By Rick Winterson

     Put together the Christmas Season, an approaching Holiday school break, and the SOUTH Restaurant at 77 Dorchester Street.  The result was a Senior-Junior lunch party for the Odyssey High School students on Thursday, December 15, which was held at SOUTH and was hosted by SOUTH’s owner, Dan Kaufman, and its Executive Chef, Jerome Watkins.

     Here’s how it happened.

     The students at Odyssey High wanted to have a Junior/Senior celebration of some kind, so they began asking local food establishments for donations.  When they got to SOUTH, Kaufman and Watkins offered them a complete luncheon party right in the restaurant itself.  Both men explained, “We think that part of our mission is to support South Boston’s institutions and to be good citizens.”  And so it happened.  

     Approximately 65 seniors and juniors attended the feast.  The staff who served them included Oji Scuny, James Bensen, Mike Miller, and Adam Craig.  Every one of the students left feeling that Kaufman and Watkins had demonstrated extraordinary hospitality and community spirit in sponsoring the lunch for them.  And the food served by SOUTH was superb.

     Odyssey High is part of the South Boston High School’s Educational Complex.  Its particular educational niche is Environmental Science.  In addition to the normal secondary school requirements, Odyssey offers project-based learning in environmental matters.  For example, entering students have been working on profiling the beaches on the Boston Harbor Islands, which are now part of the National Park System.  They are investigating the erosion effects of the harbor’s boat traffic, which calls for sophisticated measurements and analyses.  The students have also written a guide to the Islands for use by other students.

(EDITORS NOTE:  This article was based on pictures and notes submitted to South Boston Online by Odyssey’s headmaster, Virginia Ordway-Macrina, and assistant headmaster, Deborah Jencunas.)