On Monday, May 13th, 2013, Rip Esselstyn, author of Engine 2 Diet, came to visit our school.

When a firefighter buddy of his found out he had an extremely high cholesterol, Rip convinced his firehouse to switch to a Plant Strong diet the very next day. They all did it and saw amazing benefits. Through the magic of social media, Rip learned about our school and made his way here.
 
The kids loved Rip. As a former professional triathlete and firefighter, he had their attention. When he showed the kids how strong he is just on plant protein, they ate it up. He answered their questions, had some lunch with them, and then chatted with the kitchen staff, thanking them for the work they do every day.

Rip went on to visit with our school staff and talk a little about his work. He challenged people to learn about their food and own their health.

It was a pretty inspiring visit. One teacher took a long walk to buy a salad for lunch after Rip's visit.

And, our students love that Rip switched the "P.S." in our Public School title to Plant Strong. We've seen a lot of little Plant Strong muscles being shared around the school.

TALES - PS 244 has been in the news a lot recently. We've highlighted some articles in the TALES in the News page on our new site. Go to http://www.ps244q.org/tales-in-the-news.html to read about our school in the media.

"Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott congratulated PS 244, the Active Learning Elementary School, in Flushing for being the first New York City public school to serve an all-vegetarian menu. It is believed to be one of the first public schools in America to do so.

The menu includes healthy recipes such as roasted chickpeas, braised black beans with plantains, tofu vegetable wrap with cucumber salad, vegetarian chili served with brown rice, falafel, and roasted tofu with Asian sesame sauce. The school, which opened in 2008, began offering a vegetarian lunch three times a week and then increased it to four times a week. This year it became the first NYC public school to have a vegetarian menu for all meals."

To learn more about it, please read the press release:

http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/mediarelations/NewsandSpeeches/2012-2013/043013_menufivedays.htm