WINNER - Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School 

Select Notable Application Excerpts

• "The Mundo Verde campus is a framework for learning expeditions about sustainability and natural systems. Environmental sustainability is integrated into all aspects of the school’s curriculum and operations. By undertaking comprehensive studies of real-world issues, students learn to make connections and understand diverse perspectives."

• "The project extends beyond LEED through numerous sustainable performance matrices, but most specifically with the rigors and intensity with which the expeditionary educational curriculum is completely interwoven and employed in the building and campus. Conceptually, this is modeled from the AuSSI-SA Education of Sustainability Rubrics and Core Indicators for Schools – South Australian teaching for Effective Learning framework."

• ...A "4th grade expedition canvassed the neighborhood about solar panels and how they would be good for the community and the school. The expedition is resulting in a grant application to continue greening the school!"

• "Facing an antiquated 1920’s DCPS surplus building, expansion space needs, a 100% asphalt covered site, and stringent DC Water stormwater management requirements, MV’s resultant challenges include a major facilities renovation and new construction on the per capita facilities budget allotments established by the District’s public charter school system. Budget restraints are not unique to this project, but comparatively the team had around fifteen percent of the values DCPS spends on their own USGBC Silver Certified public school facilities."

• "Opening a new charter school within any neighborhood requires initiating connections, making friends, keeping promises and intertwining roots together. Mundo Verde integrates the students, families (from all Wards of the city) and local neighbors into every facet of planning the new school and celebration of landmark moments in its realization."

• "The existing school site was originally paved practically 100% with asphalt, so naturally the first design gathering was a Community + School Sidewalk Chalk Charrette! This became the vehicle to introduce the school to the community and a means of collecting everyone’s aspirations for the project. Equipped with big chalk and even bigger imaginations, students, parents, and neighbors put their thoughts to asphalt and imagined the future of their new community school. Much of the site programming, including the community gardens and expeditionary learning stations, are tangible results of this activity."

• "Working with Casey Trees of Washington DC, the campus is becoming a woodland park within the neighborhood. The campus was carefully designed to integrate maximum shade tree cover for play areas with 40 indigenous and fruit bearing trees. Students, families and community again celebrated with planting and tilling of the earth!"

• "Community Compost Co-op and School Garden Market: The Co-op engages the community by involving families and neighbors as well as the kitchen. MV will compost kitchen scraps in bins to use in the school garden. The school garden in turn feeds students and the community through the school garden market."

• "Rain garden planting: MV was granted a RiverSmart Schools Award by the DOEE. This spring MV worked with the Anacostia Watershed Society to involve the 3rd grade in their spring Water expedition, in planning and planting a rain garden in the school yard. Students conducted water experiments and studied the impacts of erosion in the schoolyard leading up to the planting of the rain garden. They also made signs explaining the importance of a rain garden to our community."

• "Electric Car Charging Stations: MV is currently receiving a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments grant to help advance the Electric Vehicle/Plug-In Electric Vehicle infrastructure in the United States."

• "The kitchen at Mundo Verde has been a place with a strong focus on serving healthy meals, and preparing snacks that celebrate local food and act as a connector to the classroom. MV works with a local vendor to supply school meals, keeping dollars local. ..This school year MV had kindergarten students work directly with the food service team to study how to beautify the kitchen through art and design. Partnering with local artists, this year MV students studied healthy food and designed final projects that celebrated building a more cheerful space and tackled a “problem.”"

• "MV is currently developing a procurement model rewarding local purchases, and networking with farmers and exploring goals for more sustainable purchasing....With the ability to now cook in house, teachers and food educators are aligning lessons with menus, celebrating seasonality and food grown in their garden. Witness to their bilateral education model, MV is also creating activities for celebrating the diverse student population by using family recipes and cultural traditions in the kitchen."