Education

By Carol Masshardt (The series will feature 2024 high school graduates from South Boston) South Boston’s Liana Flood can make it look easy. A 2024 graduate of the Dexter-Southfield School in Brookline, she excelled in track and is an editor of the school newspaper and has been a peer tutor. She with graduate with the academic honor of cum laude on June 1. “I went to the Condon K-3 and SB Catholic 3-5 and knew when I made a choice that I wanted a small, closely knit school community where I could connect on a personal level,” she said. “The athletics and academics are collaborative at Dexter Southfield, and the teachers are willing to work with you,” she said.   If high school success could [...]

By Carol Masshardt (The series will feature 2024 high school graduates from South Boston) Many high school seniors are understandably unsure about their future goals, but eighteen-year-old Caleigh Houlihan isn’t one of them. If ever there was a born teacher in the making it is this South Boston native and 2024 Boston Latin Academy  graduate. Soon to attend Bridgewater State University as an Elementary Education/Special Education major, Caleigh hasn’t missed an opportunity to prepare. Perhaps it began at home with two younger sisters, or through the years at Miss Linda’s Dance Program, and/or in tutoring and babysitting, and surely because of teachers she has had. “I have been thinking about being a teacher and talking about it forever,” she said. “And Bridgewater was my choice [...]

By Judith Silva Nee We teachers are an odd breed, especially early childhood teachers like myself.  We often drive to work in a costume. If we’re on the phone at all, it’s emergency related and over a loud classroom din (‘Hello Dr. Welby...PUT THAT BLOCK DOWN!). We form friendships with other adults through snippets of conversations or a knowing nod between bells. Our lunchtime options are limited.  I happily eat mine in the car, rain or shine. It’s quiet there.  Our work conditions often resemble the great outdoors. It can get so hot that I once got asked at dismissal if I’d gone swimming;  my clothes clung to my body from sweat.  I sometimes walk directly from the schoolyard to the beach for a quick [...]

Stephen Flynn, 18, will graduate from the Boston Latin School this year. He has many reasons to be proud, including successful completion of a demanding academic program, playing for the varsity baseball team, and involvement in the Christian Athletic Club, Peer Mentoring, and Student Leadership group. In addition, and perhaps foremost, is his appreciation for people and their experiences. “I liked Latin School and I learned how to be better disciplined academically and it made me more resilient. But what I loved was meeting people I may not have met and from all over the city. The school gave a sense of belonging. Baseball has been one of the most enjoyable things of my life, but it isn’t about winning, but about the team. It [...]

By Carol Masshardt Ateacher with two years’ experience in Boston, Kate Fennessey, and her 7th grade Math students at the Condon School showed what is possible with commitment, support and focus. On March 21st, teams of students presented their concepts for innovative programs with an audience of classmates, community representatives and banking executives from HarborOne. All worthwhile, three were chosen for a special recognition “micro loan” by HarborOne Bank. The “02127 Boys”, Jayden Bengoche, Jio Mendez and Muktar Hassan, presented a clear and energetic proposal to clean, repair the update the Condon gym and thereby enhance it for school and community events and raise funds through activity fees for groups. Other impressive projects with special recognition included a plan to provide a “safe space” in [...]

By Carol Masshardt Since age 19, Sister Maryadele, of the Catholic Charities Labore Center, has been guided by her faith, and that has led her, surely and through experience, to work with and on behalf of those suffering. “I was always close to the church where I grew up in Syracuse, New York, and learned so much from the sisters along the way, but it was when I saw them in action at a nursing home that I began to understand the meaning of God in action and lives. Faith isn’t just a Sunday morning thing,” she said. Many know Maryadele as the former Director of Labore prior to her “retirement.”  It may be less known that she returned to the ministry that has meant [...]

Observant and energetic, Kathy Lafferty, Executive Director of the South Boston Neighborhood House, was shaped by early experiences on the same streets she can nearly see from her office on H St. “I remember looking at Bob Monahan and Helen Alex and thinking, Wow, you can grow up here, and then stay and make a difference.” That was, and continues to be, appealing to a woman who has now devoted thirty years to an organization where she went as a child and in a community she knows well. Five generations of her family have participated, including her own two now college age children with husband, Shine Lafferty, also of several generations in South Boston. As the youngest of five, she remembers with delight her early [...]

For South Boston’s Linda Chiaramonte, it started a dozen years ago when she spotted a flyer at the library. Literation’s, a program designed to help students reach reading proficiency by fifth grade was seeking volunteers to help students at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club after school program. “My husband was quite ill, and I had to stay close, but also needed something. And I thought working with children, which I hadn’t done, would be good when I was so absorbed in illness,” she said. “There is fun and energy with young people.” She has continued ever since. Ellie Sullivan started eight years ago, when she wanted to do something meaningful and local. Both Linda and Ellie had leadership positions through their lives, and though each [...]