Stephen Ritz developed a curriculum for indoor gardening that changed a school in the South Bronx.
(Photo: Jesse McElwain/Green Bronx Machine)
Have you ever been in a position to change the world, or at least
your small slice of it? Did you do it? Did you take the risks that would
make a difference in the lives of others? If something held you back —
unfavorable odds, fear of failure, lack of courage or something else —
then Stephen Ritz's "The Power of a Plant" is for you.
The book is Ritz's story of how a school teacher used an
infectious spirit of optimism to overcome professional setbacks and
personal heartbreak to make a difference in the lives of children in the
South Bronx in New York City. He did that by teaching them to plant
seeds and showing them how seeds develop into healthy food. And how that
healthy food can lead to better health, better grades and hope for a
productive future.
Ritz, a native of the Bronx, stumbled into teaching in the
borough nearly 30 years ago. He was initially placed in a high school of
mainly Latino and Afro-Caribbean students where the crime rate was high
and the graduation rate was just 17 percent. Once there, he discovered
he had a knack for connecting and engaging with these students,
especially the ones who seemed hardest to reach.
At first, he used sometimes unorthodox tactics to do that. Then,
purely by accident, came a defining moment. He received a package of
flower bulbs he mistakenly thought were onions. Afraid they might become
missiles in a classroom brawl, he hid them behind a radiator and forgot
about them.
Six weeks later, an enraged girl went after a boy who had gotten
on her nerves once too often. As the scene unfolded, Ritz rushed toward
them to break up what he afraid was about to become a disaster. He saw
the boy reach toward the radiator and thought he might have stashed a
weapon there. To his amazement, the boy suddenly pulled out a bouquet of
yellow flowers and thrust them towards the girl as a peace offering.
Stunned, Ritz watched what happened next. The boys started giving
flowers to the girls, the girls wanted to take flowers home to their
mothers and peace was restored.
The forgotten bulbs were actually daffodils. The steam from the
radiator had forced them into bloom. The dramatic episode was an
epiphany for Ritz. He realized that if there was power in plants to stop
a classroom fight, there must be power in plants to transform lives and
communities. Initially, he didn't know how to do that. He didn't have a
grand plan. In fact, he readily admits, he didn't have any plan. But he
had purpose, passion and hope.
An idea in bloom
The vertical gardens Stephen Ritz developed in an abandoned
school library have been replicated in the U.S. Botanic Gardens. (Photo:
Jesse McElwain/Green Bronx Machine)
He turned the moment into a green curriculum, a movement that
would change his life and the lives of countless others. He incorporated
vegetable gardens into sections of the South Bronx, on school grounds
and on top of a building, organized the Green Teens, and then founded
the Green Bronx Machine,
a federally registered and approved nonprofit organization with
501(c)(3) status that seeks to be an engine of community change by fully
integrating indoor vegetable gardening and green curriculum into a
K-12+ model. This model is being used in 5,000 schools across the United
States and in Canada, Dubai and other countries.
Ritz's students now have near-perfect attendance and graduation
rates, they have significantly raised their passing rates on state exams
and he has helped create 2,200 local jobs by changing mindsets about
food, wellness and obesity in the middle of the largest tract of public
housing in the South Bronx.
His efforts, which he has largely self-funded, have led to numerous awards. These include being a top 10 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize
and being named one of NPR's 50 Greatest Teachers. He has been invited
to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, presented at the White House three
separate times and given a TEDx Talk when he was so weak recovering from
surgery that he was advised to delay it. He went on stage anyway
because he didn't want to disappoint his kids. The talk has been viewed
more than 1 million times; you can see it here:
He spoke with Mother Nature Network from his indoor demonstration
classroom, the National Health Wellness and Learning Center, in the
South Bronx's Community School 55. Officially a full-time volunteer, he
is executive director of the center and works with the principal and
administration to mentor teachers. He also teaches daily and coordinates
after-school and summer programming.