Photo courtesy Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ)/Sun Club
DeWitt Clinton High School is now home to the largest student-operated hydroponic system in New York and is expected to produce 25,000 lbs. of vegetables and herbs annually. That is enough to feed all 2,200 students lunch daily, with over 300 lbs. a week left over for the community.
Officials unveiled the futuristic farm on June 2.
Whatever produce isn’t used for school lunches will be donated to food pantries and emergency food assistance, like Good Shepherd Services at the school or City Harvest. The students will also set up a small farm market at the school, selling produce and accepting food assistance benefits as payment.
Inside the farm, plants occupy the shelves of large racks. A recirculating water system feeds them, and uses 90 percent less water than traditional agriculture. Instead of soil, the plants sink their roots into a reusable coconut-hulled fiber dubbed coco coir. LED lights provide artificial sunlight for the plants.
While the farm’s unveiling took place this month, it began construction in September 2017. With $126,870 from the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club and additional funding from Councilman Andrew Cohen, representing Norwood, the school repurposed an unused chemistry lab for the farm.
Members from the Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ)/Sun Club program began growing produce after winter break, and by the time of the unveiling, more than 6,000 plants that include lettuce, herbs, swiss chard, bok choy, cucumbers, and tomatoes were cultivated.
Not only are the students responsible for running the farm, but they have been learning about the importance of their work. “In the neighborhood around the school, there is little availability of unprocessed food,” said Katherine Soll, CEO of TFFJ. “Our students, particularly through our afterschool program, focus on learning about nutrition and health, and also how to advocate for a more just food system.”
Teachers and parents are fully on board with the project. “They [teachers] see in their students a real increase in enthusiasm and pride in the school, and I think that’s something that’s really important,” said Soll.
Miguel Graham, a ninth grade student in the afterschool club, strongly believes in the importance of the food education students are receiving. “…[I]t will help people to understand the meaning of greens and healthy food, and why it’s better,” he said. “If we eat more healthy and stop eating all these junk foods, we will live a longer life, and I’m sure that everyone in this world would like a longer life.”
Working in the farm has been a way for students to connect with each other and with their community. “It puts us together to learn how to work together and do all these things to help the world and our community,” said Miguel. “We want to help the world and we want to have a better life.”
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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Wow!! Awesome very great after school program. If our your young people become aware of the importance of healthy eating and practice this behavior as well as given the opportunity to showcase their beliefs, then our future wont be too bad at all
Magnificent! But given the critical role (to this day) that Ray Pultinas has played for years in bringing this movement/the Garden to the DWCHS community, it is an unfortunate oversight that his name wasn’t mentioned. His vision has animated, propelled, motivated, energized, prodded, engaged the entire community to buy into this invaluable work!
Leaving out RP from the Garden story is like leaving God out of the story of the Garden of Eden. Three cheers for Ray Pultinas and all his great work for the students of DWCHS.
This article was written by my 19 year old daughter doing an internship. She is also from PA. she unfortunately doesn’t always have the background information of years living in the Bronx.
She did a great story for a very young aspiring writer.
From my side of the fence from rural PA.
I never thought much about the quality of food available to the inner city low income population.
Here in PA at least 8 months out of the year produce is available at low to reaonable cost.
Healthy food is always important.
Thank you for your shout out to Ray Pultinas and all who help with agriculture in the city.
Shout out to C.R.A.
GREAT ARTICLE
This article was written by my 19 year old daughter doing an internship. She is also from PA. she unfortunately doesn’t always have the background information of years living in the Bronx.
She did a great story for a very young aspiring writer.
From my side of the fence from rural PA.
I never thought much about the quality of food available to the inner city low income population.
Here in PA at least 8 months out of the year produce is available at low to reaonable cost.
Healthy food is always important.
Thank you for your shout out to Ray Pultinas and all who help with agriculture in the city.
Shout out to C.R.A.
GREAT ARTICLE