Nothing beats a home-cooked meal. After more than a decade, students at Southport Central School are getting just that with the scratch cooking program’s return. Every day, chef Pam Pearce makes breakfast and lunch for about 23 students, pulling ingredients from both the school’s community garden and the local area.  

“Her menu has been just incredible ... She's really come into the position and just flown in a way that I couldn't have imagined,” said Principal Shawn Gallagher. 

Restoring the position to the budget has been a long-term goal. As an administrator, it's been fulfilling for Gallagher to address often overlooked, behind-the-scenes issues so crucial to student success. “(Pearce is) creating a space down in that lunchroom where kids want to be. It's a loving environment. I think that these things have ripple effects not just in the quality of experience that kids have in the moment, but right down to their engagement in academics, their achievement, their attendance.”  

Having fresh meals made in the kitchen is also the final arm in the school’s greater food ecosystem. In addition to a community garden, a student-designed composting system was unveiled last spring, so now the school grows its own food, cooks it and composts it. Rinse and repeat. “We've got this group of kindergartners who have come in who will know nothing different, who just think this is how you take care of your food, this is how you take care of your waste, which is powerful for kids.” 

Just as students have been involved in the garden and composting process, the hope is to eventually enfold them in meal preparation as well. Creating a meal not only boosts self-confidence, but also gives kids essential life skills, Gallagher said.  

With bodies fueled with good food, kids have enough energy to try out Southport’s other new program, the after-school play club. Its goal is twofold: Create a free after-school option for working families and provide kids with unstructured, forest-based playtime.  

Over the years, school and after-school programs have strayed from unstructured activities, limiting opportunities for kids to flex their imaginations and learn to socialize and resolve conflicts among themselves, Gallager explained.  

“We're going to start seeing kids grow in new ways because they’re eating well ... We're going to see kids changing and growing differently because they're playing together for hours without an adult telling them what to do. I am doubling down on the fact this is good for humans. This is good for children.” 

Headed by Molly Thibault, the club has been a wild success thus far. However, volunteers are needed to fulfill the two-supervisor quota. Gallager encourages friends and family of both active and alumni students to consider volunteering. The school is the pulse of the community, and having more people involved in its goings-on can only benefit everyone.