LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Lexington’s Cassidy Elementary is in elite company on this Earth Day. It’s been selected as one of 36 schools throughout the nation as a Green Ribbon School, meaning it has consciously taken efforts to reduce waste and energy on its campus.
Teacher Kristi Fehr has been teaching her class about keeping the planet clean. Her positive environmental contributions can be seen throughout the school grounds. She’s led initiatives on the importance of recycling and clean energy, like building an electric car.
Her students have raised rainbow trout from eggs, and in May the students will release them into a stream at Red River Gorge. They’ve also maintained a garden for endangered monarch butterflies.
The U.S. Department of Education has recognized these programs and named Cassidy Elementary School as a Green Ribbon School for its positive environmental impact, all thanks to Fehr’s programs.
“You know I really haven’t had time for it to hit me,” Fehr said. “It was a sudden announcement that came last night.”
She wants these life lessons to be hands-on.
“I want them to be putting into action all the things, all the standards that we learn in the classroom,” Fehr said.
It sounds like her students are taking it all in.
“If we recycle our trash then there would be less waste in the world and plants can thrive a lot more,” fifth grader Tate Bailey said.
Fehr wants to leave a positive footprint behind.
“Hopefully it’s a collection of footprints behind me because I’m hoping to be a leader in modeling what I would like our future to do,” Fehr said.
Ascension School in Louisville was the other Kentucky school to receive the Green Ribbon School designation.
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