April 2025

Denver Public Schools is using a new newsletter platform. Click or tap the image to view the full newsletter, interact with newsletter content like links and videos, and access translation options in your browser.

Earth Day is just around the corner, and our schools are stepping up to celebrate! Here's a sneak peek at some of the exciting events happening across the district:

• Bruce Randolph - Greenhouse Grand Opening on April 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This will be open house style. The ribbon cutting will be at 11:30 a.m., and the hydroponic farm and greenhouse will be open for tours throughout the full window. For more information, contact sarah_peterson@dpsk12.net.

• Centennial - The Green Team will lead an activity table on April 22 for students to make bee homes and pollinator seed pods. The Bike4Earth Bash is on May 2. Know any community partners who could help support the event? Please contact tara.hubner@gmail.com.

• Denver Green School Northfield - Houseplant sale the week of April 21 to raise funds to further develop their agroforestry site. For more info, contact nick_zuschneid@denvergreenschool.org.

• DSST Cedar - Earth Day event on April 23 hosted by the Global Leadership & Civics in Action students. Clothing drive during April. Environmental film screening on May 21 after school. For more info, contact juliann.lacey@scienceandtech.org.

• Teller - Plastic film drive during April. Walk, Bike, & Roll event the week of May 5. Know any community partners who could help support the event? Contact ssingh@dpsk12.net.

Rising 10-12th graders interested in paid internships this summer with the DPS Renewable Energy Academy and Electric Vehicle Academy are encouraged to sign up by May 1 or speak with their schools’ Navigator. Students will gain valuable job skills and experience in rapidly growing green industries such as solar energy and electric vehicle maintenance.

Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) brings the wonder of gardening to your classroom, and it’s free for DPS classes. Explore the options to bring a DUG instructor directly to your students with classes that run 30-60 minutes, and book your class today! DUG offers classes in English or Spanish, and can accommodate instruction in other languages for individuals or groups through an interpreter. DUG has been a great partner in bringing DPS gardens to life.

Note that DUG also offers workshops for families that bring generations together through hands-on gardening and sustainability activities.

The Climate Champions Grant Program funded 17 projects across the district this school year. With projects from elementary all the way through high school, we are excited to see student leaders step up to creatively take action to address community needs!

DPS has been recognized as a 2025 Best of Green Schools Award Recipient in the School System category by the Center for Green Schools and the Green Schools National Network!

A big thank you to the students, staff, and community partners for their dedication and passion that got us here!

Mr. June, a seventh-grade science teacher at Lake Middle School, has integrated hands-on environmental and agricultural education into his classroom. His students have built and maintained an indoor greenhouse and will collaborate this spring with Mo’ Betta Green Marketplace and Outer Haven. 

By the end of this program, 12 students will have:

• grown their own food from seed to harvest,

• developed a business plan for a student-run farmers market, and

• hosted their market at Green Spaces in Five Points, showcasing their produce and entrepreneurial skills. 

This initiative fosters hands-on learning in science, sustainability, and business, preparing students with valuable skills for the future while deepening their connection to food and community. Keep up the great work!

• East High: Sustainable Fashion Show

• tED Magazine: CO Electric Supply helps DPS take sustainability to the next level

• Front Porch: Sowing the Seeds of Climate Change

Each generation inherits the climate from the last, and each of us will experience this inheritance differently over the course of our lives. This graphic shows how the climate has warmed and the lived experiences are different for two DPS legends:

• Evie Dennis, the first woman and the first African American DPS superintendent who was born in 1924, and 

• DPS Students for Climate Action, the student group whose activism led to the passing of DPS’ first climate action policy who were born after 2000.

• Know someone who should read this? Forward it to them and have them sign up for the newsletter.

• Follow DPS Sustainability on Instagram and YouTube.

• Share the Climate Action Plan that is driving this work.