School History

Originally from the Bay Area of California, Emily Becker (now our Principal) always had an interest in the environment and the local and slow food movements that dominate the food environment of the region.  After visiting the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California, she and a colleague, Kelly McLane (now our Garden Coordinator), were determined to start a similar school on the East Coast.  Because the climate of New York is not as conducive to edible gardening and environmentalism as that of the Bay Area, the educators felt the need for such a program was even more crucial for both the nutritional and environmental health of this generation. 

During year one, 2006-2007, Bronx Green enjoyed many successes. 

• Our Groundbreaking Ceremony inspired the students to become more physically and intellectually active in our garden and boosted parental involvement at the school. 
• Our first All School Advisory Day helped students bond with their peers and advisors and promoted community building!
• Our inspirational AUSSIE, Deb Showers, collaborated with an English Language Arts teacher, Mercedes Vazquez, to create two interdisciplinary ELA units that tied the mission of the school to ELA Standards using the books Chew on This and Seed Folks. 
• A tradition is born: Garden Council cooks fresh dishes with garden ingredients for the staff!
• Our dedicated Social Worker, Yolanda Garcia, tirelessly led the Student Support Team in developing ways to better meet the social and emotional needs of our students both in and out of the classroom. 
• Through a partnership with the Teacher’s College LiFE Program, our Science teacher, Kristen Roberts led a salad making contest, feeding students and teachers a healthy scientific snack!
• The Culture Club was developed with the help of our motivational Community of Unity consultant, Eric Komoroff, and the founding staff collaborated to create a fresh mission statement and a unique culture that would serve to drive all future decisions at Bronx Green. 
• The First Annual Garden Design Exposition, coordinated by Kelly McLane, was covered by Bronx News 12 and empowered students to become leaders in their school environment and effect change in their community. 

Year two brought many changes to Bronx Green. 

• The Sixth Grade Social Studies Team, including Ebony Thompson, Jennifer Daugherty, Mynda Gunn-Young, coordinated our first celebration of culture with India Day, during which students were rotated through a variety of multi-sensory activities including traditional Henna hand painting. 
• With Jeffrey Hammer as Program Coordinator, we became able to better accommodate our students’ testing and technology needs and ensure that school- and grade-wide assessments run smoothly and efficiently. 
• An ELA teacher, Brennan Davis, saw a desire for additional intellectual stimulation in his advanced students, and gave up preps and lunch periods to challenge their minds. 
• Our annual trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show, coordinated by the Garden Coordinator, took on new meaning as the students started to see the connections between garden design, global warming, art and sustainable living. 
• Our new Assistant Principal, Victor Rodriguez, immediately became a positive role model for the young men at Bronx Green and has pioneered the use of Salesforce.com as a way for teachers to communicate both the successes and challenges of our students to other staff members. 
• The addition of a motivated Scientist, Tanya Martinez, improved our Science Program, adding rigor to the curriculum and challenging our students to become better readers across the content areas. 
• Our First Annual Talent Show was made possible by generous staff members Crystel Harris, Ebony Thompson, Fabiola Flores and Yolanda Garcia who devoted their Friday afternoons for two months to practices.

in our third year, it seemED that our school has grown exponentially, both in human and plant population!  With the perennial plants multiplying each year, and the school at full capacity, we have blossomed yet again.  With collaboration as the focus at Bronx Green, many amazing things have been accomplished.

• With the help of our amazingly dedicated volunteer, Russell Ryer, and our newly appointed Literacy Coach, Kristin Crowley, our school’s hallways have come alive with current photographs of special events and meaningful academic work. 
• Once again, Ms. Showers added rigor and accountability to the curricula of Bronx Green by collaborating with Ms. Crowley to create our school’s first cross grade and subject curriculum map, identifying units in different subject areas that have the potential to work towards the same goals through unifying projects, and then working tirelessly to write our first truly interdisciplinary units and projects. 
• Thanks to the partnering of Ms. McLane and Ms. Crowley, the school received a grant to install the latest advancement in going green- living walls!
• Our Dean, Ralph Labossiere, has helped mediate conflicts and de-escalate problematic situations, while also adding additional structure and consistency to our everyday routines and practices.  
• Christopher Colt, a new Science teacher, and a small handful of other staff members including Mr. Labossiere, have also been working on creating a Discipline Plan that address the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of the students. 
• Our First Annual Harvest Day Garden to Café Celebration, led by Kelly McLane, was a huge success, with a wide range of activities that included students cooking and eating pesto pasta and cafeteria staff using vegetables and herbs from our very own garden to create three dishes for school lunch. 
• All Bronx Green students were invited to see the thought provoking “Ain’t Easy” play at Hostos Community College in the Bronx for free, where they were encouraged to think about the choices and consequences Bronx teens face in a critical way, thanks to the efforts of Emily Giblin. 
• Our Advisory Program has been taken to another level by Mynda Gunn-Young, who has created protocols for this unique class, organized school-wide events around the Advisory theme, and offered support and resources for Advisors and their advisees. 
• We graduated our founding class members!

 Now in our fourth year, we have painted our doors green, created garden hieroglyphics in field study, participated in our after school cooking program, and embarked on a school-wide community service initiative.  We are off to a fabulous start in year four!