On a recent sunny, late spring Friday, students, staff, and faculty at DeWitt Clinton High School shared in their success and jubilee during the official opening of the school’s garden.

Nestled between the rear of the main school building and the recently renovated track and soccer field, the garden represents hope for project leader Ray Pultinas, who is known as “one of the best teachers in Clinton,” said senior Diamond Anderson.

The small patch of green is dotted with large wooden planters containing a colorful array of fruits and vegetables. The fresh cut grass fills the air with a soothing aroma, while the cool shade from the baby trees provides its visitors with a respite from the sun and fast-paced, everyday classroom experience.

In the face of myriad challenges, including gangs, severe overcrowding, constant budget cuts and an influx of high needs students, Clinton Principal Geraldine Ambrosio was elated to revel in the garden’s success.

“I’m very happy that we have been able to finally open our garden, and show that we can make positive things happen at Clinton,” said Ambrosio. “What makes it even better is that we use the fruits and vegetables from the garden right in our own café.”

Pultinas said the garden was inspired by a local legend in the school health world.

“I got the inspiration for the garden from a good friend of mine – Meg Charlop,” Pultinas said, emotionally. “She felt gardening was a good way to focus on health disorders related to diet and poor eating habits.”

Charlop, a long-time Norwood resident who worked at Montefiore for more than 25 years in the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and most recently as director for community health in the School Health Program, was killed in a bicycle accident in 2010.

Pultinas’ vision for the garden is “for it to become an inter-disciplinary teaching experience for other departments,” Putinas said. “The garden helps to enhance the learning experience,” he added. “There are very few opportunities outside the needle-hole of standardized tests, and there are certain things that can’t be measured by a standardized test score. This is one of them.”

While there isn’t any hard data available yet correlating students who participate in the garden with improved academic behavior, Pultinas says that “students are definitely making a change in their eating habits.”

Pultinas does not agree with the F grade given to the school by the DOE on its annual School Assessment Report Card.

“It’s a political act that creates competition among schools for scarce resources.” Pultinas said of the grading system. “We have kids going on to great colleges from here, but we are also experiencing an influx of high needs students who aren’t able to get into surrounding schools, thereby making it tougher to get our ranking back up.”

The garden, which includes an impressive array of fruits and vegetables — cabbage, carrots, red- and green-leafed lettuce, squash, sweet potatoes, zucchini, garlic, cilantro, eggplant, pears, tomatoes, and strawberries, plus a compost bin — was the result of work by students from the WITT Seminar and the Environmental Affairs Club, the support of staff and faculty, and the generosity of more than a dozen community organizations that have provided the garden with over $10,000 in funding, materials, and expertise over the last three years.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appears in the June 14-27 print edition of the Norwood News.