Stephen Ritz

Author | Award Winning Educator |
​Innovator | Urban Farmer | Television Host
Stephen has received standing ovations from one corner of the globe to another, across the continental United States, and throughout Latin America. Be it a Fortune 50, 100, or 500 company, non-profit, or university, Stephen brings his passion, purpose and hope with boundless energy, enthusiasm and optimism.
SPEAKER REEL
TEDx MANHATTAN
ABC'S THE CHEW
Stephen Ritz is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning educator, author of best-selling book, The Power Of A Plant, Founder of Green Bronx Machine. and 2015 Top Ten Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, Stephen is responsible for creating the first edible classroom in the world. He and his students have grown more than 165,000 pounds of vegetables in the South Bronx, were celebrated at the Obama White House three times, have been featured on the cover of TIME for KIDS, and are the subject of a new, full-feature documentary, Generation Growth.  Known as America’s favorite teacher, Stephen has won numerous global teaching awards including Top Ten Finalist of the Global Teacher Prize, NPR’s 50 Top Teachers, the G7’s Global Food Educator, BAMMY’s Elementary Educator of the Year, and PBS’ American Graduate, amongst many others. His workshops and professional development opportunities have been called “game changing” and “best in class” by teachers, administrators, and supervisors. Stephen has developed robust educational programming that has served governments, municipalities, and Fortune 500 corporations, in addition to public, private, and charter institutions around the world.​ His work has been featured by Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, The Wall Street, Journal, USA Today, NPR, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and countless others. 
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Speech Topics

growing a new mindset no one can do everything, but everyone can do something
In this inspirational presentation, Stephen Ritz shares the unlikely stories of how he and his students farmed their way from the poorest congressional district in the country all the way to the White House and beyond. Through the integration of STEAM and green technologies aligned to all academic, content and subjects areas, coupled with innovative solutions for inspiring healthy habits, Stephen teaches audiences how he improved test scores, attendance rates, graduation rates, and how he lost more than 100 pounds himself! For Stephen, education must be synonymous with opportunity. In a community with 25% unemployment, Stephen has partnered towards the creations of more than 2,200 jobs and shares with audiences the practical stories and actionable advice about how they too can affect great change in their communities.
Growth Management a crash course in innovaton
Every company, organization, institution, and government had to tackle change and change tactics at one time or another. For Stephen Ritz, however, disruption is business as usual. Stephen helps organizations manage and navigate change and crises to optimize professional and personal performance. He shares tactics used by Green Bronx Machine to turn disruption into an opportunity to better engage with its community members. You will see how you can foster a nimble and adaptive culture that can put any strategy for change on the road to success.
The Power of a Plant a teacher's odyssey to grow healthy minds and schools
"We grow vegetables, and our vegetables grow students, classrooms, schools, and communities!" Stephen Ritz shares the Green Bronx Machine story - how a forgotten box of "onions" transformed a teacher's career and started a movement. Learn about the unique teaching techniques, the educational technologies, and the community partnerships that led "America's Favorite Teacher" from his Bronx green house to the Obama White House three times, from hope to the Pop, while becoming a top ten finalist for the Global Teacher Prize. Today Green Bronx Machine serves more than 50,000 students daily, with a standards-aligned, scalable curriculum that maintains a 100% teacher satisfaction rate and is just getting started. From the Bronx to the world, Green Bronx Machine is cultivating minds and growing hearts - all while spreading seeds of passion, purpose, and hope! Stephen Ritz discusses case studies that demonstrate the collective impact Green Bronx Machine and its partners have had on communities around the world. From one opportune moment to a worldwide movement, you too, can make it happen.  Focusing on project-based learning, service and collaboration Stephen redefines model educational practices outcomes, and objectives for the next hundred years.
"I know, for one, that your presentation to our Clinton Foundation staff energize us to dream bigger, We thank you for taking the time to do so."
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— CEO
​Clinton Climate Initiative

Previous Engagements

  • WOBI - World Business Forum 
  • Clinton Global Initiative 
  • Harvard University 
  • Meryll Lynch - C Suite 
  • United Nations Social Innovation Summit 
  • GreenBiz 
  • AIA - American Institute of Architects 
  • US Travel Operators Association 
  • Marriott Corp - annual conference 
  • Congreso Nacional de Colombia - Spanish keynote 
  • Google: multiple events/Google Food Lab 
  • Boston Scientific - C Suite, Florida/Global Team, Panama 
  • South by Southwest
  • Amazon Annual Corporate, Seattle
  • NY Federal Reserve 


​Books

​The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey
In The Power of a Plant, globally acclaimed teacher Stephen Ritz shows readers how, in one of the nation’s poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom.  By using plants as an entry point for all learning, he witnessed nothing short of a transformation. 

​The Power of a Plant, shares Stephen’s practical solutions for growing his favorite crop: organically grown citizens. His approach has attracted attention from the White House to the Vatican. With irrepressible humor and a veteran teacher’s wisdom, Stephen relates his own journey hoping that readers will be inspired to “make epic happen” in their own communities. If it works in the Bronx, it can work anywhere.

“Education should unleash human potential, which is infinite in its capacity to create, know, and solve every conceivable problem. Stephen Ritz has opened a door to this unbounded field of possibilities, which he elegantly describes in The Power of a Plant.”  
​--Deepak Chopra, New York Times bestselling author and author of You are the Universe
​Make it Happen!
Stephen Ritz never planned to be a teacher, and he knew nothing about growing food. His new book, Make It Happen! brings to life his story of passion, purpose, and hope to help students build the skills necessary to reach their own goals.

From overcoming obstacles to building communities through teamwork, each chapter has activities that readers can apply to their own lives. Packed with inspiration, motivation, personal growth & development, and a whole lotta veggies, “Make It Happen!” is the story of Stephen’s incredible Tower Garden journey.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will allow Green Bronx Machine to hire local parents to work in local schools at living wage.


​Related Links

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
​​ THE TODAY SHOW
Students Plant Living Walls on the
​Today Show
​ COOKING CHANNEL 
Promo - The Green Bronx Machine