SVSD Honored for Culture of Sustainability

The Snoqualmie Valley School District recently received the “Culture of Sustainability” award from Puget Sound Energy’s Commercial Strategic Energy Management (CSEM) program, in recognition of our proactive efforts to promote energy conservation and sustainability awareness throughout the district.

This award celebrates organizations that create lasting behavioral change through education, engagement, teamwork, and everyday practices that support long-term sustainability goals.

Upon receiving this award, the SVSD Operations Team was invited to give a five-minute presentation on our district’s Clean Buildings journey at the recent CSEM conference. To a room packed with attendees from Bellevue, Mercer Island, Seattle, and Wenatchee school districts, the Washington State Department of Commerce, City of Issaquah, and many regional organizations, utility companies, and private businesses, Operations Office Manager Alina Gipson accepted this award and delivered an impressive presentation (since Operations Director Brandon Klepper was unavailable). 

Through district-wide communication, building shutdown checklists, collaborative walkthroughs, and energy-saving efforts across all departments, SVSD improved building performance during a three-year span. This yielded significant savings: reducing utility costs by $107,784 in year two alone, and securing $64,645 in incentive funding to help support future building improvements and continued energy conservation efforts.

“What made this recognition especially meaningful to me was seeing how quickly staff across our district jumped in and made these changes part of their daily routines. From school staff and technology teams to Food Services and Operations, everyone worked together to support Washington State’s new Clean Buildings Performance Standard requirements for commercial and educational buildings,” explained Gipson.

Even though some changes meant rethinking everyday conveniences or reducing personal appliances, our district community stepped up and became energy-saving superstars! Thanks to all SVSD employees for supporting energy conservation best practices. Collectively, it’s making a positive difference.