Introduction and photo captions by Ray Pultinas.
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| We didn't count to see whether all 1100 bulbs we planted last fall blossomed, | Photo: Nathanial Gary |
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| We suspect that most of them did. (photo: Ahna Pultinas) |
Introduction: It all started
with the daffodils blossoming in April from light and warmth as earth
reawakened after hardly a slumber and everything since then is growing,
expanding, stretching - almost too fast to keep track of. Here are major initiatives we have
taken on and that are underway:
The heart of our school’s sustainability initiative continues
to be The Clinton Garden. With our
recent award of an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Artworks Grant (one of
only 62 grants awarded in design, nationwide) and in partnership with GrowNYC, planning
is underway for the garden’s expansion and the creation of the James Baldwin
Memorial Outdoor Learning Center. Particularly
during this time, the legacy of James Baldwin (’42) as well as his writing, his
voice and spirit might inspire in our students awareness and desire to be active,
global and critical American citizens.
Leading the task of design are Linda Pollak and Matt Saacke
of Marpillero Pollak Architects who are presently incorporating ideas, elements
and suggestions from two community-planning events held in 2015. The Baldwin Center and its signature Welcome
Table, based on a motif in Baldwin’s later writings, will serve as a gathering
place for students and community to learn about urban farming, sustainability, and
food justice; to witness a reading or performance; or, to discuss science and
literature. It will be an outdoor classroom, urban oasis as well as a hub for
connecting students and community to surrounding natural areas like Van
Cortlandt Park, the Jerome Park Reservoir and the Mosholu Pelham Bike Path.
We are already improvising on our recent designation by the
chancellor as a Community School by actually building a new community
garden. With sponsorship from our Good
Shepard partners, we were awarded a seed grant from the United Way of New York. Twelve raised beds have been built and are
already growing tomatoes, peppers, corn, okra, black turtle beans, cucumbers
and squash to name just a few of the crops that will be donated to the
community and especially the needy during this first year. Thereafter, the garden will be cared for and
tended by members of the community. The
United Way grant has enabled us to hire a supervisor and five student interns
to work the garden this summer. A fence is being installed and a harvest celebration is being planned for this fall.
If we are destined to become a school that not only educates
but literally feeds our students and the community, then our biggest
achievement towards this end might be in our plans to build a hydroponics farm
that will grow leafy vegetables and vine crops throughout the year. In collaboration with Kathy Soll and her team at Teens
for Food Justice and Susanna Banks, Community Health Organizer of Montefiore School Health Program along with the School
Construction Authority and capital funding provided by the office of Council
Member Andrew Cohen, the work is already underway to transform a 1,200 square
foot former chemistry lab into a state of the art, high efficiency hydroponics
lab. With the capacity to grow over 15,000
lbs of leafy vegetables annually, we will not only be able to feed our students
in the cafeteria but bring the excess to market in order to help fund the
farm’s continuous operation. Students
will not only gain the technical skills and know how to build and grow
hydroponically they will also become healthy food advocates and educate peers and
community about the value of growing and consuming one’s own local
vegetables.
Finally, a proposal to establish an Edible Food Forest on
the campus of DeWitt Clinton High School has been selected by City as Learning
Laboratory (CALL) in collaboration with Mary Miss, Founder and Artistic Director,
Mary Mattingly, a New York-based visual artist who has focused on environmental
themes, and Ursula Chance, director of Bronx Green-Up and Community
Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden.
The mission of CALL is to combine “the skills and perspectives of
artists and designers with those of scientists and citizens to create public
programs and projects that increase awareness and potential for action around
key environmental issues.” Funding is
now being sought for this project that would make our school campus the first
of its kind to use permaculture practices for creating edible landscapes to directly
feed our students and the community.
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| Desmond with Kadeesha and Ursula from Bronx Green-Up who have supported the building of the new community garden by sponsoring three workdays. Photo: Ray Pultinas |
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Desmond and Community Volunteer Carlos using precision to assemble raised beds, April 30.
Photo: Ray Pultinas |
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| Yelissa, Maribel, Jozii and Clarissa (all DWC graduates and EAC members returned to help on April 30 Photo: Ray Pultinas. |
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Sustainability Students Austin, Amonique, Tatyana, Adamma and Edward prepare for June 4 build by hauling lumber.
Photo: Ray Pultinas |
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| On June 4, Unity in the Community Day, volunteers included Principal Santiago Taveras moving soil and Assistant Principal Margaret Glendis assisting with the shovel. Photo: Ray Pultinas |
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| On our third workday, June 9, volunteers from Montefiore Health Center planted in twelve recently built beds. Their volunteer day was in memory of Megan Charlop, whose inspiration helped create The Clinton Garden. Photo: Ahna Pultinas |
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| Montefiore Volunteers planting in new butterfly garden. Photo: Ahna Pultinas |
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| On June 9 Montefiore Volunteers worked alongside students and community members in what turned out to be the biggest turnout of volunteers ever. Photo: Ahna Pultinas |
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| On June 15 Ursula Chanse and Bronx Green-Up volunteers joined our own student interns to begin the work of spreading wood chips in between the new beds and staking tomatoes. From left: David, Yostin, Aesha (DWC grad), Mr. P, Ahnika, Amonique, Bill, Rosa and Ursula. Photo taken by Alanna Bergstrom, Summer Intern Supervisor. |
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| Back in March, students from Sustainability helped to present the case for a hydroponics lab at DeWitt Clinton at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the Value of Food exhibit. Photo: Henry O. |
The idea for a hydroponics lab at DeWitt Clinton was first
presented by DeWitt Clinton students at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in
Manhattan during the Value of Food Exhibit at an event organized
by Kathy Soll of Teens for Food Justice.
