Planning for Opening Celebration of The Clinton Garden is in Full Swing

by Diamond Anderson, Jessica Guiracocha, and Olivia Johnson of the Documentation (Web) Committee

The Witt Seminar is a virtual class of intelligent and energetic individuals who take the environment very seriously. We are not only students in Mr. Pultinas English 8 class and members of the Environmental Affairs Club but avid contributors to our school community working to heal our large and still overcrowded school. As a class, we are setting goals for planting and cultivating our school’s garden for the benefit of the entire Dewitt Clinton community. At a time when our school is trying to bring its academic average up and the Department of Education is continuously scrutinizing our school, the Witt Seminar is bringing the critical issue of our school’s environment to the forefront. The garden can become a new space on our school’s campus for learning more about our intimate connections with the natural world. We advocate for sustainability and longevity of not only our own garden but local parks, gardens and urban farms throughout the Bronx. We are also trying to make our fellow students aware of the consequences of eating fast food.

The obesity rate in the Bronx is the highest in the city. If people would pull away from eating unhealthy foods and start eating fruits and vegetables grown at nearby gardens or by themselves, the obesity rate in the Bronx should decline substantially. Being obese not only limits a person’s life, it contributes to potentially fatal diseases such as Heart Disease and Diabetes. However, these diseases are preventable with a healthy diet. This is why the Witt Seminar virtual class is crucial to the school and the community because we are trying to teach the importance of eating healthy and how to prevent food related diseases. The garden is an example of the work we are trying to accomplish.

It is the hope that in the near future the garden would be embraced by the Clinton community. The garden could potentially be a place for classes to come, work and enjoy the scenery. Science teachers could use the garden for demonstrations in real world efforts to explain and depict what they are teaching. The garden would be the  perfect  place for yoga classes to practice deep relaxation and be one with nature. Other uses for the Garden could be to simply relax. Chairs and tables could be placed on the pavement surrounding the garden and students could sit, read, communicate with each other and or eat their lunch while enjoying the flowers bloom.


The possibilities for the garden are endless and can be made possible with the proper influence and support from the administration and community. In the future the garden could possibly expand, as well as become a trend in schools around the city. Our garden could set an example for other schools that would like to create a garden, but don’t have an example to look to. The garden could be a place to network within the community and NYC Public school system. The countless opportunities the garden can create within the community should not and cannot be limited.

As a small but powerful portion of the DeWitt Clinton High School community, Witt Seminar is planning ways to celebrate our garden and make it a vital component of our school’s improvement. We are seeking to promote awareness and inspire students in our community to be more aware of where food comes from and teach them the difference between fast food and real food.  This spring, we have been working on many different activities.  Perhaps the key activity is planning an opening celebration to be held in the garden on June 1, 2012.  The occasion of the opening coincides with our having received a generous donation from the Walrath Family Foundation that will be used to build a fence around the garden.  The fence is not designed to keep people out, but rather as protection for our hard work.  This event will welcome students, faculty, and over 12 community organizations that have supported the garden since its beginning. In order to plan for this event, we have set up various committees of students.

Each committee has contributed to make this garden opening celebration a success:

Event Planning Committee is in charge of researching and inviting a list of people to our event.   We are inviting people who have contributed to the garden in some way or who may have an interest in what we have accomplished. We are also looking to invite a keynote speaker to address the gathering.  Finally, this committee is coordinating the schedule of events.   Highlights of the day will include ceremonial plantings, dedications, food served from the garden by Deb Cahill, the Bronx regional chef with Garden to Cafe, student guitarists,  speeches, poetry reading, and more.

Publication Committee is generating The Clinton Garden Program. The program will include detailed history of the present as well as past gardens at DeWitt Clinton.  The program will also serve to inspire future interdisciplinary activities in the garden.  Classes that might may include Biology, AP biology, writing, English, and many more.

Mural Committee is envisioning a work of art to unify the numerous intentions and possibilities that the garden will represent for years to come. The Committee is eliciting ideas and drawings from students that might some day be incorporated into a mural within or in the neighboring space of the garden.

