Sustainability

At Forsyth, we believe sustainability means building a knowledgeable, caring, and environmentally responsible campus community.

Education for sustainability is at the core of our learning environment, fostering leadership and action as we work toward a healthier, more sustainable future for all. 

Forsyth and our students accomplish this by: 

  • Embedding sustainability principles within our curriculum  

  • Cultivating a culture of hope through mindfulness, reciprocity, and reflection   

  • Promoting positive changes across our campus while reducing Forsyth’s impact on the environment through sustainability initiatives, programs, and practices

Forsyth Principles of
Education for Sustainability

  1. Global Citizenship:
    We care for our community as global citizens and stewards of our environment.

  2. Interconnectedness:
    We acknowledge the connections among all living things and engage with nature to foster our sense of belonging and place.

  3. Cycles & Systems:
    We learn about our planet's cycles and natural systems across space and time. 

  4. Limits & Balance:
    We share the Earth and respect its limits.

  5. Diversity, Equity & Fairness:
    We uphold diversity, equity, and fairness as essential for sustainable solutions and community well-being.

  6. Ability to Make a Difference:
    We have the ability, responsibility, and capacity to make a difference.

Missouri Green Schools

Missouri Green Schools is a state-level recognition program co-managed by the Missouri Gateway Green Building Council and the Missouri Environmental Education Association that supports growth through a continuous loop of tracking and advancing sustainability practices, ultimately cultivating a culture of sustainability. Participating schools are honored annually at emerging, progressing, and advanced levels for their achievements across five levels of recognition.

Level 2: Sprout schools are honored for goal setting, benchmarking, and tracking improvement toward the further advancement of green and healthy practices. Level 3: Seedling schools additionally document a sustainability-related achievement in at least one educational program. Level 4: Sapling schools additionally document the long-term impacts of their conservation efforts over 1–3 years. Level 5: Flowering Dogwood schools measure the consumption and demonstrate the reduction of energy, waste, and water for the entire school AND commit to mentoring other schools on their green journey.

Forsyth School achieved Sprout-level recognition in 2021, Seedling-level recognition in 2022, Sapling-level recognition in 2023, and Flowering Dogwood recognition in 2024. Forsyth is the first and ONLY Missouri school to achieve this highest level of recognition across the life of the program.

Current & Recent Initiatives

  • Waste Ambassadors

    During the 2022/23 school year, Go Green Forsyth established a Waste Ambassadors program for students in the Upper Division (Grades 3–6) to support and promote Forsyth’s composting and recycling efforts within and among the entire school community.

  • Impact Challenge

    New for the 2023/24 school year, Forsyth's weekly elective classes for Grades 5 and 6 allow students and teachers to delve deeper into specialty areas of interest.

    The recent Impact Challenge elective provided an opportunity for students to participate in the annual Impact Challenge at Principia School, where they presented about Forsyth's sustainability efforts on campus.

  • Earth-Based Wisdom

    New for the 2023/24 school year, Forsyth Grade 6 students participate in a guided Earth-Based Wisdom pilot certification program. Activities develop native plant-based ecological restoration skills within a framework of mindfulness.

    As participants explore key ecological concepts, they deepen their feelings for the earth, better understand their relationship to all life, and cultivate a healing capacity for nature and themselves.

  • Operation Food Search Food Drive

    In 2024, the Waste Ambassadors led the entire Forsyth community in a food drive in partnership with Operation Food Search. OFS is a hunger relief organization that provides free food, nutrition education, and innovative programs proven to reduce food insecurity.

  • Phones for the Planet

    In 2024, cell phones collected during Forsyth's January electronics recycling drive were recycled through 10 Billion Strong's Phones for the Planet program. 

    Phones for the Planet is a circular economy initiative to reduce toxic e-waste, help protect critical habitat for animals, decrease the production of unnecessary new electronic devices, and bridge the digital divide.

  • Falcon 2 Falcon

    New during the 2024/25 school year, Falcon 2 Falcon provides Forsyth families with opportunities to participate in seasonal exchanges of gently used apparel, equipment, and shoes at NO cost. Items that remain unclaimed after that date will be donated to Passback.

    Falcon 2 Falcon is a joint effort of the Forsyth Athletics Department, Go Green Forsyth & the Waste Ambassadors, and the Forsyth Family Organization.

History of Annual Initiatives

  • 2023/24: Food Waste Reduction & Habitat Restoration

  • 2022/23: Waste Reduction & Energy Conservation

  • 2021/22: Waste Reduction & Recycling (Trex® Plastic Film Recycling Challenge)

  • 2020/21: Trees Study & Carbon Capture (Green Schools Quest)

  • 2019/20: Plastics Reduction & Recycling (Green Tree Plastics-ABC Promise Partnership Program)

  • 2018/19: Air Quality & Wind Energy (Green Schools Quest, 1st Place Winner)

  • 2017/18: Waste Reduction & Compost Production (Green Schools Quest, 2nd Place Tie)

  • 2016/17: Water Conservation & Education (Green Schools Quest, 2nd Place Winner)

  • 2015/16: Soil & Gardening (Green Schools Quest, Honorable Mention)

  • 2014/15: Recycling (Green Schools Quest)

  • 2013/14: Solar Energy (Green Schools Quest, 1st Place Winner)

  • 2012/13: Recycling & Solar Energy

  • 2011/12: Recycling & Energy Efficiency

  • 2010/11: Paper Conservation & Recycling

  • 2009/10: Healthy Food & Paper Conservation