There is a growing trend of schools and educational institutions working towards the widespread integration of sustainability on-campus; recognizing an opportunity to improve public relations, foster civic-minded and environmentally conscious students, and reduce costs through resource conservation efforts.
Islesboro Central School has long recognized the importance of sustainability to our students and island community, noting the importance of “traditional island values: self-reliance, civic-mindedness, neighbor-helping-neighbor, tolerance, ingenuity, conservation, and stewardship – to prepare its students to be productive in the global world of the 21st century” in its vision statement adopted in 2008. As such, ICS has a strong track record when it comes to sustainability and environmental-awareness: a robust school farm effort, high efficiency lighting/water systems, school-wide recycling, environmentally-centered courses, and the regular occurrence of local/organic foods in our school cafeteria.
Current school-wide initiatives:
- Formation of a “Sustainability Committee”
- Approval by the ICS School Committee to create a new academic program expressly focused on Sustainability Studies by expanding the mission of the horticulture program to incorporate new themes/projects in such areas as energy, natural resource management, and culinary arts under the broader scope of sustainability.