Garden Committee has taken on some of the planning for the garden itself. In doing so, the initiative of this committee has been to help create or support the ecosystems within the garden. Students are constructing a obelisk for vine plants, a birdhouse to different kinds of birds, and an expansion of a native plant/butterfly area to attract different essential pollinators. The committee has been researching in order to select the right kinds of rose bushes to beautify the gate arbor that will soon be constructed at the garden’s entrance.

Ray Pultinas, the coordinator, is very excited to present this wonderful and long awaited event because “something in this school actually works.”   We are celebrating a triumph of many hard working students that have taken time to do something positive within the community as a whole.  Be sure that our hard work will not end here. We will continue to make the garden a prosperous environment for students, staff, and teachers. 

Occupy Lunch, Period! Continues at DeWitt Clinton

By Brandall Bernal, Katherine Roldan, Olanny Medina, Yejin Jang

Ashley Carter puts final touches on her group's third floor bulletin board 

McDonald's feeds more than 46 million people a day - more than the entire population of Spain. The lunchroom audience didn’t realize the harm that fast food restaurants do to the young people in our country, but our most recent audience did. In the library speak outs, during the week of January 9th, classes came and really listened to what we had to say. These speak outs were a success because we had the chance to educate and enlighten younger kids about what they were consuming and why it was bad. Most of them looked like they were into the speak-outs, so we believe they really got many things out of it.

From left, Christopher Hernandez, Muhammad Mahmood,  Rueben Pena and Anthony Shiwmangal present before an invited class in the library. Forty grams of sugar in a can of soda is the equivalent of at least 10 teaspoons of sugar; in a 16 oz soda, that's 12 1/2 teaspoons.  Would even the high sugar coffee crowd stop long enough to scoop ten teaspoons of sugar into their cup?  We instantly open a can of the syrup we crave!  

Rangel Guzman raps to lyrics by Masoom (see "Health is Weatlth" below) as part of his group's Against Fast Food presentation in the school library. 

Health is Wealth

(a rap by Masoom Rahim)

Here to show and say words about heart disease.

You think eating cheeseburger is healthy? Please!

Choosing to eat fast food may seem very simple,

Looking at your face, dirty oils are bringing pimple.

It’s possible you can be placed in your death bed,

From eating unhealthy is why you’re dead.

Try eating vegetables, exercising more often,

Or Heart disease will lead you to the coffin.

Every 25 seconds an American will have a coronary event,

A lot of people dead, relatives lament.

Prevent everyone you love from doing the wrong thing.

Coronary heart disease is number one on the list,

McDonalds and Burger King should be stopped, I insist.

Don’t let your house be the captivity,

Americans are at risk due to inactivity.

Obesity is another factor to the equation,

Meat should be consumed only on occasions.

You don’t want to look like the man above.

Taking hits to the chest with boxing gloves.

Live as long as you can offer yourself.

I sure wouldn’t want to be on the no longer living shelf.

Tell smokers to stop or there will be no happy ending.

We students of DeWitt Clinton are here to sing,

To be heard everywhere, make a buzz like a ring.

Decreasing heart disease is the fight we’re trying to bring.

The most exciting part of the speak-out was the rap because it got students more interested and open to hear what we had to say. Our hard work paid off because educating 20 people is way better than speaking to hundreds in the lunchroom but not being heard.

Although we did not get a big audience, those who did watch our presentations were intrigued by the information given. For instance, one student asked for a healthy plant based diet menu immediately after the presentation.   How can we get more students to stop and seek more information?  

Throughout our Witt Seminar work, our peers learned how to inform other students with facts about our diets and provide information from reliable sources. We also gained a great sense of accomplishment throughout the project due to the fact that we had to cooperate with each other to receive greater feedback. There were many pros and cons within the work, and some of the outcomes did not fully accomplish our goals. However, it is important to acknowledge the fact that this is only the beginning of the journey and we have embarked.

Students leaving the library will see these posters by Carishma Budhu (above) and Jesse Orellana  

Steps To Choosing Your Diet!

Displays for our Speak Out

By: Brandall Bernal, Katherine Roldan, Olanny Medina, Yejin Jang

Not only does obesity give you a bad look, did you know obesity can lead to angina (chest pain), cancer, diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, joint pain, metabolic syndrome, stroke and other horrible side effects? 

