CLARKSVILLE, TN – Amare Montessori recertified at the Platinum Level through the Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification Program, reaffirming its commitment to environmental stewardship and resource conservation. On Sept. 24, County Mayor Wes Golden and CMC Green Certification Manager Michelle Newell formally recognized their accomplishment.
Located at 300 Miller Road, Amare Montessori moved to its current 21-acre campus in 2022 to create an environment where students could learn in connection with nature and the world around them.
The school serves students from preschool through ninth grade and incorporates environmental stewardship into learning across the curriculum. Students gain hands-on, practical experience through gardening, caring for animals, studying native plants, and learning to use natural resources responsibly.
That philosophy extends throughout the campus.
Students raise monarch butterflies, grow vegetables, and care for chickens while learning where food comes from and what it takes to produce it. Junior high students take the lessons a step further by developing business plans, selling the vegetables they grow, and determining how the proceeds can be reinvested to benefit their school.
Amare Montessori places a strong emphasis on reuse and resource conservation including energy, water, land management, and materials. Within a year of moving to the new site, Amare had an energy audit conducted by Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (CEMC). Students and staff collect bottle caps and aluminum cans for recycling, with proceeds used to purchase items that benefit students. Reclaimed materials, including old barn wood, are repurposed for campus projects and outbuildings, while other recyclables are taken to Bi-County Solid Waste Management’s Sango Convenience Center.
The campus itself is part of the learning experience. Staff, volunteers, and students created trails and natural areas, including areas of native grass and wildflowers. Materials discovered during cleanup efforts, including granite and other remnants from years of the land being used as a dumping ground prior to Amare purchasing it, are thoughtfully incorporated into the landscape where appropriate.
Outdoor activity is an integral part of the school’s educational philosophy. Students spend time outdoors as part of their everyday school experience, exploring trails, being physically active, and learning from their surroundings.
“Amare Montessori demonstrates that environmental stewardship can become part of everyday learning,” said Jaime Yeager Head of School. “The students aren’t simply learning about resource conservation in a classroom. They are practicing it.”
During the recertification visit, school representatives shared the school’s practices and discussed its continued commitment to stewardship with Mayor Golden.
Mayor Golden joked that as an active child, he needed a place like Amare Montessori and later reinforced an important principle behind the Green Certification Program stating, “Not a single living thing can survive by itself. We are all connected.”
How we use land, water and other resources can affect the broader community and the natural systems that support it.
“Amare Montessori’s Platinum recertification recognizes the school’s continued commitment to making resource conservation and environmental stewardship part of its culture—not a separate program or activity,” said Newell.
The CMC Green Certification Program, supported through Bi-County Solid Waste Management and Montgomery County Government, recognizes local organizations that demonstrate a commitment to practical resource management, operational efficiency, and environmental stewardship. Organizations work through a process designed to provide a roadmap for identifying and implementing practical improvements within their operations.
For more information about the CMC Green Certification Program, visit https://montgomerytn.gov/green.