Sustainability Spotlight: Standout Elementary Custodians
Sustainability Spotlight: Standout Elementary Custodians
This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on three exceptional LPS elementary school Assistant Custodial Supervisors!
Our team visits all school cafeterias each year, and these Assistant Custodial Supervisors have really gone above and beyond this school year with helping students and schools achieve their sustainability goals. They and their teams are integral to managing waste programs and supporting sustainability efforts across the district and inside elementary cafeterias.
Leif Tomas at Hill Elementary
Over the last year, Leif Tomas has been transforming cafeteria composting at Ruth Hill Elementary into an opportunity for environmental education. His enthusiasm for composting is contagious. Through daily interactions with students, he’s built a team of young advocates who eagerly help with waste sorting efforts.
What started as simple guidance has evolved into something more engaging. Tomas shares fun facts about compost and its environmental impact, capturing students’ natural curiosity. The results have been impressive.
“A lot of the kids didn't know where things went, but they pick up on things really fast. And so it's actually really efficient and really nice to get to compost, and I think it's done really well.”
His patient, encouraging approach has helped students become genuinely invested in making a difference, one lunch tray at a time.
Lou Damm at McPhee Elementary
At McPhee Elementary, Lou Damm has spent five years perfecting the art of making sustainability accessible. Their strategy? A friendly face, custom signage, and an open door policy for questions. The combination has been very effective in increasing sustainable behaviors. Students of all ages now confidently navigate composting in the lunchroom.
Damm has witnessed a steady increase in student participation over the years. More importantly, they’re teaching a skill that extends far beyond the cafeteria walls.
“I think just being there and being a friendly face will help the students feel more comfortable and be able to ask questions.”
The curiosity Damm encourages has led to a noticeable increase in student engagement. Students notice every new addition to the signage and actively seek guidance on proper waste sorting. “I’ve always told them they can ask me questions. They always want to know more. If I add something to the sign, they’re like, ‘what is that?’ Or, you know, they asked me, ‘where does this go?’ And I’m always wanting to help them.”
It’s this willingness to engage that Damm hopes students will carry with them as they grow.
Jerry Goreham at Brownell Elementary
Since starting at LPS in 2016, Jerry Goreham has brought a lifetime of environmental stewardship to his work. Composting and recycling since childhood, Goreham now channels that experience into inspiring the next generation.
His four years at Brownell have been rooted in empathy and connection. Rather than focusing on rules, Goreham talks with students about keeping the Earth and its creatures (worms, caterpillars, and all) happy and healthy. By framing sustainability as caring for the world around us, he taps into each student’s innate desire to help.
Gentleness and positivity define his method, and students respond by genuinely trying their best. For Goreham, this work is deeply personal and forward-looking.
“We have to leave this world in a better place than what we came into it. We can’t destroy it for our children and our grandchildren. They must be able to do what I did, run around outside, barefoot, carefree, have fun. If we contaminate it with plastics and chemicals, they can’t do that.”
We are so grateful to have custodians like Leif, Lou and Jerry in our district! Every one of them is dedicated to making things a little better for staff and students every day, and we couldn’t imagine LPS without them.
2025 ENERGY STAR Certifications
2025 ENERGY STAR Certifications
LPS Sustainability is proud to announce that Lincoln Public Schools earned ENERGY STAR certification for 38 buildings in 2025! This is a new all-time high for LPS, and includes 28 buildings that achieved recertification after also being recognized in 2024.
ENERGY STAR certifications help track and recognize the impressive energy efficiency efforts going on across LPS properties.
Buildings districtwide are continuing to improve their ENERGY STAR ratings through a combination of facility upgrades and consistent efforts from the staff and students who occupy them every day.
For example, LED light bulbs reduce a building’s energy usage on their own, but someone switching the lights off when they leave a room makes the impact even bigger!
