Discovery High School students and science teacher Steve Ritz (right) serve home-grown vegetables at a luncheon last spring. (Photo by G. Ciliberto)

Congrats to students and teachers at Discovery High School, in Kingsbridge Heights, for scoring an “Excellence in School Wellness Award” from the Strategic Alliance for Health-the first public school in New York City to win the prize.

Students at Discovery have spent the past several years, under the guidance of gardening guru and science teacher Steve Ritz, cultivating their own on-premise organic herb and vegetable gardens. The students have hosted green cafeteria luncheons and farmer’s markets and donated their homegrown produce to local soup kitchens.

Last fall, the group built garden installations-complete with their own irrigation systems-for the NBC Experience Store, on 49th Street in Manhattan.

According to a press release, the NYC Strategic Alliance for Health chose Discovery “because it offers schools an innovative and successful model for breaking the cycle of poor eating habits by providing instant access to healthy produce.”

An awards ceremony will be hosted by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. on Tuesday April 12, at the Main Rotunda of Bronx Borough Hall starting at 11 a.m.