Stuyvesant High School is a New York City Public High School that specializes in mathematics and science. The school is noted for its strong academic programs and was ranked fifteenth in U.S. News and World Report’s 2007 list of America’s best “Gold-Medal” high schools.
Creating Rooftop Gardens
The Celebrate Urban Birds Event being developed at Stuyvesant involved setting up rooftop gardens to attract the local urban birds. These gardens can be closely observed by the students, ultimately by rooftop camera connected to the school’s web site, and are being used for educational purposes, as well as creating a general interest in the urban wildlife at Stuyvesant. The rooftop is seven stories up, right on the river in lower Manhattan. The average wind speeds are 6- 10 mile/hr. But sparrows and Mourning Doves have found their way to the rooftop garden, and even the principal is interested now!
As a way of expanding the project into the Arts, biology teacher Jerry Citron had a school bird-drawing competition and had some excellent entries. Hopefully the project will be a starting point not only for Stuyvesant but for neighboring schools to see what’s flying in their area.
