Hydroponic at the Bronx Writing Academy, be prepared to be WOWed by 11years old kids.

Last week ## edit  now already 3 weeks ago## of the project with the Bronx Writing Academy and Citizen Schools was quite eventful!

A student taking interest in her schoolmates accomplishments

This last week was the WOW! The WOW! Is the culmination of the programs that Citizen Schools offers, and plays out in a unique show, product or showcase by the students. For the Hydroponic apprenticeship, the WOW! was planned to be a public showcase, right in front of the school, to show the community what the students had accomplished.

We started by taking the last measurement for the plants, and finishing the graphs showing the growth of the lettuce and the cilantro. Then the "fun" began, moving the systems from the 3rd floor classroom, down to the street. By fun, I mean the kids had fun spilling the water from the system, and Amrita, the schoolteacher, and I had the fun of apologizing to the janitor. It was a bit of commotion but at the end, everything -the 2 systems, the posters crafted by the students, a couple of tables, and flyers- was taken down to the front of the school, reassembled, and ready to showcase!

Student explains how they recorded the plant growth

A local taking time to ask questions of the student's work

The system was positioned right in from of the school, in the triangular section of grass where the flag post is (and a couple of raised bed that were planted last week or so). We asked the kids to try to talks to the passer by, and get their interest up, to bring them by the system. After a few shy attempts, a few of the students became bolder and started to bring people over, and zealously presented their work, the system, the plants growing in it, the nitrogen cycle and etc...
We had planned a quick conversation with JT Bear so give him an update and show our set up, the kids where happy to show their work (again) they have accomplished. They showed around the plants, called the basil lettuce (;-) and commented on the posters they had made. MANY THANKS AGAIN TO JT BEAR!

To be honest I was a bit weary on how it would turn-up, the week en before, I went to the few community gardens I knew about in the neighborhood, and "advertised" the WOW! To try to get some of the community garden member to come up. I was not sure if that was the right strategy, as they first responded by saying how they would be happy to show their garden around. To be fair though, these community gardeners have jobs, and therefore my not be able to show up. So I was happily surprised when I recognized a member of these community gardens. I was even happier to see that not only middle schooler leaving the school took an interest in their schoolmates work, but also members of the community from all ages. It was quite nice also (personally) to have a few people walking up to the kids and shaking their hands congratulating them on their work.

We finally brought everything back up, for a "end of project" wrap-up, including some awards for the students that did the most progress, and showed the most interest.

This was a great experience, and I hope it can keep going in the fall, but at this point I do not know yet if it will be possible. In the mean time, I found a restaurant owner that agreed to allow me to put the system in his patio area, so plants can keep growing over the summer. So I will keep recording what is going on in the comparison fertilizer vs compost tea over the summer. Also the herbs produced will be shared with the restaurant.

Finally, Many thanks to (not in order):Agnieszka Tuszynska (my lovely partner who was supporting the idea from day one), Amrita Kalsa (BWA teacher) , Alex Black, Maddie Oliver,Morayo Faleyimu, Molly Cohen and Katerine Mott (Citizen schools) , JT Bear, Bronx Writing Academy and his director Kasmar Samuels , Greening Forward and Margarita Vigodner (My boss).