School goes green -- wins national recognition

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Joshua Watson sums up his new school in one word: "amazing."

On Wednesday, the seventh-grader shared his enthusiasm about Hillside Middle School -- Salt Lake City School District's first nationally certified, green building -- with sixth-graders from nearby Beacon Heights Elementary.

Joshua, one of several guides who taught the visiting students about their future school, 2375 E. Garfield Ave. (1852 South), touted the building's air quality.

"I got to go down to the boiler room and see the air filters," Joshua said in an interview. A series of filters, he explained, keeps particles from blowing through the school's ventilation system.

Plus, before Hillside students entered their new, $20 million home in January, an "air flush" of the building purged much of the dust and chemicals stirred up during construction.

"From the first day of school, it always smelled great," Joshua declared.

While Hillside is a model of sustainable building techniques, those are also part of the curriculum. Students view their schoolhouse as a real-life lesson in recycling, energy efficiency and water conservation. It's one of only a few schools in Utah that qualify for green certification.

So far, a few classes at the school have helped develop instructional signs and artwork to tell visitors about its green features. Next year, Hillside teachers, across all disciplines, plan to incorporate lessons based on the building into curriculum.

Ellie Campbell, a sixth-grader at Beacon Heights, said she's looking forward to going to Hillside next year.

"I think it's cool they're trying to save the environment," she said during the tour.

The green school, which is on track to receive a "silver" rating in the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program, also creates a positive learning environment for students, said project architect Valerie Nagasawa.

Studies, she said, have shown that test scores improve when students are surrounded by natural light. At Hillside, 75 percent of the space has sufficient natural light to be considered "day lighting." There are windows with views to the outside in 90 percent of the rooms.

In the library, or media center, students are treated to panoramic views of Mt. Olympus, the Oquirrh Mountains, the Great Salt Lake and the downtown skyline.

"They have this huge sense of the place where they are in the valley and their natural environment," said Stephen Smith, a principal of GSBS Architects, which designed the school. "It's hugely gratifying to see [the students] use a building that's going to influence the way they see the world."

Jenna Rasmussen, a seventh-grader, told Beacon Heights kids about the benefits of natural light during their tour.

"It's cool because the windows are insulated so all you get is the light and not the heat from the sun. ... That saves energy," she said. "It's nice to have the views except for on smoggy days when you can't see anything."

Joshua, 13, worries about air pollution, too. Bad air, he said, is especially harmful to children. The school has helped inspire him to pursue science when he's an adult.

"I want to be an inventor and create a way to filter the air in the sky," he said.

For now, he's pleased that Hillside is doing its part to reduce air pollutants by cutting energy consumption and using paints with low levels of volatile-organic compounds.

"With this environmentally friendly school," Joshua said, "it will make it easier to clean up our air."

rwinters@sltrib.com