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Three years ago, the roof of a high school in Kfar Saba was an empty grey space. Nobody went up there except workers who came to fix things. Today it is green, full of tomatoes, herbs and flowers, and it has become one of the most popular places in the school.

The idea came from two tenth-grade students, Eden and Amir. They had read about a hospital in New York that grew vegetables for its patients on its roof. "If they can do it in a city like that," Amir remembers thinking, "why can't we do it here?" They wrote a plan and brought it to the principal. She liked it but had one worry: safety. The roof had no fence, and she would not let students go up until one was built.

That took almost a year. The students raised the money themselves, selling cakes and organizing a concert. Parents who worked in building helped them plan the fence, and the city gave them soil and some wooden boxes. When the fence was finally finished, more than forty students signed up to help.

Each class now takes care of its own part of the roof. The ninth-grade classes grow herbs, which they sell to a local restaurant. The eleventh-grade classes are responsible for the tomatoes and peppers. These are used in the school kitchen, and whatever is left is given to families in the neighbourhood who need it.

Teachers have noticed changes, too. Some students who rarely spoke in class are now the experts on the roof. "They know things I don't," admits Dalia Levi, a biology teacher. "Last week a boy explained to me why our tomato leaves were turning yellow. He was right, and I was wrong."

Eden and Amir finished school last summer, but the garden did not finish with them. This year's students have already added a small pool for fish. Its first fish arrived in October.

Three years ago, the roof of a high school in Kfar Saba was an empty grey space. Nobody went up there except workers who came to fix things. Today it is green, full of tomatoes, herbs and flowers, and it has become one of the most popular places in the school.

The idea came from two tenth-grade students, Eden and Amir. They had read about a hospital in New York that grew vegetables for its patients on its roof. "If they can do it in a city like that," Amir remembers thinking, "why can't we do it here?" They wrote a plan and brought it to the principal. She liked it but had one worry: safety. The roof had no fence, and she would not let students go up until one was built.

That took almost a year. The students raised the money themselves, selling cakes and organizing a concert. Parents who worked in building helped them plan the fence, and the city gave them soil and some wooden boxes. When the fence was finally finished, more than forty students signed up to help.

Each class now takes care of its own part of the roof. The ninth-grade classes grow herbs, which they sell to a local restaurant. The eleventh-grade classes are responsible for the tomatoes and peppers. These are used in the school kitchen, and whatever is left is given to families in the neighbourhood who need it.

Teachers have noticed changes, too. Some students who rarely spoke in class are now the experts on the roof. "They know things I don't," admits Dalia Levi, a biology teacher. "Last week a boy explained to me why our tomato leaves were turning yellow. He was right, and I was wrong."

Eden and Amir finished school last summer, but the garden did not finish with them. This year's students have already added a small pool for fish. Its first fish arrived in October.

Three years ago, the roof of a high school in Kfar Saba was an empty grey space. Nobody went up there except workers who came to fix things. Today it is green, full of tomatoes, herbs and flowers, and it has become one of the most popular places in the school.

The idea came from two tenth-grade students, Eden and Amir. They had read about a hospital in New York that grew vegetables for its patients on its roof. "If they can do it in a city like that," Amir remembers thinking, "why can't we do it here?" They wrote a plan and brought it to the principal. She liked it but had one worry: safety. The roof had no fence, and she would not let students go up until one was built.

That took almost a year. The students raised the money themselves, selling cakes and organizing a concert. Parents who worked in building helped them plan the fence, and the city gave them soil and some wooden boxes. When the fence was finally finished, more than forty students signed up to help.

Each class now takes care of its own part of the roof. The ninth-grade classes grow herbs, which they sell to a local restaurant. The eleventh-grade classes are responsible for the tomatoes and peppers. These are used in the school kitchen, and whatever is left is given to families in the neighbourhood who need it.

Teachers have noticed changes, too. Some students who rarely spoke in class are now the experts on the roof. "They know things I don't," admits Dalia Levi, a biology teacher. "Last week a boy explained to me why our tomato leaves were turning yellow. He was right, and I was wrong."

Eden and Amir finished school last summer, but the garden did not finish with them. This year's students have already added a small pool for fish. Its first fish arrived in October.