Certified Buildings
* denotes recertification from 2024
- *Adams Elementary – 91
- *Arnold Elementary – 89
- *Belmont Elementary – 93
- *Calvert Elementary – 79
- *Campbell Elementary – 88
- Culler Middle – 87
- Dawes Middle – 93
- Don Sherill Education Center – 89
- *Elliott Elementary – 87
- Everett Elementary – 98
- *Fredstrom Elementary – 84
- *Goodrich Middle – 97
- *Hill Elementary – 93
- *Humann Elementary – 96
- *Irving Middle – 97
- *Kahoa Elementary – 91
- *Kloefkorn Elementary – 86
- *Kooser Elementary – 90
- *Lakeview Elementary – 89
- *Lefler Middle – 94
- Lincoln High – 86
- *Maxey Elementary – 82
- *McPhee Elementary – 93
- Meadow Lane Elementary – 85
- *Mickle Middle – 92
- *Moore Middle – 90
- *Morley Elementary – 86
- *Northeast High – 96
- Northwest High – 94
- Pershing Elementary – 86
- *Pound Middle – 90
- *Pyrtle Elementary – 98
- *Roper Elementary – 85
- *Rousseau Elementary – 88
- *Steve Joel District Leadership Center – 93
- West Lincoln Elementary – 87
- Wysong Elementary – 100
- *Zeman Elementary – 93
The Certification Process
To be eligible for certification, a building must earn an ENERGY STAR score of at least 75 on a scale of 1 to 100.
A rating of 75 reflects that a building operates at an energy efficiency greater than 75% of comparable properties in the United States.
Throughout the year, the Sustainability Team enters data on each building’s monthly electricity and natural gas usage.
The eligibility rating system considers building size and purpose, local climate trends, and reported utility data to generate a building’s score.
When a property meets the 75-point score requirement and wants to pursue certification, an independent licensed professional must verify the building’s efficiency data and overall indoor environmental quality.
Congratulations to all the Lincoln Public Schools properties that achieved certification for 2025! The next time you visit one of the district’s certified buildings, look for the blue ENERGY STAR decal at the main entrance!
Sustainability Spotlight: Ashlee Hendricks and Sarah Phillips at Maxey Elementary School
Sustainability Spotlight: Ashlee Hendricks and Sarah Phillips at Maxey Elementary School
December’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Ashlee Hendricks and Sarah Phillips, two passionate parents at Maxey Elementary School! Hendricks and Phillips volunteer for the Maxey PTO and have taken the lead on garden restoration projects at Maxey this fall.
Hendricks got the idea to start renovating the garden after noticing that the courtyard area at Maxey was underutilized, limiting the potential for outdoor learning.
She felt it was important for all Maxey students to have a safe, accessible outdoor space to learn and actively experience nature. She quickly recruited Phillips, and the pair started work on renovating the courtyard and garden to improve access for both students and teachers.
Neither Hendricks nor Phillips had any prior gardening experience before starting work on the Maxey garden, but that didn’t stop them from creating a space for students to thrive and connect with their environment and peers.
"Being outside or creating a garden space doesn't have to be some humongous undertaking to start. I think that even if you only have a couple square feet, there's still value in being out and being in the dirt and having kids interact with plants, you don't have to have a green thumb.”
Hendricks and Phillips place a strong emphasis on inclusivity and community in Garden Club. They invite students of all ages and backgrounds to participate in monthly garden meetings and have had an impressive 43 students take part in gardening activities.
“The heart of what we want the Garden Club to be is that everybody matters. Every color matters,” Hendricks said. “We get to plant that, we can make those choices, we can include, and we can work hard, or we can create something for the future by doing something now.”
In just a few months, the garden has successfully provided the outdoor experiences Hendricks and Philips set out to create.
Monthly club meetings have included plant scavenger hunts, monarch observations and making entries in personalized outdoor journals.
“When you have these hands-on experiences where you’re out in the dirt and work very tactile, very hands on, I think that just sticks in kids brains in a different way,” Phillips said.
Recently, the club planted over 400 bulbs in their garden and around their school. Students paired the planting with a poster celebrating how their differences make their school more beautiful.
Hendricks and Phillips said they are proudest of the community they’ve created at Maxey. Phillips observed that over the months, students have become more comfortable with the outdoor space, the creatures they encounter and each other.
"Any sense of community that we can create within our schools is so valuable. That is what I think holds us together. It's as simple as knowing that we've got we've got a friend here and people who can help us."
