of eating locally grown products, free of pesticides. 

 

 

 

Sustainability Coordinator Internship at SA in Partnership with Catawba College

Salisbury Academy's Sustainability Coordinator Internship program has been running for 4 successful, sustainability-inspired years! Our intern for 2022-23 was Graycen Murray, a Catawba College senior. 

Over the course of the school year Graycen led classroom discussions like her presentation on biomimicry pictured above, wrote articles for the school newsletter, spoke at a Green Chapel, and led an Eco-Warriors after school club. Graycen also planned and executed activities for SA's participation at Earth Day Jam at Bell Tower Green.


Salisbury Academy is honored to be one of just two Green Schools of Excellence in North Carolina and, as of 2023, the first school in history to achieve the recognition twice. It was a great pleasure to welcome Catawba College and NC Greens Schools guests for Green Chapel in spring of 2023.

Colleen Smiley of NC Green Schools presented SA with a renewal of our Green School of Excellence status. Thank you to NC Green Schools and Catawba College for your partnership and support of our journey towards sustainability!


SA's Student-Led Green Initiatives

Our student-led initiatives make a measurable impact on both the school community and the community at large. Successful green initiatives at SA have included the establishment of a Bluebird Trail and a school garden, rainwater collection and trash/compost sorting systems, a battery disposal program, and other conservation efforts. 

 

 

 

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