His class attendance went from 40% to 93%. Because of a garden?
Stephen Ritz suffered great personal loss. So he refocused on everyone else's kids — and turned a class with a 40% attendance rate to a 93% attendance rate. How?
Steve Ritz was just like any other parent, doing his best to get by. Then tragedy struck.
From that pain, he decided to refocus his energy on helping other kids.
He went to teach in one of the most troubled schools in the South Bronx.
It had a 17% graduation rate, lots of violence, lots of poverty, and lots of really hungry kids. In fact, 99% of Steve's students qualified for free or reduced lunch.
The South Bronx is what those who work in nutrition call a "food desert." A food desert is what happens when a neighborhood or city doesn't have easily accessible and affordable healthy food. All they have are corner stores and fast food, while real grocery stores are in limited supply.
During his work, he discovered that most of the kids who are considered learning disabled wouldn't have been if they'd had proper prenatal nutrition.
Many of the people who live in the South Bronx also suffer from something called "food insecurity." Food insecurity means you don't know where your next meal will come from. For people who live in food deserts, this is a fairly common feeling.
The students that Stephen teaches struggle with all kinds of problems. Most of his kids are homeless. Many are in foster care.
70% of his students were considered "learning disabled" but didn't have to be.
During his work, Stephen discovered that most of the kids who are considered learning disabled wouldn't have been if they'd had proper prenatal nutrition.
Then fate set him and his students on a new path.
One day, someone sent him a donation of daffodil bulbs.
Finding that the bulbs had turned into flowers behind the radiator inspired them to dream big.
So he and the kids created the Green Bronx Machine.
The Green Bronx Machine is a nonprofit devoted to growing healthy food curriculums and economies locally. It teaches kids how to be healthy and provides them with healthy food options, which in turn helps them focus and perform better in and out of school.
Together, they've created a school curriculum around healthy eating and gardening.
The students grow food (30,000 pounds of it to date), and they create sustainable gardens on roofs and in classrooms all over New York (creating jobs for some of the teens in the program). The kids have significantly increased their academic achievement.
And even better? The students get to eat the things they grow and bring food home, too, while learning how to farm and manage food production at the same time.
The bottom line: Teaching kids how to grow things helps them grow.
The kids in Steve's class went from a 40% attendance rate to a 93% attendance rate, and they're getting 100% passing rates on New York State Examinations.
All the data point toward future health and success for the students and the program.
Take it away, Mr. Ritz:
Watch the video and hear their story:
Want to help them make their program even better?
PS 55 donated an old library room with lots of sunlight to create a brand-new learning center for his students. They call it The National Health and Wellness Center at PS 55.
What will it do? According to the site:
Indoor Teaching Farm – we will teach students hands-on about food from seed to harvest, and will connect lessons to classroom curriculum.
Teaching Kitchen – we will teach students how to prepare and cook the vegetables they have just grown to create delicious, healthy meals.
Media and Resource Center – students will have access to computers for data recording and analysis, and internet for research and inter-classroom lessons with other schools across the country and internationally.
Indoor Community Farm – we will grow enough food to send 100 students per week home with bags of fresh vegetables, 52 weeks per year.
If you'd like to help make it a reality, you can donate here.
"Now your fishes will be warmed."
"To have one’s eyes lined with ham."
"To lay your head in water."
"Repetition teaches the donkey."
"I only understand train station."
"To speak directly from the liver."
"Horse horse, tiger tiger."
Beaver in water. Photo by 
An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Medusa image of giant squid in Gulf of Mexico off of Mississippi Gulf CoastPhoto credit: 
Sign warning against feeding alligators next to alligator in Mississippi marshlandsCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
Mississippi Gulf Coast beach in BiloxiCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
2009 photo of giant squid caught in Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi GulfPhoto credit: 
Thank goodness this story has a happy ending.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."