Last month, I had the pleasure of representing America in Bloom at the Communities in Bloom (CiB) Symposium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. During the symposium, I was awe struck by the message of one keynote speaker who, during his speech, employed a tactic from his high school teaching days. Frustrated with the attitudes of a group of teenagers, he asked his students to consider how they would go about preparing for life if their goal was not how to succeed in their careers, but how to fail. Steps such as skipping class, failing to study, doing drugs, and showing up drunk were among the obvious answers. Having written the suggestions on the board, he then engaged the students by asking them to contemplate the steps if the opposite was the true goal. "Instead," he asked, "how would you approach life if your goal was to succeed?"
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A South Bronx teacher/administrator, with the help of his extended student and community family, has taken an idea and turned it into reality. Through the program the Green Bronx Machine he and his "family" have grown more than 25,000 pounds of vegetables in the Bronx while generating extraordinary academic performance. 
Did you know that in the United States, 25 percent of all prepared food is thrown away? And, that percentage when translated into pounds of waste equates to more than 96,000,000,000! Imagine all of that time and energy - all that for nothing! Well, maybe not... 
It's time to register your community to participate in the 2013 America in Bloom contest. The deadline to register is February 28, BUT if you register by December 31 we'll give you a FREE "