Each of our groups in Mr. Pultinas’ Advanced Literary Criticism class have specialized in different topics that all inform students at DeWitt Clinton of how a bad food choice can affect their lives. Topics range from fast food to cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, animal cruelty, the dangers of fast food, the importance of a plant based diet, etc. Each group did research on their given topic to get a better understanding of the assignment. Each group designed posters that were hung in the cafeteria with statistics, pictures and advertisements. In addition, Mr. Pultinas created a manifesto out of student responses and his own beliefs.  This is extremely important because most of the information we share, people may not know, which is why they keep making the wrong food choices. The more we inform our students, maybe they’ll think twice before eating fatty substances like McDonalds and increasing their chances of becoming obese.  After we did some research and put it on paper and poster paper, we organized a speak-out called, “Occupy Lunch, Period!”

During our speak-out there were both positive and negative aspects. During 6th period the students in the cafeteria were rowdy and rude towards us. But during 7th period the audience was much more cooperative. Although our microphone was low and it was kind of difficult to hear us at times, the students enjoyed the drums and dancing we provided as entertainment. We also handed out samples of healthy foods; some students liked it while others didn't. All in all, we tried our best to get our message across and the students that took time out of their lunch period to hear us out have benefited most.

These are some things our classmates had to say:

“I played a song called “Stairway to Heaven” while Edenized read a poem about health and what bad foods do to our body. I feel good about what I did. I had fun and I believe the song helped attract a bit more attention along with Atta and Omar’s drumming.” – John S. Lawson Jr.

“Each of the group members basically researched many facts about our topic which was obesity. We then printed out pictures and slogans that were powerful enough to help motivate people to eat healthier.” – Michelle Jamal.

“I gained more understanding about obesity.” – Yejin Jang.

“Three negative outcomes were that the cafeteria was too loud, not a lot of people paid attention, and some people in the cafeteria were being rude to the presenters.” – Juan Garcia.

“It benefited most of the students in Mr. Pultinas’ class and the guests that came to the speak-out.” – Wendie Tejeda.

“We got our points across.” “… Students enjoyed the music.” – Ashley Carter. 

Danny takes charge during the Speak Out

Plans For The Future

During the past few weeks, our Witt Seminar groups have worked on poster designs, classroom visits, and another speak-out. Our poster designs will be posted on bulletin boards around the halls of DeWitt Clinton. They will be located on the third floor; one will in the library and the other one on a bulletin board. One of our poster groups has developed an idea of a fist punching through unhealthy and fast foods. These visuals will catch the attention of our students and educate them about alternatives to the foods that harm us and cause health disparities and/or complications. To learn more about our mission, another group will be holding a second speak-out in the library on Thursday, January 12.   They will elaborate issues like diabetes, obesity, fast foods, plant-based diets and more. We plan to improve on the last speak out held in the lunchroom. This new speak-out will include a power-point presentation, a speech, entertainment with music, and the do’s and don’ts of how to stay healthy. This will educate and at the same time engage our listeners to the message we’re trying to express. Both the speak-out and the classroom visit groups will prepare and practice their presentations for our class beforehand.

Nonviolence comes to DeWitt Clinton High School, Part 1 - a visit from Mark Kurlansky

by Raymond Pultinas

Last summer, I picked up some small stones from the bed of the Westfield River while vacationing in Western Massachusetts and they reminded me of what I’ve written and thought about for some time now.   Entering and wading in a cool river creates the kind of moment I need to have before returning to the practice of teaching high school students. Sitting and stretching in the buoyancy and flow of water I touch a stone made smooth over the course of this river’s life, millions of years in the making.  I hold the stone in my hand.  I work the stone with my fingers. 

The work of educating one’s emotional sensibilities, one’s self control, I imagine might take a process that is akin to this patient circular rubbing of a smooth stone between thumb and forefinger for the act of rubbing is deliberation itself.  In practice, I am  educating myself to be at peace in the world and it requires just such patience and contemplation, I would think.  The process involves affirming but holding the passions we carry; not acting first, but thinking first.  During these times, we look for a center, and the stone seems to signal for us this retreat into the contemplative - away from the world.

