LEXINGTON, Ky. — A school in Lexington is bringing the outdoors onto its campus.

It’s an effort to teach more sustainability practices and reduce stresses on the environment, and it earned the school national recognition.

Students at Cassidy Elementary’s race team put together an electric car within three months’ time.

“If there’s a battery, it would be off right now. This comes out some so you would just push it in and then turn it and it would be on,” said Levi Dunnigan, a fifth-grader who’s explaining all the car’s features. “We are building this car, and we are going to eventually race it sometime this summer.”

Fifth grade student Levi Dunnigan shows off the electric car project they are working on to race this summer. (Spectrum News 1/Khyati Patel)

They’ve already completed the test drive, and now they’re in the fine-tuning phase.

“So these are wires that we have crimped using tools and then we have used them to wrap them around the screw and tighten them down,” Levi said.

Levi said he and his other classmates are gaining more awareness in conservation efforts.

“This is important to me because it’ll teach me how to do order mechanics later on and it’ll help my environment,” Levi said.

Outside their school, Levi and fellow students—third grader Anne McKee and fourth grader CeCe Hubbard—help show off their garden.

“I have basil, carrots. Actually going like this type of watermelon, and the tomato plant that you gave us in the science club is going really well,” Anne said.

The outdoor classroom includes accessible raised bed gardens, a butterfly habitat, a rain garden, composting, vermiculture, an erosion station, a soil percolation station, animal tracks and insect exploratory regions.

There are even sensory, herb, and literature gardens, and a Kentucky native species area.

While removing some weed and composting them, CeCe Hubbard shares why recycling is important for the planet. (Spectrum News 1/Khyati Patel)

Anne also showed off the fish tank in their classroom that has trout. Through the Trout in the Classroom program, students explore ecosystems as they raise trout from eggs to understand their life cycle, water quality, and their local watersheds.

Inside the cafeteria, the school has set up a recycling station where students can pour out the leftover drinks.

“There’s milk cartons, and then juice boxes for breakfast times,” CeCe said. “And so you just empty your juice or milk in here, and then we recycle it. It’s amazing how much we’re saving from going out in the landfill and saving the earth and helping the earth become a better place.”

This month, the United States Department of Education awarded Cassidy Elementary one of the nation’s U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools designation.

Across the nation, 36 schools also received the honor for their sustainability efforts.