October 1, 2009

Contact: Karen Readey
Director of Communications
kreadey@midland-school.org       
Phone: (805) 688-5114 ext. 34  

MIDLAND SCHOOL AWARDED CALIFORNIA’S
HIGHEST ENVIRONMENTAL HONOR 

Los Olivos, CA—Midland School, an independent college preparatory school founded in 1932, received a 2009 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA). Midland was the only school among 15 organizations honored on September 30, 2009, at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 2 in Los Angeles, California.

GEELA is California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor. The award program recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership for voluntary achievements in conserving California’s resources, protecting and enhancing the environment, and building public-private partnerships.

Award recipients are chosen in ten different categories based on their strength in eight specific areas including results, transferability, environmental impact, resource conservation, economic progress, innovation and uniqueness, pollution prevention, and environmental justice. Midland School won an award for Children’s Environmental Education.

In these economic times, the state of California recognizes Midland as an environmental and economic leader with transferable lessons lived daily and indelibly imprinted in the school’s institutional memory.  Midland’s founders, Paul and Louise Squibb, saw in the lean economic times of the Depression an opportunity to teach honest, essential values within a rigorous academic curriculum - doing more with less, distinguishing between needs and wants, and working to meet basic needs. In Midland’s early years, these values reflected necessity, economy, and the intentional development of character and community. Now, it’s clear that distinguishing between needs and wants is the starting point of a meaningful conservation ethic. In this realm, Midland stands out as a pioneering environmental leader among schools.

“The genius of the Squibbs was in making our relationships with our resources transparent. Working to heat shower water with wood fires, exploring the outdoors and placing oneself on a topographic map, washing community dishes, tending a garden, or installing solar panels puts people in the cycle of life and materials,” said Lise Goddard, Midland’s Director of Environmental Programs. “At Midland, the fruits and the waste of our labors are right there in front of us, where we’re more likely to take responsibility than we would by just flipping a switch to get what we need.”

Much of the school’s sustenance – organic produce and grass-fed beef – is raised in Midland’s large organic garden and pastures.  Through annual, affordable, incremental solar installations every year since 2003-04 with sophomore classes, Midland produces both informed high school students and clean kilowatt-hours. In 2009, about 15% of Midland's communal electricity needs are met by student-installed arrays.  Midland will keep shrinking its carbon footprint in increments, without being paralyzed by the scale of the problem. In 2009, Midland preserved in perpetuity 2,727 of its 2,860 acres in a conservation easement with the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County and the Trust for Public Land. 

“This honor recognizes Midland School’s long standing commitment to develop well educated college-bound students that understand the connections between environmental protection and social responsibility,” said Will Graham, Head of School. “Midland has an obligation to our families and community to protect our natural resources and environment for generations to come.”

About Midland School
Founded in 1932, Midland School is a coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school for grades 9-12. It is located in Santa Barbara County on a 2,860-acre working ranch. The school combines rigorous academics with intensive immersion in the environment, and maintains a philosophical commitment to authentic student leadership, simplicity, self-reliance and environmental stewardship. It is the blending of coursework and ecological practices at Midland that makes this school unique. In addition, Midland offers competitive athletics, an equestrian program, arts and metals programs, countless extracurricular clubs and a guest speaker program.  Midland graduates are attending some of the most selective colleges including Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley, Williams, UCLA, Cal Berkeley, Occidental and the University of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Midland enrolls 90 students and employs 20 teachers, all of whom live on campus. For more information about Midland School, please visit www.midland-school.org.

About GEELA
The Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993. The award program is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency in collaboration with the State and Consumer Services Agency, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. For more information on GEELA and this year's award recipients, visit the Cal/EPA Web site: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Awards/GEELA/.  

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