Western Addition school wins ‘green makeover’ contest
By: Mike Aldax
Examiner Staff Writer
January 23, 2009
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| San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom went to Rosa Parks Elementary to help anounce the school as EcoZone's "Green My Schools" contest winner. (Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — A Western Addition elementary school is headed on an environmental shopping spree.
The concrete-covered Rosa Parks Elementary School on Friday won a $250,000 “green makeover” prize as part of a contest between 14 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District.
As part of the prize, the school will be outfitted with an environmentally friendly lighting retrofit, solar panels and a rooftop tree and flower garden, among other “green” upgrades, said contest organizers.
The funds were awarded to the school that best expressed what “being green” means to students and staff, according to environmental media firm EcoMedia, which spearheaded the contest and is holding similar competitions at school districts nationwide.
Rosa Parks won the San Francisco contest by submitting a clever video showing how much students have bought into composting, recycling, planting and power savings on campus. The video also showed how the school’s barren rooftop would be a great location for an educational garden and solar panels.
This afternoon, Mayor Gavin Newsom showed up at a packed Rosa Parks gymnasium to announce the winner. Playing teacher in front of more than a hundred young people, he asked students what they thought schools could do to clean up the environment and save energy.
“We could walk to field trips instead of taking buses,” said one student.
“Don’t waste water,” said another.
Supervisor Ross Mirakimi, whose district includes Rosa Parks, also spoke at the awards ceremony, commending the school for making incredible progress in short time.
“It was less than three years ago that they were thinking about shutting down Rosa Parks,” he said.
Finalists in the contest included Sunnyside, Commodore Sloat, Grattan and Mckinley elementary schools.
