St. Margaret's Day School Goes Green

The Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) is pleased to announce that St. Margaret’s Day School has been certified as a 2016 Maryland Green School. Maryland Green Schools are part of a national and international community of sustainable green schools.

“St. Margaret's Day School's mission is to develop lifelong leaders and advocates of environmental stewardship through innovative learning, daily enriching activities, and community partnerships,” said Day School Director Tricia McVeigh. “We want our students to grow up and be advocates for positive environmental change within their homes and communities.”

St. Margaret’s Day School is a private preschool and a part of St. Margaret’s Church of Annapolis. Besides this recent award, it has also been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, one of only three schools in Annapolis.

The Day School’s environmental efforts include:

* an expansive and growing green curriculum with a new outdoor classroom that is based on a holistic learning process creating lifelong environmental leaders and advocates;

* an “Eat to Live” program that teaches students the cycle of food growth, production, waste/compost, and preservation and conservation of our resources;

* an inclusive recycling program where everyone participates and develops new ideas to reduce waste;

* a special partnership with the MD Department of Natural Resources, including a wild bird unit and resident terrapins and horseshoe crabs;

* a shift to drastically reduce cleaning waste and to use natural cleaning products, including Green Seal certified services and safe-ingredient homemade cleaners that students and staff can safely handle.

The school is housed in a brand new formation building of St. Margaret’s Church that received LEED silver certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) a rating that measures the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods by the U.S. Green Building Council. The building was also the state winner of the Council’s 2016 Wintergreen award for Excellence in Green Building.

The church will add solar panels on the new roof this spring after a generous gift from an anonymous donor that will help reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

“In a time when all of us need to take individual and corporate action to combat global warming, I am proud of St. Margaret’s Day School, and our church community, for taking seriously God’s call for each of us to be stewards of the creation,” said the Rev. Peter W. Mayer, Rector of St. Margaret’s Church.

For more information on St. Margaret’s Day School, go to www.stmargaretsdayschool.org or call 410-757-2333.