Is your school interested in providing meaningful hands-on environmental education to your students? If so, the SC Green Step School (SCGSS) Environmental Education Initiative might be just right for you.

SCGSS encourages and empowers SC teachers and students to plan, establish and sustain school-based projects based on standards that enhance the environment. It does this by providing teachers with the training, mentorship, technical support, and other resources they need for these environmental projects to succeed.

Supported projects include conserving energy and other natural resources by reducing, reusing, and recycling; protecting air and water quality; preventing litter and soil erosion; and restoring soil and habitat for humans and wildlife. We also encourage projects where students sell eco-friendly items they make or grow to help fund their other projects. We can suggest fun, easy, no-cost/low-cost projects that any class of students will enjoy doing.

Schools earn awards when they document sustained projects with videos or pictures with detailed captions of their students learning from an adult or research, carrying out hands-on projects, and then teaching others what they learned and why their project is important.

Schools can undertake just one project or many projects. Over time, schools that sustain six projects (two in each of our categories – Conserve, Protect and Restore) are added to our published list of Certified SC Green Step Schools. Certification must be sustained every school year.

Also each year, superlative awards are presented to the “best-of-the-best” Conserve, Protect, Restore, and Overall Schools of the Year. These schools go into our SCGSS Hall of Fame. There are currently three schools state-wide who have earned all four of those superlative awards, and a few more schools who are just one or two superlative awards away from that goal. Participating mentors also earn awards, and a Mentor of the Year is selected and added to our Mentor Hall of Fame.

The SCGSS program is open to all public and private K-12 schools in SC, as well as homeschool co-ops. Over its 20 years, SCGSS participation has averaged about 40 schools in 12 counties supported by 30 expert mentors each year. But SCGSS would like to have participation in all 46 counties in the state.

“We are always excited to bring environmental education into new school communities,” says SCGSS program coordinator, Jane Hiller. “SCGSS projects help students become environmental stewards while gaining the academic, leadership and social skills they need to succeed in life. Our projects provide wonderful opportunities for students to engage in hands-on learning and then teach others.”

Currently no schools in Spartanburg County are participating in Green Steps. But Spartanburg County mentors are ready to provide support whether your school needs help getting started with environmental projects, or if you already have earth-friendly projects underway. Spartanburg High Schools are famous for their award-winning Envirothon Teams, which can easily qualify for Green Step Awards as well.

SCGSS is a program of the Environmental Education Association of SC (EEASC) a non-profit professional organization whose mission is to connect, support and equip both formal and non-formal educators to promote environmental stewardship.

“SCGSS is one of EEASC’s flagship programs,” says EEASC executive director Keith Willoughby. “We are grateful for all the partnerships that make this program possible including SC Department of Environmental Services, SC Department of Natural Resources, SC Forestry Commission, Palmetto Pride, SC Soil & Water Conservation Districts, SC 4H along with city, county, state and college environmental educators and more. In addition, we value support from Dominion Energy to fund our efforts to expand the program and reach both new and underserved areas of our state.”

For more information contact Jane Hiller at gss@eeasc.org or John Ratterree at ratterrj@uscupstate.edu.