Latin pop icon Gloria Estefan came to DeWitt Clinton High School on Oct. 30 to talk about an urban farming program she hopes to export to her hometown of Miami.

The Norwood campus has the largest student-run hydroponic farm in New York City, supported in part by Teens for Food Justice, a New York-based non-profit. Estefan is working with Teens for Food Justice to bring the program to public schools in Miami.

“I can envision this growing. I can only imagine how great it would be if all our public schools had some kind of [urban farming program],” Estefan said. “The fact that the climate is changing so quickly. We don’t know how it’s going to affect our food supplies in the future.”

Estefan was accompanied by supermodel Karolína Kurkova and two of Kurkova’s children. Both celebrities were in town to be honored, alongside their respective husbands Emilio Estefan and Archie Drury, at a Teens for Food Justice gala on Tuesday night. Food from the student farm was served at the gala.

Like most of the Bronx, large swaths of Miami are considered food deserts, urban areas with limited access to fresh food that is both affordable and nutritious. The farm at DeWitt Clinton is intended to combat food insecurity by using the fresh vegetables grown in the meals served at the school cafeteria each day.

“I knew what they were doing, but to see it in action, to actually walk in the room and be with the students who are doing such an amazing job,” Estefan said, before turning to the students beside her. “We’re trusting you guys to come up with ideas because you’re the future. You’re the ones that gonna make it happen.”

The third floor, indoor farm is expected to produce 25,000 pounds in vegetables and herbs a year. The plants are grown under LED lights and using a hydroponic system that requires minimal soil and water to grow the plants in an indoor environment. The produce is served fresh, daily at the cafeteria salad bar and is incorporated into larger recipes.

“Students know that this is coming from their fellow classmates,” assistant principal Steven Deep said. “Most of the lettuces are the things that go downstairs [to the cafeteria]. We also have basil and cilantro that go into the dressings that are made by the kitchen staff.”

Estefan said she chose to get involved with Teens for Food Justice because she was inspired by her mother, a teacher, to help educate the next generation.

“Before when I was in the craziness of the touring and all that I just simply didn’t have the time to do as much as I wanted,” Estefan said. “[I want to do] anything that has to do with educating and making life better for our kids. They’re the future. It’s the only way we’re going to make things better.”

Teens for Food Justice hopes to not only provide students with healthy produce, but also encourage them to think differently about the future of food production.

“This is the reality: we are running out of land, we are running out of water, and we cannot continue to produce food for a growing planet in the way that we have traditionally,” Teens for Food Justice CEO Katherine Soll told the Norwood News.  “Preparing our children to take those jobs and to be the leaders of a new, green economy is critical. That’s really why we are doing this. It’s finding a way to create a sustainable means of food production, that produces food that is healthy.”

Soll’s father graduated from DeWitt Clinton in 1931 and Soll said that the neighborhood is “the right community” for the program due to a “robust sustainability initiative” that dates back years. Unfortunately, it is also the right community because “there just isn’t a lot of good quality fresh food here.”

Estefan suggested the students should sing to the plants to help them grow.

“You don’t sing to the plants?” the incredulous singer asked one of the students. “You gotta sing to the plants.” Later, when a TV news reporter asked Estefan what she would sing to the plants, she recited a few lines from her hit song “Conga.”

“I think that upbeat, rhythmic music would help them grow,” Estefan said. “Ballads and slow music might just relax them.”