Stephen Ritz is a South Bronx teacher/administrator and the founder of The Green Bronx Machine. He is also a TED speaker with millions of views, and you're about to find out why.

It all started with the help of an extended family of students and community members who have now grown over 35,000 pounds of vegetables in the Bronx, while generating extraordinary academic performance. Ritz' Bronx classroom also features the first indoor edible wall in the New York City DOE (which routinely generates enough produce to feed 450 students healthy meals), and trains the youngest nationally certified workforce in America.

Through his Green Bronx Machine initiative, Stephen has:

• Consistently increased daily student attendance from 40% to 93%
• Helped fund/create 2,200 youth jobs
• Captured the US EPA Award for transforming mindsets and landscapes in NYC
• Won the ABC Above and Beyond Award
• Helped earn his school the first ever Citywide Award of Excellence from the NYC Strategic Alliance for Health

He attributes these results directly to growing vegetables in school.

Dedicated to harvesting hope and cultivating minds, Stephen and his team are building The National Health and Wellness Center at PS 55. The Center will be "an innovative and engaging wonderland where students and teachers can grow their way and work towards a brighter future." Watch Stephen's recent presentation at TEDxManhattan about the center.