Barbour County’s Junior Elementary, named a 2019 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, provides a model for its “innovative practices surrounding health and wellness, environmental impact and sustainability education.”  The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer sustainability education to boost academic achievement and community engagement. Junior Elementary celebrates the natural beauty of West Virginia in students’ annual field trips, and its annual Adopt A Highway project, taking responsibility for cleaning up liter on the roadway between the Tygart Valley River and the school.

In 2019, the school was awarded a $5000 grant from WV Sustainable Schools Award to purchase mountain bikes. The Award program honors “a commitment to sustainable practices in the facilities as well as integrate those practices into the curriculum and community.” Students are learning how to use the bicycles and are using them to go on self-propelled field trips and during gym class.