By Lisa Parrish, GMC Editor

Sarah Waller started as a pastry instructor at Kent Career Technical Center’s hospitality program and noticed a large stack of Styrofoam trays used for packing and selling baked goods. Her first thought was, “Those trays will just sit in a landfill. We need to do something.” And she did – the Styrofoam trays are out and recyclable cardboard containers are now used.

It’s precisely that attitude of environmental awareness and action for which she earned the CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Award at the 2015 CAFÉ Leadership Conference. Her award application was based on a program to become the first water-bottle free high school in Michigan.

“We put all aspects of sustainability in the curriculum,” she said. “We want our students to be one step ahead. That’s where the future is.”

Three years ago Kent Career Technical Center, located in Grand Rapids, MI, earned a 3-Star Level accreditation from the Certified Green Restaurant Association. “At that point, there was only one other restaurant, located in the Detroit Zoo, that earned the certification,” said Waller. Currently, she believes there are only two additional organizations at the 3-Star Level. They are green certified in the school’s cafeteria, bakery store and the restaurant in the culinary café.

The forward-thinking secondary school also has solar panels and a wind turbine to off-set the electricity bill. “We try and educate our students as to what is their carbon footprint and how to reduce it.” She gives the example of how recycling is good for the environment but it also reduces carbon emissions because garbage trucks need to come less frequently.

The campus, located near Lake Michigan, does not lack for freshwater in the students’ minds. “But, that’s where the educational process comes in,” she said about teaching ecological sustainability and water conservation. The school won the Green Award for their program of removing all water bottles from the program, including taking them out of vending machines, and providing each of the 250 hospitality students their own water bottles that would be filled with water fillers located throughout the building.

While researching this program, Waller found only one other school, Central Michigan University, had tried to rid its campus of water bottles but couldn’t because of vending machine contracts.

However, Kent’s program has not been implemented at this time as they are still looking for more grants to cover the $14,000 budget. “Funds are extremely hard to find. We’ve been writing grants and have a little bit but not enough to cover everything,” she explained. Waller received $1,000 for earning the CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Award.

Another project the hospitality program has on its radar is to become more closely linked with the Center’s sustainable agriscience department. “Right now, they grow about 90% of our herbs and provide us with most of our tomatoes and bananas,” said Waller. The sustainable agriscience department also provides the culinary students with 50% of the required protein through their chickens raised on site. “The goal is to work toward becoming a self-sustaining program,” Waller said.

Sarah Waller is an advanced baking and pastries instructor at Kent Career Technical Center in Grand Rapids, MI. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Photo of culinary student selecting herbs courtesy of Kent Career Technical Center.