My exceptionally lively schedule (I am right in the thick of Beauty and the Beast rehearsals) prevented me from helping my wife with one of her biggest projects at Schulte Elementary School . . . her annual Bake Sale. It’s a fundraiser for the fine arts at Schulte, and if Wall Street is trying to figure out how to raise some extra capital, they really should check out what my wife is able to accomplish year after year. Parents at the school are invited to donate homemade baked goods, which are then plated and priced and sold for what turns out to be a handsome profit. . . all for the wonderful cause of the arts for our children.
What’s sweet about it is that people seem perfectly happy – in fact, bound and determined – to purchase some of the baked goods which they themselves prepared. I suspect it may be the kids who are most excited at the prospect of buying a packet of four muffins for two dollars – four muffins which they perhaps helped bake. Whatever- it makes the whole thing work and at the end of the night everyone seems delighted with what ensued.
The stuff for sale tends to represent a wide range of culinary possibilities – and a wide range of skill, as well . . . ranging from masterfully created cheesecakes that Martha Stewart might envy to garishly decorated cupcakes that are the baked equivalent of a kindergarten student’s finger painting that might hang on one’s refrigerator. But it’s all good- and all for a good cause.
And at the center of it is my wonderful wife, running the show with easy-going assurance . . . greeting students and parents alike with that great smile of hers . . . and even remembering the names of former students who come back for a visit. During my brief visit last night, I happened to be there as two of Kathy’s former students swung by the sale, and asked her point blank if she remembered them. It took her maybe two seconds, but their two names came to her lips as if by magic. . . Corinne and Rebecca . . . which must have been a thrill for those two young ladies. Kathy confided later that she doesn’t always remember names of former students – how could she, when she like other specialist teachers has to know every single student in the whole school . . . around 400. . . but she remembered them.
I know that being a public school teacher is a draining job, these days – – – and often a largely thankless job, as well – – – filled with frustrations galore that prevent teachers from being able to do all they would want to do. . . but it’s good to see teachers like my wife smiling and enjoying themselves in the midst of Open House and the annual Berg Baked Sale, when kids are all on best behavior, along with their parents, and it truly seems like it’s all going to be all right.