Eight Months of SISU

Today is an important day for the Ashby Evergreen Charter School. We have our final meeting with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education before submitting the first version of our initial charter application ahead of the August 13 deadline.

Whether we move on to the next stage of the charter process or not, today feels like an opportunity to pause and reflect on how remarkable this journey has been.

Eight months ago, this effort began with heartbreak.

The closure of Ashby Elementary School was devastating for so many of us. It was more than the loss of a building—it felt like the loss of a piece of our community. Although I wasn’t born in Ashby, I attended Ashby Elementary School as a child, and I have always considered Ashby my home. Like so many others, I felt that loss deeply. It was one of those moments that leaves you wondering what comes next.

What came next was something I never could have imagined.

People began saying, “How can I help?”

Over the past eight months, educators, parents, mental health professionals, business leaders, attorneys, nonprofit leaders, community members, and friends have stepped forward with extraordinary generosity. They have shared their expertise, donated countless hours, challenged ideas, solved problems, asked difficult questions, celebrated milestones, and believed that together we could create something meaningful for children and families.

This has never been one person’s project. It has always belonged to the community.

Every meeting, every draft, every conversation over coffee, every email, every word of encouragement, every new volunteer, and every thoughtful suggestion has brought us closer to the vision of a school where children can thrive through joyful learning, time outdoors, meaningful relationships, and the resilience embodied in the Finnish concept of sisu.

People often ask what sisu means.

It is frequently translated as courage, determination, perseverance, and resilience. But over these past eight months, I have come to believe that sisu is also hope. It is choosing to build instead of surrendering to disappointment. It is believing that something beautiful can grow from profound loss.

That is exactly what this community has done.

No matter what happens next in the charter process, I hope everyone who has been part of this journey feels proud. Together, we transformed grief into possibility. We turned conversations into plans, plans into a vision, and that vision into a charter application that reflects the hopes of an entire community.

For that, I am deeply grateful.

Thank you to everyone who has attended meetings, reviewed documents, shared your expertise, introduced us to new partners, encouraged us when the work felt overwhelming, and believed that our children deserve something extraordinary.

Today, we take another step forward.

Whatever comes next, we will face it together—with courage, optimism, and, above all, with SISU.

Thank you for believing in this dream.