By Carol Masshardt
“In my opinion, my class is the best in the world,” said Catherine “Cate” Martin.
Soon to graduate from Excel High School with a 4.02 grade point average, her accomplishments and talents are beyond what grades can measure. It is easy to imagine that the spunk, thoughtfulness, wit, and artistic ability will carry this UMass-Boston bound and lifelong South Boston daughter far into a bright future.
“My junior and senior years at Excel were great. It opened up a bigger social group. Friends I made were the highlight. People from other countries, like Cape Verde, became good friends, and that is just cool and awesome,” she said.
Her interests are many and she brings imagination to life and learning. Cate’s drawings and paintings were chosen for several projects at school and for the auction at the South Boston Neighborhood House. None of this is to say that it has all been easy. Transferring schools alone, which she did from EMK to Excel, takes a certain strength and perspective.
“Excel can be rambunctious, but you have to make the best of it. What it lacks, such as the field trips and other things schools do, you make up for in friendships and relationships. That’s what makes it. I enjoy going to school now, but I didn’t always,” she said.
Cate Martin has a plan. As a “veteran” of the Boston Public Schools, she wants to return to teach one day and has in mind a major in Elementary Education and minor in Art. Experience at the South Boston Neighborhood House has also had significant impact on her vision.
“I ‘ve worked with kids every summer, and I love to come up with ideas. It works best for me when I can use my imagination and if I can be who I am and then others can be who they are, then that is awesome and really what I think is important,” she said.
Dreams and ideals are not without concerns for the 2025 graduates and Cate easily articulates what is on her mind.
“My major concern is climate change. If I have a family, I want them to be healthy, and I want a long life,” she explains with a well attuned sense of the world around her. “I don’t know if this will be possible with the ways things are going.”
Her serious side seems well matched with the joys of being seventeen. She enjoys snowboarding (“I would love to have my own snowboard”) her work at SBNH, and time with friends.
Unsure about where she might eventually live, her attitude toward her hometown is generous.
“I am a city girl, and I love the variety. I have only known new people and people who have been in South Boston for a long time living here together. I hope people can be where they want to be. My goal is to someday travel to all the states, and I do love to travel. Even going to a little town fair and seeing a contest for the best carrot was new and awesome, but this is home,” she said.
The list of people Catherine Martin appreciates is long, and precise. Many teachers and especially Mr. Mac, Miss Maki and Miss Sweet at Excel, have earned her fond regard. In addition, Caitlyn Murphy, a trusted mentor at the Neighborhood House, and her family, especially her father, and her boyfriend, Robert. “These are the people who make my world go round,” she said.
Congratulations, Cate Martin, on your high school graduation!
(Carol Masshardt can be reached at carolhardt@comcast.net for comments or suggestions of new high school graduates who maybe included in this series.)
