Greenest High School

MEET THE GREENEST HIGH SCHOOL IN SACRAMENTO

Downtown’s The Met gets makeover, targets LEED, CHPS certifications

By Nick Miller
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This article was published on 01.26.12.

No bells ever sound at The Met. The nearly 300 students at this small high school on the south side of downtown apparently just know when to go to class.

Which is cool, and important to note, because it speaks to how life at The Met—part of a nationwide Big Picture Schools family that offers unique academic choices such as local-business internships and mentor programs—is quite unlike the typical high-school experience.

The Met principal Allen Young (second from left) and students serenade the halls. Notice the wood-paneled ceiling: They’re reclaimed bleacher seats from Sacramento High School, part of the Met’s green remodel.

Ground Breaking

The Met Sacramento High School has bright energy future

By Max Ehrenfreund
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When students return to The Met Sacramento High School in January next year, they'll have a completely redesigned campus, one with energy-efficient windows and lighting, new plumbing and heating, and countertops made with recycled glass.

It Won't be long now!

The charter school near Southside Park will be the first in the city to meet national standards for energy efficiency. The new design exceeds criteria set by the U.S. Green Building Council and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.

SN and R puts the Met in the Spotlight

Two million U.S. students drop out of school every year. But not at The Met, where Principal Allen Young inspires kids. So then why might the high school get left behind?

“Stakeholders meeting” is one of those buttoned-up education-world terms describing a room full of passionate, noisy, possibly pissed-off parents, teachers and administrators. It was at one of these meetings 10 years ago in Sacramento when Allen Young decided to open his mouth and speak.

Read more of the Sacramento News & Review article.

We're BACK!

We are back at our 810 V Street campus starting January 9th. A ribbon cutting/family style open house (lots of food) will be held on Saturday February 18th at 11am. Our CHSPS and LEED certified campus is the first of its kind for SCUSD. Met grads Abel Guerra and Luis Salgado worked on the school early on via their internships with the architecture firm Stafford, King and Weiss and Turner construction. Current Met seniors Shauna Badaker worked with LEED to insure we were compliant and Irma Medina is currently interning with Paul Breckenridge as this project is buttoned up. Met senior Leticia Washington is interning with Pete Lucchese at Turner completing finish work at the site.

From start to finish this was a Met project that included our student and staff voice. We also worked with our School Advisory Board, SCUSD staff and Big Picture Learning cofounder Elliot Washor. Finally our campus will be as awesome as our students and staff!

The Met Celebrates Mentors

More than 200 community and business leaders who are volunteer mentors for students at the Met Sacramento High School were celebrated with a New Orleans-themed gala dinner at the Serna Center on May 3. At the Met, students intern two days per week with local businesses and community organizations where they work closely with mentors to complete real-world projects. The Mentor Celebration Dinner is held annually in honor of the volunteer mentors, student interns, families and educators who support these authentic learning experiences. This year, the dinner was coordinated, catered and emceed by students. Musical entertainment was provided by the Met Sac Soul/Jazz/Funk/Rock student band. Guests at the dinner included state Assemblywoman Norma Torres, SCUSD Superintendent Jonathan Raymond and Principal Allen Young.