PEABODY — Peabody Veterans Memorial High High School senior Kassidy Butt is the recipient of the first Peabody Education Foundation’s Cara E. Murtagh Memorial Scholarship.
The Cara E. Murtagh Memorial Scholarship was founded shortly after the former superintendent of schools died unexpectedly in November, 2019.
The $2,500 scholarship will be awarded annually in Murtagh’s memory to a college-bound senior to help defray the rising costs of higher education.
“Ms. Murtagh has always been a mentor for me and I have always been close with her, so receiving the first award in her memory is so special to me,” said Butt. “The money has nothing to do with it, even if it were just $50, it still would mean so much to me. Ever yday, I still think that it’s still so sad and I cannot believe she is gone.”
Butt has a record of accomplishments in many areas, including academics, leadership, sports and community service. She was a Higgins School City Ambassador in the eighth grade. A member of the National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society and DECA, Inc., Butt played four years of varsity lacrosse and three years of volleyball. Her community service includes volunteering with the Ella O’Donnell Foundation, Haven for Hunger (delivering meals during the pandemic) and the Little Tanners Early Education program at the high school.
Butt will be attending Endicott College in the fall, majoring in elementary education. She said Murtagh inspired her to become a teacher.
“I’ve known Ms. Murtagh since elementary school. She was my principal at the Carroll School and I used to go to her every day during reading time and read her a book in her office,” said Butt. “She always told me I would be a teacher. She would tell me that I read in a teacher’s voice, and it was so funny because I was little.”
Murtagh was an active member of the Peabody Education Foundation, spearheading many of the foundation’s programs and events. In the days following her death, the Murtagh family generously requested that donations in her honor, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Peabody Education Foundation.
“Donations and messages came in from across the country attesting to the love and admiration so many shared for her,” said David Gravel, foundation president and chairman. “Through this scholarship, we hope to preserve Cara’s dedication and commitment to the education of and her love for the school children of Peabody for years to come.
“Kassidy Butt possesses the same passion for education and will clearly follow the career path she has chosen. She will be a strong advocate for all children and will impart the importance of a good education on every child she encounters.”
Peabody High Principal Dr. Chris Lord said Butt is a “model for success in illustrating the seven elements of the school’s Vision of the Graduate” initiative (VOG), a program that Murtagh believed in “wholeheartedly.”
“Kassidy is the model example of VOG, ready for whatever comes her way in life after high school. Cara would ask nothing more and we are so proud of Kassidy and what she has accomplished at PVMHS,” adding that Butt earned the highest possible Sustaining, Level 4 Rating in English and Social Studies on her report card.”
Butt’s busy schedule includes working part-time at Treadwell’s Ice Cream. She said she will always remember the special conversation she had with Murtagh two days before her death.
“She came into Treadwell’s Wednesday after the football pep rally to pick up ice cream for Thanksgiving and she kept nagging me about what grade I wanted to teach, like she always did,” joked Butt. “I would always tell her I didn’t know, so she told me that day she would set it up at the Carroll School, that the teachers would let me rotate through the grades to see which ones I liked, but I never got the chance. My goal is to be just like her, to start as a teacher and then move up to principal and eventually become a superintendent, like she did.”