In the future, Hendricks and Phillips would like to continue work on Maxey’s garden and landscaping and eventually hope to have an area that is accessible to the community. They plan to use funds the club earns through the Green Schools Recognition Program to help make this possible. By focusing on student leadership and participation, they say, the club and garden will thrive far into the future.
They hope that other schools and parents can learn from their example, that you don’t have to be a garden expert or have grand plans to get a garden and community going.
“If our experience has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a lot more people than you might think that are interested in nature and being outside and being part of something,” Phillips explained.
Hendricks and Phillips have shown that big community changes can happen with small steps, teamwork, a pair of gloves, and a just little bit of elbow grease. We are so proud of the inclusive and inspiring community they have built with the students at Maxey and cannot wait to see the garden thrive and for students to be able to learn outdoors for many years to come.
Students Engage with Renewable Energy
Students Engage with Renewable Energy
Students at Lux and Scott middle schools are embracing their brand new solar panels through hands-on experiences this fall.
Each school’s Green Team hosted engineers from Nelnet Renewable Energy for a club meeting focused on how solar panels harness the sun’s energy. Nelnet installed three new solar arrays on LPS campuses this year, more than doubling the district’s renewable energy portfolio.
These 25 kW installations are about more than just energy; each solar array also acts as an interactive learning tool that creates opportunities for students to engage with sustainability topics in classrooms and after-school clubs.
Lux and Scott students began by exploring the live dashboards and learning about the energy offsets and environmental benefits of the panels
Then they headed outside to adjust panel angles and discover optimal positioning strategies for collecting solar energy. They connected changes on the solar dashboard with the physical adjustments they made to the panels themselves. This hands-on approach allowed students to bridge classroom learning with real-world renewable energy applications.
Both groups took full advantage of their Q&A sessions with the Nelnet team, asking about environmental benefits, career opportunities, and the science and engineering behind how the panels are designed and constructed.
Students from both schools plan to take leadership roles for managing the arrays in the future. They will continue to monitor and adjust the solar panels to maximize energy generation and environmental benefit.
"All five district solar arrays give students a unique opportunity for real-world engagement with renewable energy."
The solar panels at LPS provide valuable, accessible resources for students to deepen their understanding of sustainability and environmental stewardship. The interactive nature of these installations allows students to explore not only the effects of renewable energy resources, but also how they work as they examine both the environmental impact and the innovation that makes solar technology possible.
We are grateful for Nelnet Renewable Energy’s partnership in creating these engagement opportunities that empower students to envision how they can contribute to making our schools and communities cleaner and more sustainable.
Sustainability Spotlight: Marina Bush at Lux Middle School
Sustainability Spotlight: Marina Bush at Lux Middle School
November’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Marina Bush, a science teacher from Lux Middle School!
Bush first served as a Sustainability Champion at Park Middle School, bringing in a wildlife encounter for students after earning a funding reward through the Green Schools Recognition Program. At Lux, she has continued her efforts to get students connected to the environment and involved with sustainability by founding the school’s “Green Team.”
The Green Team is a student-led initiative that focuses on increasing environmental actions and making sustainable decisions. The club meets weekly for litter cleanups and to encourage sustainable actions among their fellow students.
Together, Bush and the Green Team have organized schoolwide sustainability projects including marker recycling, the Cans4Books Recycling Drive and the NexTrex Recycling Challenge.
Bush credits Green Team student leaders for the club’s successes. She said that creating a safe space for students to share their ideas has allowed the club’s focus to develop organically.
“My role as the Green Team leader and the Sustainability Champion is to be the guide and the resource for them, but they are the ones that decide in what direction they think it’s most important to go,” she said.
In addition to their impressive commitment to recycling and litter cleanups, the Green Team also dives into a variety of other sustainability topics. Club members have examined eco-friendly home building practices with UNL Engineering Ambassadors and explored air and water quality with the LPS Environmental Department.
Most recently, Nelnet engineers trained Bush and the Green Team on the school’s new solar panel array. Students learned how to adjust the panels and can access real-time data to see how different angles impact power output. Each of these experiences provided an opportunity for hands-on learning, as well as a connection to various STEM career fields.
"They're the ones that are building this world that they are then going to be adults in, so they have a sense of what is important to them."
