Grades of Green places second in Keep America Beautiful contest

Eric Furth
Staff Writer

Grades of Green, Manhattan Beach’s local volunteer and student-run environmental program, placed second in Keep America Beautiful’s annual awards ceremony.

The organization was placed runner-up in the “Youth Group Program” category of the ceremony, losing to CMS Community Based Instruction Class in Georgia. Keep America Beautiful is a nonprofit organization determined to allow individual towns to become as environmentally-conscious as possible through community service projects to allow for as little man-made waste as possible and to preserve the local ecosystem

“We’re excited and proud of their green achievements, and thank the community for helping celebrate their work.” Grades of Green marketing director Emily Gee said.

The Grades of Green Youth Corps was given this award for their many contributions to the South Bay community, such as city-wide bans on styrofoam and plastic bags in public restaurants and shopping centers, e-waste drives, energy conservation projects, and establishing Earth Clubs in many schools across the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.

“We as an organization are honored to receive this award,” founder and Programs Outreach Manager Allie Bussjaegar said, “We’re even prouder that we could help this community be as green as possible.”

Keep America Beautiful often offers grants and awards to various organizations, such as Grades of Green, for their work in communities and for future projects and programs for them to develop.

“The rest of Grades of Green is still deciding what our next step as a ‘green’ program is,” Bussjaeger said, “We still have so much potential and ability to do many more projects and activities in the South Bay.”

Grades of Green aspires to allow anyone who is concerned with the environmental quality of their community the opportunity to change it, through various projects listed on their website and team-based activities which they participate in on a weekly basis.

“We’re excited to receive the Keep America Beautiful Award on behalf of Grades of Green’s Youth Corps students,” said Youth Corps Programs Manager Lauren Muller, “These students are working hard to inspire the community to care for the environment, and we’re proud of their achievements in their schools and broader community.”