From left, Principal Taveras, Brianna, Alejandra, Amonique and Amanda Photo: Henry O.
Look for the release this September of a new
promotional video about sustainability initiatives at DeWitt Clinton High
School being directed and produced by Pamela Peeters (center), here with
sustainability students at the Annual Sustainability and Research Expo held in
the library this past June, 2016.
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| Birds eye view of the area of expansion and location of the James Baldwin Memorial Outdoor Learning Center. Image courtesy of Marpillero Pollak Architects. | | |
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| Plan diagram for the James Baldwin Memorial Outdoor Learning Center, courtesy of Marpillero Pollak Architects. |
Sustainability Student Speak
By Adamma Ogbennaya, a student of Sustainability at DeWitt Clinton High School.
Materials Recovery Center
Have you
been to the lunchroom recently? I’m sure you noticed the new Materials Recovery
Center. This finely crafted sorting area
was conceived of by Mr. Pultinas, sketched out and planned by Principal Taveras
and built with precision and skill by Sargent Govia. The Materials Recovery Center is the place
where we can bring our trays, plastic cups, milk cartons plastic forks, aluminum
cans and glass bottles so that it can be separated out and recycled properly. Although we are not yet separating out food
waste as part of the city’s Organics Collection Program it is likely that we
will be in the next year or two and we will be ready. Sargent Govia even equipped the Recovery
Center with a liquid bin for when you don’t finish your milk, water or any
other liquid. When you pour, listen for
the pump that is activated to bring your liquid spill to the drain.
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| It's really not that hard! Mr. Milton Roman, Amanda Tillie and Amonique Perry struggle with joy in helping get the job done. Photo: Nathaniel Gary. |
Won’t you
help us recycle? Help the environment. Save birds and sea animals from dying
because of consumption of plastic. All
you have to do is take responsibility for cleaning up after yourselves and
bringing your leftovers and plastics to the Center. If you really want to help, you could also
volunteer to collect recyclables from the tables using our convenient bussing
trays. And don’t think you get nothing
for your hard work. You could win……..A
BRAND
NEW
CAR!
Okay, I
lied, but you can earn a free bag of Simply 7 all natural and healthy snacks
and some Clinton Bucks to spend at the G.O store. You can earn Clinton Bucks by doing many
things, such as recycling, coming to school before a certain time,
participating in clubs and activities and lots more. Trust me, you will be thankful when you are
thirsty that day and you forget your wallet at home. But finally, don’t recycle only so you get
something in return. Recycle not only at
school and at home but everywhere. It’s
no joke and every bit of recycling adds up.
We should know. We set a goal to
collect 1 ton of metal glass and plastic by the end of this school year and
collected over 1,600 lbs. Though we
didn’t reach our goal we did set a new standard for recycling at Clinton (to be
bettered every year!)
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| Amanda Tillie working on our recycling goals chart. Hard plastic water and juice bottles, milk and juice cartons, sporks, forks and spoons all are valuable materials for our recycling efforts. A little bit of everyone caring and making sure their plastic makes it to recycling before we choke on it! Photo: Ray Pultinas |
James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center
James Baldwin is known as “one of the fiercest critics of the
American race problem who has ever put pen to paper.” His works fictionalize
fundamental personal questions and social and psychological pressures. He lived
his life as a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet AND social critic, and guess
what? He also attended DeWitt Clinton and graduated with the class of 1942. To honor James Baldwin, we have begun plans to
construct the James Baldwin Memorial Outdoor Learning Center. The Baldwin Center (for short) will be a community learning
space that invites not only students and faculty from our school and building
but also people throughout the community.
The new site will also be an outdoor classroom to be used for everything
from studying the garden and running experiments to preforming music and drama.
This site will also include “The Welcome Table,” a table that will sit
approximately 35 -40 students or guests.
The Welcome Table honors Baldwin’s last play and signifies a place to
gather, greet friends around a table and share stories and food.
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| Spring means filling trays with soil and seeds to begin the garden indoors. Photo: Nathaniel Gary. |
Hydroponics Farm
Did you think that plants could only grow in soil? Well the
good news is that you can use a fairly easy medium to grow plants in:
water. Hydroponics is a method of
growing plants using nutrient solutions in water without soil. We are planning
the development of an indoor hydroponics farm in a presently unused chemistry
lab in the school. This will potentially grow enough food to serve many people
year-round. Teens for Food Justice will be programming to engage students in helping
to constructing the farm. Montefiore’s Real Estate Facility Development
Department has committed to assessing the classroom space for the hydroponics
farm. We hope to convert the former lab to 1,200 square foot space to able
produce a minimum of 100 pounds of fresh produce per month. With the way things
are going it will be a successful hydroponics farm.
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| Planting seeds is focused work: counting, feeling each seed with your fingers and distributing each seed so it has its own space to grow. Photo: Nathaniel Gary. |
New Seedlings
What do you do when you don’t have a garden outside to plant
new food? You plant seedlings inside. Any type of container that will hold the
growing medium. You just need to be able to sterilize them. We have started
growing many types of food in the classroom. We have started growing Summer
Crisp lettuce, romaine lettuce, Red Russian kale, Antirrhinum Malus, Simpson
lettuce Oak leaf lettuce, Hybrid snapdragon, hot peppers, DWC Bell Peppers
heirloom tomatoes and plenty more. That’s quite a lot and we only plants a week
ago. And they are already growing. With the help pf gentle warmth and
artificial lighting for a certain amount of hours. With the help of students
they able to grow healthy with the right amount of water, light warmth and
love.
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| Green life, like these kale seedlings, is joyous to behold. Photo: Nathaniel Gary |
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| Doesn't Room 332 look like it's being made ready for growing thousands of pounds of fresh, local, healthy vegetables? Photo: Ray Pultinas |
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