Frederick County honors seven sustainability leaders and seven green schools
Students, an educator, a nonprofit and businesses were recognized for work ranging from tree planting and insect education to recycling and energy savings.
HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW
Seven award recipients were honored: Annie Parida, Mridula Vasudevan, Michael Turell, Wild Potomac, Chocolates and Tomatoes Farm, Daly Computers and AstraZeneca. Seven local schools received recognition for 2026 Maryland Green Schools certification or recertification. Recognized work included volunteering, environmental education, farming practices, recycling and energy efficiency.
Tree planting, clothing swaps, insect education and workplace recycling were among the efforts recognized at Frederick County’s 2026 Sustainability Awards.
The county Sustainability Commission honored seven recipients Thursday, with community engagement a key consideration, The Frederick News-Post reports.
Student awards went to Annie Parida and Mridula Vasudevan. Parida, a Linganore High School sophomore, was recognized for planting trees, organizing volunteers and environmental cleanup. Commissioners credited Vasudevan with native-tree planting, clothing swaps and compost education, saying her initiatives involved more than 500 residents and students.
Michael Turell of Braddock Heights received the adult individual award. He leads the University of Maryland Extension’s 4-H Entomology Club and works with Boy Scouts Troop 278, helping children explore insects, biodiversity and the outdoors.
Wild Potomac received the nonprofit award for work in the Potomac River watershed. Executive Director Neil Gormley described tree planting, food-related education and support for a community food forest in Brunswick.
Middletown’s Chocolates and Tomatoes Farm, owned by Mark Mills and Teresa Derrick-Mills, won in the category for businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Mills highlighted crop rotation, cover crops and farming without pesticides.
Daly Computers won the award for businesses with more than 50 employees. Commissioners credited the Frederick-based technology company with recycling more than 290 tons of cardboard and paper, over 10 tons of plastic and additional electronic materials and batteries. The supplied report does not specify the period covered by those totals.
AstraZeneca received the industrial enterprise award. Commission Acting Chair Rebecca Kraft credited its efforts with saving more than 40,000 megawatt-hours since 2018 and avoiding 5,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Those figures are the commission’s reported totals, not an independent audit.
Seven schools also received recognition for Maryland Green Schools certification or recertification in 2026: Frederick Adventist Academy, Frederick High, Friends Meeting School, Lucy School, Mother Seton School, Thurmont Elementary and Urbana Elementary.
Together, the awards recognize work at several scales—from students organizing neighbors to companies changing how facilities use materials and energy.
WHAT IT MEANS
The awards highlight practical ways residents, schools and businesses are working on sustainability. Reported resource savings should be understood in their stated scope and time periods rather than treated as directly comparable measures across recipients.
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