On October 20th, Chief Operations Officer, Roman Friemel announced that MIS received the ECO School Award for the 7th year in a row. The Landesvogelschutzbund (LBV) awarded their 3-star highest distinction to MIS for student-driven projects that tackle issues related to particular United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).
While the UNSDGs are intended as 17 “urgent calls to action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership” to tackle issues of hunger, poverty, climate action, inequality, etc., students at MIS are encouraged to work at a micro-level to create change and improve our local community in Bavaria.
Many eco-projects take place each year at MIS, but the ECO Award application restricts schools to apply with just two projects. Representing the 2022-23 school year, MIS highlighted a Grade 7 initiative that focused on UNSDG No. 6, Clean Water and Sanitation.
22 members of grade 7 collaborated with the grounds and maintenance team to evaluate water usage on campus, specifically with how junior school students were using tap water for play in the sandbox and outdoor mud kitchen. 7th-grade Eco Committee members worked with the grounds team to expand the volume of wooden water collection troughs and installed a gutter system to channel rainwater from the roof into the wooden troughs.
The second project was initiated by a current 8th-grader, Justus who responded to the needs of our campus’s local bat population (a species endangered by habitat loss and wind turbines). Justus and 10 other Eco Committee members worked with a bat expert to design and build bat homes on campus. Bat Night 2023 revealed that at least one bat has taken up residence in one of the bat homes!
MIS COO Mr. Friemel extended his thanks to all Eco Committee members and mentors for taking that "extra mile" as well as to Operations Manager Larissa Meixner-Adam for compiling the application. In Spring 2024, MIS plans to attend the Landesvogelschutzbund award ceremony to celebrate the efforts of all ECO-Schools.
Head of School Mr. Timothy Thomas sends a reminder to our school community that “there is so much that we need to do in order to guarantee a hospitable environment for future generations (including the children of today). Environmental education is vitally important. And I am so grateful that our students do this work at our school”.