Join Stephen Ritz is the Founder of Green Bronx Machine and self-proclaimed CEO – Chief Eternal Optimist – of Bronx County for an inspiring talk. Stephen has over 20+ years of experience as an educator and administrator who believes that students shouldn’t have to leave their community to live, learn, and earn in a better one. Stephen has spent most of his professional life helping move generations of students into spheres of personal and academic successes they have never imagined. While reclaiming and rebuilding the Bronx, Stephen’s extended student and community family have grown more than 100,000 pounds of vegetables while generating extraordinary academic performance and living wage jobs. Believing that we are limited only by our own imaginations and that we are ALL Amer-I-Cans, Stephen is excited to lead Green Bronx Machine to achieve even more at the National Health, Wellness and Learning Center at CS 55. Stephen loves people, purpose and possibilities. He wakes up everyday excited to go to school, teach students, and build programs that will impact the lives of those he cares about for years to come. He wears a big hat, spiffy bow-tie and perpetually says, “Si se puede!”