South Shore Vo-Tech honors staff during SSVT Committee Meeting
The South Shore Vo-Tech School Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 21 honored the first of the school’s unsung heroes to be named Staff Member of the Month.
The award salutes a teacher or other school employee — nominated by students and selected from nominees by the Student Council — for their contributions on the job.
Pam Knights of Whitman, a SSVT cafeteria employee, was selected for her dedication to student nutrition and her welcoming personality on the job.
Pam Knights of Whitman, a cafeteria employee, was selected for her dedication to student nutrition and her welcoming personality on the job.
“Vo-Tech has been a big part of my life,” an emotional Knights said of her award. “But I couldn’t do it without the students. Twenty-one years as a ‘lunch lady,’ I love it here. I just wish in my time that they had girls come here.”
She recalled the last time she had won an award was in the second grade — for penmanship.
“Thank you, and now I’m going to go home and watch the Bruins,” she said.
SSVT Treasurer James Coughlin said employees like Knights make the cafeteria program such a success.
“They make money down there,” Coughlin said. “It’s a great program.”
Knights and Student of the Month Kewayne Francis, a senior graphic communications student from Rockland, were presented awards at the meeting.
Student Advisory Council member Maddie Long read some of the recommendations from her fellow students.
“She is sweet, patient and polite to all of the students,” one student wrote. “Pam greets each student with a happy disposition and a smile on her face.”
“She is always there to make sure we eat sufficient food — she knows it’s our fuel to learn,” Long read from the student comments.
Principal Margaret Dutch said Knights, a graduate of Brockton High School, is dedicated to the students as much as her favorite ice hockey team.
“To know Pam is to know she is an avid Bruins fan,” Dutch said. “During the season she keeps the students and the faculty members up to date with the highs and lows of the Bruins season.”
She is also dedicated to the school, from which many of her family members graduated, “So really she is the only one waiting to get an award — and here it is.”
Francis was lauded by Guidance Director Michael Janicki as a mentor for new students as well as his leadership within the graphics department.
“The transition into high school can be nerve-wracking for some students and Kewayne has taken it upon himself to become a mentor for some of the new students,” Janicki said.