Let me tell you about the day a second-grader came running over to show me a caterpillar she'd found near our pollinator garden. She'd already identified it — she'd been studying local lepidoptera for two weeks — and she was practically vibrating with excitement. "Cayla, it's a Gulf Fritillary. We should write it down for our citizen science log."
That moment is what eco-education looks like at Grow. Not a worksheet about the water cycle. Not a one-week unit before Thanksgiving. A child who has been given the tools, the time, and the permission to become an expert in something real.
Why nature-led education matters
There's a body of research on what happens to children's stress, focus, and creativity when they spend meaningful time in natural environments. We're not going to cite all of it here. What we'll say instead is this: we've watched it work.
Children who struggle with attention indoors often unlock something outside. Children who are reluctant writers will draft three paragraphs about a bird they saw. The nature connection isn't a workaround — it's the point. The world is the curriculum.
Our NWF Eco-Schools certification
In our first year, Grow earned Eco-School Gold Status through the National Wildlife Federation — the highest level awarded to schools that meet rigorous standards for environmental education, action, and community engagement.
Getting there required our students to do real work: assessing our campus for habitat quality, identifying action steps, implementing them, and reporting outcomes. This wasn't assigned to a teacher. The students led it.
- •Designed and planted a native pollinator garden
- •Established a campus-wide recycling and composting program
- •Conducted a bird survey and created habitat improvements
- •Ran a school-wide citizen science monitoring project
- •Submitted a formal environmental action plan to NWF
The Eco Code
One of our proudest artifacts from Year One is the Eco Code — five commitments that our students wrote themselves during a collaborative circle. We didn't hand them language. We asked them: "What do we believe?" And they told us.
- 1.Keep it clean — pick up garbage, never litter
- 2.Reduce, reuse, recycle — use less, choose reusables, up-cycle with creativity
- 3.Grow with nature — plant trees, tend gardens, respect all living things
- 4.Protect habitats — care for places where animals, plants, and people live
- 5.Lead with love — show kindness, responsibility, and courage for our Earth
We read this together at the start of every week. Students can recite it from memory. It's not a poster on the wall — it's a practice.
GReen Our World in Thursday Enrichment
Starting in the 2026–27 school year, eco-education gets even more intentional through our new Thursday Enrichment program. The GReen Our World theme threads through all of our interdisciplinary work — science, art, geography, history, and beyond.
K–2 students will explore all seven continents through a lens of environmental science and mixed media art, building a global picture of ecosystems, cultures, and conservation. Grades 3–8 will go deeper with modern environmental history, Montessori Model UN, and documentary filmmaking — culminating in a film premiere that showcases their work.
Eco-education at home
We often hear from parents that what starts at Grow doesn't stay at Grow. Kids come home and want to start composting. They notice plastic waste at restaurants. They ask questions about where food comes from.
That ripple effect is the whole idea. We're not just teaching children facts about the environment. We're helping them develop an identity as people who care for the Earth — and the habits and agency to act on that care.
“My boys leave every day talking about the best time they had.”
— Grow parent
When that "best time" includes building a rain gauge, identifying a native butterfly, or debating composting methods with their teacher — we know we're on the right path.