Friday night, I went to the 30th graduation of the South Shore Charter Public School. Thirty years ago, as a Kindergarten/First Grade classroom teacher at the school, I went to the first graduation. I have been to about 25 others since, and I have loved every one of them. I write to you about the graduation and that community because Carrot Day comes out of South Shore Charter, and many of the readers of this blog are connected to the school.
A great deal has changed in those thirty years in that once-little school and the larger communities around it. Thirty years ago, there were about sixty people at the graduation of three or four students, and last night, there were about 1,400 at the graduation of 78. It is certainly not the same school it was thirty years ago, and yet it is the same school.
One thing I remember as being the same at all these graduations was the expressions of gratitude from the graduating seniors. At the first graduation, all of the graduates, who wanted to speak to the audience, spoke. That became a tradition and has continued in every South Shore graduation since. If a Senior had something they wanted to tell everyone, they got/get a chance to do so. The speakers were/are not chosen by school leaders, or selected because of their grades, or even by a voted of the members of their class; the speakers chose themselves. What a remarkable thing it is to have the opportunity to create one’s own opportunities. And for thirty years, that opportunity of self-determination has remained and remarkably remains despite a twentyfold growth in size of the graduating class.
The students who chose to speak on Friday night spoke about what had been their experience of “Charter.” (I loved that that was still what they called their school, as that is what we called it in the first years when we were the only charter school in this part of Massachusetts.) They spoke about how they had created a community and what it meant to them to be in that community. They spoke of their gratitude to each other, their teachers, and family members. I love expressions of gratitude, and Friday night I felt so grateful.
I am grateful I got to be a part of that community for so long and I am grateful that my friend and colleague, and faithful reader of this blog, June Fontaine, was honored as she retires after being associated with the school as a parent of a student and then as a teacher for nearly all of the school’s thirty years. The send off was moving and captured her grace and wisdom, her kindness and her skill, and even mentioned the carrots she grew with her students in what is still called the Garden Project.
You see, the Garden Project began in the second year of South Shore, and Carrot Day comes out of the Garden Project. In the Garden Project, we planted carrot seeds in the late spring and harvested them in the fall. Over time, I learned about the impact of frost on carrots’ flavor and the day expanded to beyond just the students who grew the carrots to be a celebration of the garden and of life and work in the garden.
Here is to June and June Fontaine and the people who grow carrots and celebrate the beauty of growing their own food and sharing their own food with friends and neighbors and those they don’t know.
Here is to spring turning to summer. I have sent out the carrot seeds to those who ordered this spring, but I still have thousands of Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds to send to you. If you order this week and I get them out, you can still plant on Juneteenth, a perfect day for planting carrots to harvest in late November or early December.
Below are more pictures of the Hull Garden at 41 Western Ave as spring turns to summer.
Gardens like schools have a flow that goes with the seasons, and the month of June, with its graduations and greens, and long days, is a beautiful part of the yearly cycle. Hope you have a great June and don’t forget to request your Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds. Hope you grow and celebrate carrots with us.
Carrot Day Massachusetts 2023 