Bush said she hopes to see the club’s efforts include more gardening this year, expanding on previous classroom growing projects. Even when a project doesn’t quite go as planned, Bush says the supportive environment of the Green Team helps students make the most of each meeting.
“They get to take risks and try things out and see how it goes, so the club is really great to build students’ confidence,” she said. “That’s one of the best parts of being a Sustainability Champion, is seeing the kids thrive in that kind of club.”
Bush has been an inspiring role model for students and staff alike, proving that sustainability is not a one-track issue. With plans to continue building student confidence through hands-on environmental work, Bush and the Green Team are just getting started! We’re excited to see the future of sustainability at Lux in such capable and enthusiastic hands.
‘TNT’ Program Expands District Tree Canopy
'TNT' Program Expands District Tree Canopy
Students across Lincoln Public Schools got their hands dirty this October, planting trees and learning about environmental stewardship thanks to a partnership with PlantNebraska, formerly known as the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.
LPS received 10 trees through the Trees for Nebraska Towns program. The program focuses on community plantings with a direct public benefit and seeks to increase the size and resilience of Nebraska’s community forests.
Prior to each planting, the LPS Grounds Department dug holes and set up supplies for students to use.
At Brownell Elementary, 4th graders in the STEAM Class planted a ginkgo tree in early October. Assistant Grounds Superintendent Troy Gold demonstrated each step, allowing students to both document the process and perform the planting.
Around the same time, the Prickly Planet Protectors Club at Holmes Elementary planted two catalpa trees next to their school garden. Club members worked together to make sure all of the soil and mulch around each tree formed a perfect circle.
Later in the month, students at Lefler Middle School stuck around after school to help plant the site’s four new trees: two Schuette’s oaks and two sycamores. Most of the student volunteers said that the afternoon marked the first time they had ever planted a tree!
Wysong Elementary School’s student council convenes once a month before school, and used their morning meeting this October to plant three trees on their school campus. Wysong is now home to a gingko tree named Goldie, a bur oak named Billy and a cypress named Iris.
In addition to the hands-on component, each school received care instructions and a fact sheet about the species they planted. The ten trees will provide shade, wildlife habitat and continued educational opportunities for years to come!
Interested in learning more? Check out these additional tree resources:
- LPS Tree Dashboard: Explore the district tree canopy by school or by tree species.
- PlantNebraska Community Forest videos: Learn the basics of about community forests and their impacts.
- PlantNebraska speaker request: Dive into a variety of topics from expert local speakers! Presentations are available to schools, student clubs, workshops and more.
Adams Elementary Students Plant 50 Trees
Adams Elementary Students Plant 50 Trees
Folsom Park and Adams Elementary are now home to a collective 50 new trees thanks to a group of budding arborists at Adams Elementary School. Fourth graders teamed up with Lincoln Parks and Recreation, the Arbor Day Foundation, student volunteers from Northeast High School, and our very own sustainability team to plant trees around Folsom Park and their school campus on October 8th.
Before students began planting, they learned the steps to properly plant a tree. Lincoln Parks and Recreation staff demonstrated how to:
1. Break up the root ball at the base of the tree to help the tree expand its roots and grow strong.
2. Check the depth of the hole so the tree is planted at ground level. (If the hole is too deep, add some more soil and perform the “dirt dance” until it’s flat!)
3. Place the tree and fill in the gaps with soil.
4. Surround the tree with mulch to prevent weeds and over-mowing
5. Name the tree!
After the students completed these steps, taking the occasional dance break along the way, Parks and Recreation stabilized the trees with wooden stakes and watered all the trees across the park.
After the demonstration, students got to work digging, planting, mulching, and, of course, dancing! Through their hard work, the 4th graders at Adams planted a total of 40 trees around Folsom Park and 10 trees on their school campus, getting down in the dirt to take part in every step of the process. The students enthusiastically shoveled dirt, spread mulch, and named their trees a variety of trendy, goofy, and tree-related names.
The names of the newly planted trees range from “Meatball” to “Jimmy Jr.” to “Leaficus” and “Woody”. These newly planted and named trees, thanks to the efforts of the students, will grow for years to come, providing shade and cleaner air for many generations of students and community members.
