Student Led Community Environmental Initiative

Join us for a meeting on July 7! Details below.

Grace Holistic Center for Education, an award-winning Illinois Green School, located in Yorkville Illinois is pleased to announce an exciting initiative that will make a positive environmental impact for our entire community.

Background:

Cultivating an environment of global citizenship is essential to our GHCFE whole child education model.  We believe it has a positive, profound impact on their development, as well as benefit our families and the community at large. Our school engages students in global citizenship through service work, community outreach, acts of kindness, and student-led initiatives such as our school’s micro-food pantry and pet foster care program. These opportunities offer tremendous learning potential, as it gives students first hand experiences as a contributing member of society and how they can contribute to a more peaceful, sustainable and equitable world. 

We offer a more in-depth look at the benefits of global citizenship in our whole child education program in our Impact Series at www.ghcfe.org.Whole Child Education Impact Series Part 3: Global Citizenship

Being a “Global Citizen” also means caring for your environment. We are purposeful in these efforts and have created an eco-conscious learning environment at our school.     All students from kindergarten through 12th grade participate in a mandatory sustainability class and contribute to a school wide climate action project each year. This course is an addition to their core studies and not a science replacement. Our intent is to prepare the next generation with the tools they need to tackle the climate challenges ahead, and we begin with doing so in our school environment through our ‘sustainability policy.’ GHCFE “Sustainability Policy” Grace Holistic Center for Education strives to reduce our carbon footprint by incorporating sustainable principles and practices into our day-to-day operations and lessons. We are committed to being a sustainable and environmentally friendly school. We are committed to fostering sustained efforts toward sustainable living, consistent with our school’s core values.

As a member of Illinois Green Schools, we prepare students and future generations with the knowledge and skills to foster an awareness and understanding of the environment to manage local and world resources, cultivate decency, equality, and mutual respect for all. All K-12 students participate in weekly sustainability classes. We encourage staff, families, and community members to join us on our journey to providing a sustainable future for all. 

Our School’s Sustainability Policy aims to:

1. Improve energy efficiency

2. Lower embodied carbon building materials 

3. Improve indoor and outdoor air and water quality 

4. Reduce exposure to environmental health hazards 

5. Minimize the use of non-renewable and environmentally unfriendly resources 

6. Raise awareness to students, staff, families, and community members of environmental issues and encourage them to take an active role.

7. Develop relationships with external organizations to promote environmentally friendly practices.

 Our school’s sustainability policy also includes guidance for implementation, where students then participate in learning activities that reinforce environment friendly practices. In the sustainability course, students learn how to be more environmentally conscious global citizens. 

Their curriculum exposes students to the global challenges of climate change, and how to take action. Each year students from Kindergarten through 12th grade participate in an annual project to take action to improve our carbon footprint. Students have studied topics such as: energy efficiency and renewable energy, water conservation, recycling and waste management, environmental studies and biodiversity, air quality, and more. GHCFE has been recognized as an “Illinois Green School” and has received national recognition for their work in winning the “Path to Zero” grant for the past two school years. Students have been recognized for their work integrating a solar energy system to charge all school chrome books (2022-2023), and for their water conservation project last spring (2024).Students recently completed (June, 2025) building a storm and rain water garden on our campus.

Follow us on social media as we prepare to launch a “Student Led - Community Environmental Initiative” this fall. 

LinkedIn: @grace-holistic-center-for-education-illinois-nfp

Facebook/Instagram: @GHCFE

Informational Meeting Announced:

Monday, July 7th, 2025 (6pm) at Grace Holistic Center for Education

201 Garden Street, Yorkville, IL 60560

All residents interested in joining an environmental initiative for the community are invited and encouraged to come join us to share ideas for this new program.

Questions can be directed to Tairi Grace, Executive Director:  tgrace@ghcfe.com