Sustainability
The well-being of our people and our planet are inseparable from one another.
That’s why sustainability is the foundation and focus of our entire model at the Academy for Global Citizenship—because our environment impacts everything.
Just as our students learn to see themselves as part of an interconnected world, we build it into our Campus, live it through our Culture, and teach it through our Curriculum.
Learn more about how these three parts each shape and sustain the others within one shared system at AGC.
Our Sustainability Philosophy
Sustainability is for Everyone
We believe there are many ways to practice sustainability—and no single right way to start.
At AGC, our approach is inclusive, solution-oriented, and focused on progress over perfection.
If we want lasting, positive change, both individual and collective action are needed.
Our Campus
The Greenest Building That Keeps Growing
Located on Chicago's Southwest Side, AGC's 70,000-square-foot facility was designed to close the loop on energy, water, and waste.
The site sat fallow since 2011. Today, it generates more energy and captures more water than it uses, sending the surplus back into the community.
As of 2026, the Academy for Global Citizenship is the first and only building in Illinois, as well as the first and only whole school building in the world, to meet the standards of the Living Building Challenge—the world’s highest environmental certification from Living Future.
Fifty geothermal wells, 550 kW of on-site photovoltaic panels, and on-site battery storage power the building—a system so efficient that AGC produces 107% of the energy it uses, returning the rest to the grid.
From solar panels to nature playscapes to our urban farm, AGC’s award-winning campus serves as a third teacher, engaging hundreds of students and community members in a more regenerative way of living every single day.
Campus Features
Educational Gardens
Hands-on growing spaces integrated into classroom learning, where students plant, tend, and observe across every grade level.
Urban Farm
A two-acre working farm harvested five days a week, giving students direct, daily access to where their food comes from and how it grows.
Environmental Learning Commons
An outdoor gathering deck extending over our rain gardens that invites students to learn from nature while experiencing firsthand how green infrastructure captures, filters, and restores rainwater.
Outdoor Learning Balconies
Classroom-adjacent outdoor spaces where students step outside to learn, reflect, and connect with fresh air as part of the daily rhythm of school, not a separate trip outdoors.
Medicine Wheel
An outdoor gathering space co-designed by local artists, students, and a curandera from Mexico, featuring handmade ceramics, reclaimed wood from Chicago Park District trees, and planters growing African and Latin American heritage crops, honoring the community's roots while nurturing new ones.
Community Gardens
Open growing spaces that extend the farm's bounty and its benefits beyond the school day, connecting families and neighbors to fresh food and the land.
Our Culture
Nurturing Curiosity and Compassion
At AGC, our most powerful energy source is our people.
Every person in AGC's ecosystem—students, staff, and families alike—plays a role in our shared commitment to environmental justice.
From our global professional development program to the new traditions we celebrate throughout the school year, we work to cultivate an environment that reflects our core values, strengthens our mindfulness, and sustains our mission as a living, breathing movement to inspire more positive action across humanity.
Together, every day becomes an opportunity to make things better and brighter for each other and for the historically underrepresented communities we're proud to call home.
Culture Examples
Sustainability Onboarding
Every new staff member is welcomed into AGC's sustainability culture from day one, with training on how to model environmental stewardship for students in simple, meaningful ways.
Innovation Fund
AGC’s annual professional development fund supports educators in pursuing sustainability-expanding programs and international experiences that also strengthen their teaching practice.
Community Engagement
All staff dedicate a minimum of 12 hours annually to community stewardship, from park cleanups to habitat restoration, modeling the global citizenship they teach.
Seedling Sale
An annual AGC event where students sell a variety of plants and herbs for neighbors, families, and community members across Chicago so they can grow more sustainable greens at home.
Wellness Integration
AGC’s commitment to sustainability includes prioritizing holistic health for long-term wellbeing, from spending a third of each day outdoors and to hosting a full-day retreat dedicated to educator restoration.
Green Festival
AGC’s annual holiday celebration that spotlights local Chicago vendors and businesses, designed to give students and families an opportunity to practice conscious gifting.
Our Curriculum
Environmental Stewardship in Action
How we learn is just as important as what we learn—and sustainability is our North Star in navigating it all.
AGC's holistic K-8 curriculum guides students through daily adventures in nature, multicultural inquiry, and real-world problem-solving to build ecological awareness, human compassion, and global perspective.
We all want to leave the world better than we found it. At AGC, environmental stewardship becomes second nature.
Curriculum Highlights
Sustainability as the Syllabus
From daily environmental education to biomimicry studies, students explore how nature's own designs solve problems, building toward dedicated Sustainability and Design Thinking coursework in middle school that turns curiosity into applied innovation.
IB Units Linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainability learning at AGC connects local action to global frameworks, helping students understand that what they do here matters far beyond Chicago's Southwest Side.
Communal Village Model
AGC's campus featured vibrant and flexible shared learning spaces instead of classrooms to nurture curiosity, collaboration, and stronger relationships with both peers and the natural world.
Annual Service Opportunities
Every student’s journey involves giving back to our planet and communities, from hands-on projects that support local Chicago parks and neighborhoods to international experiences that strengthen both cultural identity and sustainable practices.
Culinary Garden and Kitchen Learning
Students learn to cook with what they grow, exploring flavor, culture, and nutrition through hands-on kitchen experiences while building food literacy and a direct relationship with the land that feeds them.
Sustainable School Food Program
AGC's nationally recognized food model centers fresh, seasonal, culturally relevant ingredients, making every lunch a lesson in what it looks like to nourish people and the planet at the same time.
Experience AGC
One visit to our six-acre campus is all it takes to inspire a world of possibilities.
Good things are growing here every single day. Tend to it with us!
