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Schools

New High School's Auditorium To Be Named For "Gig" Babson

The School Committee will take a formal vote in two weeks, but members all agree it's a perfect way to give something to a woman who has given so much to the town.

She’s spent her adult life making a difference in her hometown, and now her hometown wants to say thank you by naming the auditorium in the new in honor of Katherine L. “Gig” Babson.

“I think she’s made a difference to this town, and to the children of this town,” School Committee Chairwoman Suzy Littlefield said Tuesday night in making the recommendation to honor Babson.

Babson, currently the chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, has served in a variety of town positions including Town Meeting member, Town Moderator, and on the Advisory Committee and Preservation Committee as well as being involved in the Wellesley Scholarship Fund and Centennial Fund.

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But it is her work as chairwoman of the School Building Committee that Littlefield specifically cited in asking her colleagues to name the new auditorium after Babson.

“We’ve been working on the new high school now for almost a decade,” Littlefield said. And without Babson, Littlefield said the new high school could have been just “15 classrooms” added onto the old building.

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“She carried this through,” Littlefield said.

Babson was instrumental in getting the debt exclusion passed by voters which allowed the town to raise taxes to pay for the new school which will open in February, six months sooner than originally scheduled.

“She is an exemplary example of civic spirit,” said School Superintendent Bella T. Wong. “She is a force unto nature, always serving in the best interest of the town.”

School Committee Members Ilissa Povich and KC Kato also marveled at the effort Babson made over the years in getting the high school plans approved, funded and the built.

Povich cited Babson’s “incredible” and “tireless” energy Babson has put into her work for the town and Kato spoke of getting emails at all hours of the day and night from Babson with ideas about the high school or some other school building project.

And, as Littlefield said, Babson did all this without ever running for or serving on the School Committee.

While all the School Committee members voiced support for the naming, a formal vote will make the decision official in two weeks.

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