So I imagine carrying this stone around with me wherever I go and taking it out as needed to think through a problem.  To gently rub the stone smoother, perhaps somewhat prayerfully, as an accompaniment to the consideration of what to do next, where to go, what is right and what is wrong, what is best, or any other question that needs an application of thought or thinking through.  The gentle rolling of the smooth stone with the fingers accompanies deliberation and thinking in harmony with it.

David in his epic battle picks up the same smooth stone perfect for sling-shot and hurls it into the forehead of Goliath.   A boy is caught on video throwing a stone through tear gas at soldiers behind shields.  Throwing a stone in anger to hurt, damage or destroy is a choice that some humans make.  It is the choice to be violent.  Countless circumstances, provocations, self-defenses, just causes will certainly complicate any discussion of violence, but at its heart, at its origin, at its core, one might find and feel a smooth stone and what to do with it. Carry it or throw it and under what circumstances?  The choice to do one or the other is a defining moment of life and “coming of age.” 

In his book Nonviolence: Twenty-Five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea, Mark Kurlansky examines an historic arc of nonviolent resistance from biblical times to the present.  In the fall of 2010, Mr. Kurlansky visited a combined class of sixty 12^th grade literary criticism students at DeWitt Clinton to discuss nonviolence in an event made possible through Behind the Book. The book fills in a substantial gap in our knowledge of names and events that have been central to the nonviolent movement for centuries. Students prepared for the visit by reading and discussing each chapter, constructing group presentations to a class audience who also researched deeper, generated vocabulary lists, developed questions, debated points, wrote poetic improvisations, and created wonderful and incisive drawings.  

I was interested in the connections students could make between Mr. Kurlansky’s book and what they were presently facing in a school saturated in hostility and violence.  Last year around this time, DeWitt Clinton was a much different place than it is now.  Each period of each day was punctuated by some disturbance in the halls or in our own classrooms.   Large groups of defiant and troublesome teens would routinely circulate and instigate looking for open doors and fights would break out.  Even some of our best students would run out to the halls in a frenetic and bloodthirsty way to spectate on some faked or real physical and emotional turmoil. 

Nonetheless, prior to Mr. Kurlansky's visit, groups of students in my literary criticism class prepared and presented chapters in literary circles for about a month and constructed a visually enticing wall of hope, a museum of responses with comments and drawings inspired by our discussion of nonviolence.  The behavior of students, the tone of the school and the newspaper headlines of the day immediately became the common reference point in our discussion.  Our school had become a microcosm study of global and national unrest and discontent.  And in the midst of chaos some students chose to pick up the smooth stone of contemplation and deliberate.

In Part 2, I’ll share some of these student voices and more excerpts from Mark Kurlansky's visit.

Midsummer Garden Report

By Raymond Pultinas

Arriving back to the garden a week after being away I approach as I might a present to be opened.   What happened since last time I noticed that some of the carrots had just fully matured, or that the tomatoes were about to change and some had the blight?  The variety of peppers we planted were about to give us cheery little standing at attention fruit and the beautiful squash flowers gave way to a perfectly formed little pumpkin.  

Sunflowers belong to the bees.

A pumpkin arrives in the carrots.

My desire to be in the garden accumulates while on vacation and I cannot walk by one on my travels without stopping to notice.  I can't help but take solace and strength from the health and beauty of the gardens I see. How can we not draw health and vitality from direct sensuous experiences in a healthy garden?  Whether I am simply working it or taking its nourishment home, the garden is part of my sustenance. I'm certain too that if I had seen a troubled garden while away, I would sense some worry and fear within me.  

Native butterfly garden includes the Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash.

Our garden has grown to at least double the size from last year at this time. Thanks to generous support from Citizen's Committee of New York City, GrowNYC, Bronx Green-Up and Green Thumb, we have fulfilled our goal of growing the garden.  Last year we planted five of six raised beds that were donated to us by Montefiore.  This year, we have added four additional raised beds from lumber that was delivered by Green Thumb for a total of nine beds.  We have also planted flowers, basil and vines in five large containers.

Squash and basil intermingle.

Presently, we anticipate another abundant crop of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, basil and peppers.  We also are eager to see how the vegetables we’ve introduced this year (string beans, corn, carrots, watermelon, broccoli and pumpkin) will produce.   

Five foot high tomato plants

Broccoli flowerets forming.

