Loveland City School District and Amy Aspenwall receives Sustainability Award by local chamber

AP Environmental students trying on waders for the first time in preparation for a water quality study field trip.

District recognized for impact on students and community through
environmental sciences coursework

Loveland, Ohio – The Loveland City School District, through the nomination of Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Sciences Teacher Amy Aspenwall, has earned the Sustainability Award by the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance. The award recognizes the district and Aspenwall for her work with students, and the devotion to developing environmental leadership for the future.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for work that means so much to me and my colleagues at Loveland,” said Aspenwall. “We promote sustainability by developing environmentally educated and responsible leaders, and are committed to continuing to create programs that heighten awareness not just for our students at school, but for them as Loveland citizens and stewards of our world.”

The AP Environmental Sciences course at Loveland offers authentic, hands-on opportunities for students to understand water quality and biodiversity, consumer habitat design, and the impact of a population that shifts the needs and municipalities of the community. Students examine solutions to various environmental issues and are empowered to develop new ways to solve problems. Loveland Schools has a long-established, integrated recycling program, but the course work now offered helps develop a greater understanding of consumer goods, product development, and the power to choose sustainable methods. Students track their carbon footprint in the areas of food and fuel consumption, waste generation, and water and electricity use, and learn about ways that small changes can have a large impact for the benefit of the environment.

The AP Environmental Sciences course was implemented at Loveland High School (LHS) in the fall of 2016, resulting in a perfect 100 percent CollegeBoard passage rate in 2017. The program has doubled in size every year since its inception and is now filled to capacity until new sections can be added. Many students who completed the course have gone on to major or minor in environmental studies in college.

“APES challenged the typical AP class by making students think in a different way,” said Maddie Craft, a 2017 LHS graduate. “I’m about two years out of the class now, and I can still see how the topics that we discussed impact not only me personally but the world around me. I am going into Logistics Management and one of my goals in my career is to help build a more sustainable supply chain. This really stems from things that I learned in APES and the values that the class made me realize I have.”