The Arbor Day Foundation provided gloves for each student, as well as the 10 trees planted on school grounds. Each of these new plantings will contribute to the growing number of trees in the LPS tree canopy. The tree canopy provides students with places to sit, beautiful scenery, and a healthier environment.
The newly planted trees, and many more, are mapped and recorded on our Tree Dashboard! The dashboard can be used to find the locations, species, and information about trees all across LPS.
LPS couldn’t be more grateful for all of the hard work of the Adams Elementary students and staff, and the amazing volunteers and community partners who made this planting possible.
Images courtesy of Arbor Day Foundation
Click here to view all photos.
Sustainability Spotlight: Andrew Seuferer at Holmes Elementary School
Sustainability Spotlight: Andrew Seuferer at Holmes Elementary School
October’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Andrew Seuferer, the music teacher at Holmes Elementary School! Seuferer has been an educator at LPS for 8 years and just last year picked up the role of Sustainability Champion. He quickly became one of our most passionate and impressive champions, leading his school to the largest ever Green Schools Recognition Program point total to date.
His motivation? Getting students engaged with the environment.
During the 2024-25 school year, Seuferer started an environmental club called The Prickly Planet Protectors (PPP) and invited students in 3rd-5th grades to learn about and interact with the natural environment. The club began with only four students but quickly grew to 30 within just a few weeks. Seuferer attributes this growth to the students’ passion and excitement.
“It became something that was cool,” he said.
The Prickly Planet Protectors’ activities focus on both active and artistic projects. Seuferer emphasizes the importance of getting students physically involved with the environment. In the 2024-25 year, students read books from the Climate Action Bookshelf and made corresponding posters, created art with trees across their campus, took a field trip to the Arbor Day Farm, and grew fruits, flowers, and vegetables in their garden!
Seuferer maintains the importance of starting with simple and small sustainable activities to “get the fun going” for the students.
“There are so many resources out there,” he explains, “I don’t think you have to reinvent the wheel.”
He specifically cites resources from the National Forest Service and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission as places to start. Activities listed in the Green Schools Recognition Program and EcoSchools U.S. have benefited the club as well, allowing students to set goals and decide which activities they complete each year. Seuferer said that pursuing and recognizing easy wins along the way help motivate the students on the way to achieving their broader goals.
Substantial student engagement in the process of submitting activities to different organizations and programs has become a key focus of the club. Members of the Prickly Planet Protectors meet with building administrators, promote fundraising drives and take part in hands-on experiences.
This approach has helped Seuferer lead the club to some impressive achievements in their first year. In addition to earning the top funding award through the Green Schools Recognition Program, Holmes joined the ranks of the district’s Tree Campus K-12 awardees and became the first LPS site to reach EcoSchools Green Flag certification!
He hopes that being involved in environmental advocacy and sustainability from all angles will give the students real-world connections and keep them motivated and involved as they get older.
I hope that one of the things that they can carry with them would be to get outside and to put the screens down ... If they can take that with them as they start to develop their own opinions about things, I hope that more people start to care.
With a Bike and Garden Night already under their belt for the 2025-26 school year, an upcoming tree planting, and a variety of other sustainability activities planned, we are beyond proud of the sustainability efforts taking place at Holmes. We are excited to see how Seuferer continues to lead the Prickly Planet Protectors and support the entire Holmes Elementary School community!
Southeast, Robinson, Holmes Honored with Tree Campus K-12 Distinction
Southeast, Robinson, Holmes Honored with Tree Campus K-12 Distinction
LPS Sustainability is proud to announce that Robinson Elementary School, Southeast High School, and Holmes Elementary School all received Tree Campus K-12 recognition for the 2024-25 school year! They join Northeast High School and Kahoa Elementary School as the only schools in the district to earn this distinction through the Arbor Day Foundation to date.
To earn Tree Campus K-12 recognition, each school met four goals:
- Maintain a Tree Campus team dedicated to achieving recognition
- Create an education plan that connects students to trees and their global benefits
- Offer a hands-on experience that engages students with trees and the community
- Hold an Arbor Day observance to celebrate trees within the school or the community
Tree Campus K-12 recognition can be earned in a variety of ways. The three schools that received the recognition — Robinson, Southeast, and Holmes — all took different approaches to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to tree-based learning.
