ADAMS, Mass. — Jonathan Igoe is a relatively new member of the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School community.

 

But the interim executive director learned a pretty valuable lesson about the 28 members of the class of 2024 who gathered in school's gym for Saturday morning's graduation.

 

Recently, he heard a story about 14 of those seniors on the class field trip to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

 

"They went out to lunch together, a group among this larger group," Igoe said at Saturday's ceremony. "And the owner of the restaurant was so impressed with this group of students that she asked to take a photo and put it on her Instagram account.

 

"She told them that they were the most polite and best behaved group of students that she had ever encountered."

 

True to that reputation for good manners, gratitude was a major theme of Saturday's graduation exercises.

 

In addition to the annual "Moment of Appreciation" school tradition when graduates each give a flower to a faculty member who impacted their life in a significant way, two seniors made appreciation for their parents a major theme of their remarks.