One of our goals had been to create a plant border along the 20’ fence that separates the garden from the faculty parking lot.  Morning glories and hyacinth beans are presently planted, perhaps grapes will be in the future.

It's still a parking lot.

We have succeeded in preparing DeWitt Clinton High School’s Garden to be an onsite place of learning where students and faculty could witness and practice sustainable urban living.  

DeWitt Clinton High School Garden expands.

The garden demonstrates where food comes from and how it is grown and we have begun to educate students about the value of fresh food and fresh ingredients that contribute to healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.  

An early summer harvest of carrots.

The Witt Seminar has built an alternative space on the campus of the high school and is now poised to engage the entire school in taking more responsibility for its own health and well being.

Calendula and eggplants.  

The Witt Seminar Wants to Cook!

by Ray Pultinas

Cooking with my students has been among the most transformative experiences I’ve had as a teacher with over 20 years in the classroom.  There is something transfixing when we work around food.  It is an intensely social occasion that accumulates its own energy and momentum as a meal moves from the planning stage through prep and cooking and finally enjoying with one another the rewards of our efforts.  It is also a highly cooperative enterprise that seems to bring out the most charming, confident and satisfying expressions in my students as they compete with one another for a chance to help measure or pour or mix ingredients.  Those who stand back to observe the scene are often looking for a role to play, something to do, and in the kitchen there is always something to do.  Students guard over the cooking detail they’ve assumed or have been asked to perform, yet I detect a cooperative anticipation of the tastes they’ve all helped to create out of raw ingredients.  What will the magic of this mixing and making be?   Of course, this is the kind of delayed gratification that we would want to encourage in all of our classes and with all of the subjects we teach.

Mark and Elca

In the fall of 2005, I was given permission to teach a course on activism and publication at DeWitt Clinton High School called the Witt Seminar.  Four school wide conferences on activism and three publications later, in 2009 we decided to narrow our focus on food politics in an attempt to confront the poor eating habits of our students.  With alarming rates of obesity, diabetes and other health and diet related illnesses in the Bronx and reflected in our student population we felt that we could have an immediate impact studying and working on this problem.  One of our first tasks was to develop a survey to inform ourselves of the eating habits of our students and we learned that most students self reported that they know the value of eating healthy food but also find it difficult to obtain it.  Of the approximately 400 students we surveyed in our school of almost 5,000 students, almost 70% felt that eating healthy food is necessary in order to do well in school.  70% said they found nutritious food to be delicious and satisfying.  However, there is a significant amount of students, 53.9%, reporting that they never eat school cafeteria food and only 25%, one in four students, eat cafeteria food more than 3 times per week.   This might indicate that most students do not feel that the cafeteria offers healthy and nutritious food.  When asked to describe the lunches served in our school cafeteria, a total of 49% found that the food was either not too nutritious or not at all nutritious.  Also significant are the 24% of students who had no opinion.  Only 1.4% of students found the food to be very nutritious and 25.2% found the food to be only “somewhat nutritious.”  And where do students who don’t eat cafeteria lunch eat during the day?  Among those who do not eat cafeteria food, over 60% wait until after school to eat.  While only 15% of students surveyed bring their own lunch, over 26% use either the snack line, the G.O. store or R.O.T.C. to meet their hunger demands by purchasing chips, cookies and now the ever-present granola bars. 

Debra, Cire, Kimberly and Abigail

The present mission of the Witt Seminar emerged in the fall of 2009 and we have oriented our curriculum to address what we saw as fundamental needs of our students to have healthy food choices at our school.  We partnered with the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food and became one of only six high schools in the city to participate in the Cool School Food program.  Our school cafeteria now offers plant-based (vegetarian and vegan) menu options twice per week.  The Witt Seminar has promoted these meals through biweekly public announcements, posters and bulletin boards, as well as healthy school food “speak outs” and food “sampling” events in the school cafeteria.  We also started a school garden and in the fall of 2010, thanks to our partnership with Behind the Book, celebrated our first harvest by inviting Wellness in the School founder and world renowned chef, Bill Telepan to use our abundant eggplant, acorn squash, basil, turnips and onions to cook our first harvest meal.  Our Green Thumb registered school garden continues to flourish with generous support from Citizens Committee for New York City and Grow to Learn. 