Robinson Elementary went the route of planting trees in their community. Fourth and fifth grade classes worked with community volunteers to plant 50 trees in Lincoln’s Waterford Park to commemorate Arbor Day 2025. In addition to the planting day, students at Robinson participated in a variety of tree-related activities, including playing the Park Masters board game and learning about the history of Arbor Day.
At Southeast High School, students planted trees on school grounds to bring more greenery to the campus. The effort was lead by Clio Baird, the Vice President of LSE Key Club, who, along with other club members, fundraised for the four trees planted around the campus. This entirely student-led effort demonstrates their strong commitment to the environment and sustainability.
Holmes Elementary was the first to earn their Tree Campus Recognition almost entirely within the classroom. Their sustainability club, the Prickly Planet Protectors, watched the documentary “Beyond Trees,” identified tree species across their campus, toured the Arbor Day Farm on a field trip, and created tree poems and artwork. Holmes staff also created tree-focused lessons and slides for each grade level. Their enthusiastic participation in these activities earned them Tree Campus Recognition!
Tree planting and classroom campaigns are just some of many hands-on experiences schools can carry out in their pursuit of Tree Campus K-12 recognition. For more information, visit the Arbor Day Foundation’s website or reach out to the Sustainability Team.
Congratulations to Robinson Elementary, Southeast High School, and Holmes Elementary on achieving this exciting honor!
Sustainability Spotlight: Kwame Gyamfi at Northeast High School
Sustainability Spotlight: Kwame Gyamfi at Northeast High School
This month’s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on Kwame Gyamfi at Northeast High School! Gyamfi serves as the CLC School Community Coordinator for Northeast High School where he provides students with the opportunity to build a positive environment where they can explore interests, learn new skills, and build community. As a part of this program, Gyamfi manages the Future Harvest Project which focuses on food and garden related activities.
The Future Harvest Project emphasizes student participation in the food systems of their communities. A core part of this project is the FEWSS garden club where students participate in planning, planting, harvesting, and maintaining the Northeast garden. Gyamfi describes the club as a place for students to learn how to solve problems and take part in active hands-on learning. He feels that it is important for students to be in charge of their projects and lets the students take the lead on every part of the gardening process. Gyamfi hopes that having room to learn and make mistakes will inspire the students to learn more deeply and enthusiastically, building problem solving and storytelling skills they can bring into their lives beyond high school.
"I think kids want to be inspired. I think that they're very savvy nowadays. So with the ability to access information at a much faster rate than in previous times, students don't need you to sit there and try to give them what they can get, they need to be inspired."
Beyond growing food, the garden club has shown measurable improvements in students’ happiness and well-being. A survey asking students to rank how they feel on a scale of 1-5 showed an average of a 20% improvement in student happiness due to the garden club. The garden club not only gets students involved and gardening, but improves their mood and produces a positive impact on mental health.
"We understand that once they may be stressed out, but once they get their hands in the dirt, once they get to enjoying that and let go of whatever it is, it typically benefits the students."
The club operates on a goal-based system, with their target at the end of the year to be selling and giving away their produce as salsa, canned food, or just as is. The students get to take part in planting hydroponics systems indoors, their garden areas outdoors, and they get to take part in the creation of salsa and are working towards canning their produce for other students and their community! Gyamfi emphasizes how the garden is for the community around the school as well. He encourages students and people in the community to come to the garden and take the produce that they want, whether it be watermelons, tomatoes, or even pumpkins!
The FEWSS garden club and the Future Garden Project serve as more than just an activity to fill up time, Gyamfi explained, they represent a legacy.
“It’s just planting seeds, and then so that, as they get older, maybe one of those seeds you planted germinates and grows and turns into something. To me, that’s legacy.”
The Future Harvest Project is a project filled with hope for a better future, stronger and healthier communities, and a legacy that will keep generations of students inspired. Gyamfi’s work in this program, and all others that he has been involved in, has been invaluable in how much it has improved the lives of students, staff, and the local community. We appreciate the support and efforts that many of our CLC School Community Coordinators provide to students across LPS.
