Bronx Educator Grows Organically Engaged Citizens
/ July 23, 2012 10:04 pm
Stephen Ritz, Founder of The Green Bronx Machine
There’s a lot to the Stephen Ritz story. As told in rapid fire by the man himself the whole quickly disperses like an exploding star. He’s a kid from the South Bronx, the world’s oldest 6th grader. As an athlete in a different life he spent time in NBA camps. For a spell he would consume two-dozen eggs a day. Yes, he has had a critical health issue – more than one even. “I would have eaten myself to death,” he says letting the words hang in the air. He is high energy. He is a teacher. He is a parent. He is the originator and driving force behind an agriculture educational project calledThe Green Bronx Machine.
The story of The Green Bronx Machine, an urban agriculture education program that integrates farming and technology into the classroom to yield organic produce and job opportunities for public high school students in the South Bronx, began in 2005 during a