Third floor bulletin board

Poster near cafeteria entrance, basement level

Though we have acquired a modest sum of money to continue to grow our garden, we are currently seeking support that will enable our Witt Seminar students as well as other students at DeWitt Clinton to have increased opportunities to prepare their own healthy meals from the food we grow in our garden and healthy food that can be found, grown or purchased in our local urban communities.  We need to make it possible for the students in our school to develop culinary skills that they could take back to their friends, families and communities. I have learned that caring communities can emerge around shared food and if we want our young people to eat better we need to teach them to make their own delicious healthy food so they are not as dependent on fast and convenient food.  In order to empower our students to make healthy food choices they must experience directly the vegetables, fruits, grains, and other ingredients that go into the preparation of healthy food. Our long-term goal is to convert an abandoned teachers cafeteria space into a working instructional kitchen to expand opportunities for students to cook for themselves, make oven meals or bake bread.   This would take a substantial amount of money for we would need to purchase a stove, refrigerator as well as kitchen supplies, equipment and utensils.  A more modest goal is to use what we already have while we build towards this larger dream.  We have cleared and cleaned an alternative cooking space amidst the unused steam tables and microwaves to practice the arts of preparing our own meals using an electric skillet.  

Abigail scooping the last of the Banana Beignet batter

What we are missing is a solid foundation in community food education that an organization like Family Cook Productions currently provides to teachers and students.    The program would allow me to be certified as a community food educator and help train students to become food educators as well.  The training would allow me to run Teen Battle Competitions that have already made a powerful impact on the food issues in urban environments like ours. To run this program successfully, we also will require a healthy food budget that will keep our program running throughout the school year.  

Gogola (Banana Beignets) are delicious.  (See "Eat, Pray, Smear" by Julia Moskin, March 23, 2011, New York Times.)

The Witt Seminar Journeys to Albany With a Purpose

by Kevin Nipal, Abigail Barima, Cire Kaba, and Licia Hooks of the Witt Seminar

Clinton students assemble to strategize in between visits to Assemblymembers José Rivera and Marcos Crespo.

We boarded the bus at 7:00 am on February 8 and headed to Albany in the hopes of persuading our State Assembly members to continue their support for our Montefiore school-based health center.  Our clinic is important to us because without it we wouldn’t have free health care services that include treatment for chronic illnesses like diabetes and asthma, physical check-ups, mental health counseling, and dental care.

When we arrived in Albany after a three-hour bus journey, we first entered a conference room where hundreds of students, parents and teachers from throughout the state were already gathered to “speak out” about how vital their clinics were to the members of their school communities.  This was an opportunity for all of us to listen to and be inspired by stories from second graders to high school students about how much they loved their own clinics, how they felt cared for and safe knowing that there were health care professionals right in their own schools. 

DWC student Teddy Reyes delivers at the "Speak Out" in Albany.

Our primary task of the day was to speak to two of our own State Assembly members representing districts in the Bronx where students from DeWitt Clinton live.  Montefiore Clinic Community Health Coordinator Jessica Moorman prepared us with speaking points and we were prepared to insert our own personal stories to convince lawmakers to vote to preserve the money that Governor Cuomo has already set aside in the budget for school-based health centers. 

From left, students Kevin Nipal, Arieal Figueroa and Marc Perez try to get some straight answers from Assembly Member José Rivera.

We first met Assemblyman José Rivera and were very eager to hear him respond to us.  As we presented our ideas and related our information to him however we felt that he didn’t really listen to us.   It seemed impossible to get a straight answer from him.  Fortunately, our second visit was to Assemblyman Marcos Crespo. We were very impressed to hear what he had to say.   After we stated one idea to support our cause he went on to answer all of our questions without us even having to ask him. He covered everything that we wanted to know. He had us speechless and he helped us to understand not only how state government works but how his 85th district that includes Hunts Point was one of the poorest in the nation and how needy residents there had few health service providers and depended on clinics including those in schools to help meet basic health care needs.

             This trip was a major success because we got to prove our point.   On the long way back to the Bronx, we felt a sense of accomplishment.  We were finally listened to and knew we helped to make a difference for our school.