In schools, both formal and informal leaders have key roles to play in motivating change. Charismatic champions gain their authority and ability to influence others through their personal devotion to sustainability. Anyone in a school— students, custodians, teachers, and principals—has the potential to be a charismatic champion when they share their passion to inspire and empower others to change.
 

 
Formal leaders, like principals and superintendents, support change efforts by communicating the vision and demonstrating their commitment. Formal leaders might not be the foremost sustainability champion or expert in the school, but they must support change by communicating the vision and supporting the change makers.
 

 
The schools that have made the biggest changes have had multiple charismatic champions in all levels of the organization. They benefit from having custodians, students, teachers, building engineers, and administrators encourage changes in behavior. Often, the most impactful changes come from people in unexpected places within the organization. These charismatic champions are committed to the school’s vision for sustainability, share their knowledge and passion with others, and guide change efforts.

 
The greatest potential for change is realized when students, teachers, and staff (including custodians, cafeteria staff, building operators, receptionists, and others) are included in decision-making. Each should be empowered and granted the authority to make decisions, and each should be provided with the resources necessary to implement these decisions
 

 
“Place” includes the physical and natural environment, as well as the history and culture of the surrounding community. Connecting students to their place strengthens the relationship between the school and its community and helps students to understand complex, global issues by engaging at a local level.
 

 
Issues like climate change and environmental degradation are often so large and distant that students can feel hopeless, disempowered, and fearful. Utilizing immediate resources, such as the school building, grounds, and community, allows the opportunity for hands-on, project-based learning. These projects can contribute to the broader sustainability efforts of the school or community and can help students develop a sense of efficacy—the feeling that their efforts make a difference. Through these experiences, students are better able to grasp principles of sustainability through guided questioning, reflection, and application
 

 
The schools achieving awards for sustainability like the Green Ribbon Schools designation are connecting sustainability to the curriculum. Principles of sustainability (e.g. cycles, social justice, respect for limits, systems thinking, local and global citizenship, interconnectedness, the commons, etc.) are woven across existing curriculum, instead of being viewed as an add-on or applicable only to science curriculum
 

 
In schools that are truly connecting students to their physical and cultural environment, students share what they are learning with the community by giving tours, through multi- media, or by working with other groups to replicate their successful projects. The school becomes a place where students, teachers, and community members can learn together. This type of sharing increases connections between the school and the community and enhances school identity.

 
Placing students at the center of a sustainability program is critical to the program’s long-term success and the cultivation of a generation of sustainability leaders. Students have an endless supply of energy, ideas, and enthusiasm; and successful schools harness this invaluable, renewable resource.

 
In schools that are sustainability leaders, students are engaged in leading sustainability projects and initiatives in their school. They are encouraged to research and develop new solutions and collaborate with appropriate faculty and staff, and they are granted the authority to implement their ideas. Further, students inform administrative-level activities by sitting on district sustainability teams or new school planning committees, voicing their opinions alongside their teachers and principals
 

 
The success of a program cannot be dependent upon a single teacher or staff member. Instead, students should be empowered to sustain initiatives. Upperclassmen should be established as peer mentors who model behavior and teach younger students. Other students see that they hold a position of honor, one which will be handed down to the next year’s leaders. Finally, these peer mentors can become peer ambassadors to replicate successful initiatives in other district schools.

 
As students develop an understanding of their role and responsibility in the sustainability of their school, they also learn their role and responsibility as citizens of their community and the earth. Environmental and social concerns within their community should be explored, encouraging students to participate in projects that serve community needs