Highland Park Elementary School is one of only a handful of schools across the nation to earn the designation of a Green Ribbon School. The HP Scotties organized multiple events last year to earn the coveted designation. Some of the innovative, earth-friendly projects included:
- Installing bins at the school recycling unconventional objects like pens, markers, beauty products, chip bags, ink cartridges, batteries and more.
- Organizing a candy wrapper recycling campaign after Halloween
- Hosting 2 Styrofoam recycling drives
- Organized daily events during Earth week
- Cleaning the trails at Perry Park behind the school.
The Green Ribbon Schools program aims to promote children becoming more active with nature while creating a greener community. Other schools that have received the designation are Barton Hills, Brykerwoods, Cunningham, Doss, Gullett, Harris, Maplewood and Travis Heights elementary schools as well as Bedichek, Garcia, Martin, O Henry, Paredes and Small middle schools and Garza and Travis Heights high schools. To qualify for the designation, schools created teams to implement activities that promote a greener outlook and enhance the relationship between children and nature. For their commitment to encouraging students to help build a green community, each school received a banner and a GRS badge to add to their website's homepage.