The National Environmental Education Foundation awarded Waters School its Green Prize Merit Award in Public Education, it was announced last week.
The award, which includes $5,000, recognized the efforts of the school as an inspiration for the neighborhood and as a medium for ecological education.
“Waters was an underachieving Chicago Public School located on a city block covered from end t0 end in asphalt,” a news release announcing the award notes.
“Four colossal burr oaks with asphalt packed around their trunks were the only remaining natural features from the time when the Chicago River once flowed past the site.”
The award notes the work of the Local School Council and environmental activist Pete Leki in leading the redevelopment of the school campus.
Read the news release from the National Environmental Education Foundation.
