Environmental stewardship, along with outstanding academics, is a key value for Greens Farm Academy in Westport, Ct. Determined to create the first completely sustainable high school synthetic turf field in the state, the independent school selected Brock PowerBase, the only Cradle to Cradle Certified product in the synthetic turf industry, as the underlayment for their new athletic field.
“A great deal of research went into finding a type of synthetic turf field that would address environmental and safety concerns,” explained Mandy Argenio, Director of Development, Greens Farms Academy. “Our field is constructed with the latest state-of-the-art technology. The Brock underlay is a green building product–both it and the infill are themselves recyclable. In keeping with our sustainability efforts, we are the first school in Connecticut to put in an environmentally responsible synthetic turf field.”
Greens Farms Academy (GFA) began as an independent day school in 1925 in Westport, Connecticut. Today it’s a K-12 school with 685 diverse students from 30 surrounding towns. The campus covers 42 acres bordering three ecosystems–Long Island Sound, a salt marsh and an Audubon wilderness–all of which serve as outdoor classrooms. In 2010, GFA launched a school-wide initiative, the World Perspectives Program, which exposes students to global issues confronting the world and to ways of creating a more sustainable future. Working to ensure its ecological sensitive natural resources are sustained for the future, the school fosters this awareness and compassion with students, graduates, faculty, staff and the parent body. For more information, visit www.gfacademy.org.
The 80,000 square foot, multi-purpose synthetic turf field was created by FieldTurf. Since its installation last September, the playing surface has been used for field hockey, soccer, lacrosse and other student activities.