The Power Of A Plant

Stephen Ritz became a teacher more than 30 years ago. In 2004, he was teaching in the South Bronx at a high school with rampant crime and a 17 percent graduation rate. After what can only be defined as a cosmic experience where a flower broke up a fight in his classroom, he saw a way to start tackling his school’s problems: plants. He flipped his curriculum to integrate gardening as an entry point for all learning. What has happened since has become an international phenomenon. As Ritz likes to say, "40,000 pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crop is organically grown citizens, graduates, members of the middle class, and children who are growing and eating themselves into good health and amazing opportunities."

In The Power of a Plant, Ritz highlights how greening a curriculum allows students to grow their capacity to better their lives. Ritz has helped increase students’ daily attendance from 40% to 93%, achieve 100% graduation rates, reduce behavioral incidents by more than 50%, increase passing rates on state exams by 45%, achieve 100% passing rates on NYS Regents Exams with special needs students, and partner toward 2,200 local jobs in a community with 25 percent unemployment! The book features Ritz’s cornerstone of learning, "Make Epic Happen," which is broken down into three main takeaways: collisions, connections, and co-learning. The Power of a Plant is a story of hope, resilience, regeneration, and optimism.