What is the saying? “The kitchen is the heart of the home.” The same is true at St. James School where lunches are lovingly prepared for 85 students, 40 staff, and dozens of graduates every day.

This academic year, we’re excited to have our three-member kitchen team preparing meals in our new kitchen! It is double the size of the old one and has many new appliances.

Chef Debbie Anthony has navigated many stages in her 10 years at St. James, from the original kitchen, to the renovated Di Bruno Bros. Neighborhood kitchen, to a pandemic outdoor kitchen in a tent on the basketball court, to no cooking while the new building was under construction (we relied on food partners to provide meals).

The pandemic presented the greatest challenge, Debbie says: “When COVID came it was some kind of something. I went a whole year through the snow, the freezing cold and all that cooking outside in the tent and got everything done.”

The kitchen team now includes Kitchen and Catering Manager Quinton Floyd, who joined in June and is Debbie’s grandchild, and Dining Room Manager Tyshea Jackson, who took that position last summer after filling in over the past year. Tyshea is the proud parent of three graduates: Tynae (Class of 2016), Tyjiere (Class of 2019), and Tineef (Class of 2023).

Quinton says they have been looking forward to pleasing the students: “I’m just excited to see the faces on the kids and make everybody happy.” Tyshea knows what the students have been missing during construction: “The lunch! I’m so glad we have our chef back and our kitchen back.”

Debbie affectionately refers to Tyshea as “Action Jackson.” Tyshea and Quinton are “both real quick, efficient, a recipe for running smoothly in the kitchen,” she says.

Our chefs craft each week’s menu together. Curried chicken is Quinton's favorite thing to cook. At home, Debbie likes to make fried chicken, but at school she makes a healthier baked version. Tyshea looks forward to seeing acorn squash and sautéed vegetables on the menu: “It’s so good!”

Chef Anthony collaborated on the kitchen design with Di Bruno Bros, and Corsi Kitchen Designers.

Brad Carney, lead instructor with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, directed the design and installation of two murals at St. James this past summer, one in a stairwell of our new Upper School building and one in the Welcome Table’s Adult Education Center. Brad is a teaching artist who specializes in bright and colorful community reflective murals.

In the school building, Brad led a team of 17 artists, ages 14 to 18, in the creation of four murals. Of the 17, 12 were graduates of St. James School and five were from the Mural Arts After-School Program. The artists worked six hours a day, three days a week, and received a weekly stipend.

The mural entitled, “The Seeds We Grow,” consists of four windows which display students’ favorite places around the school collaged with images representing each of our four houses: Patientia, Industria, Humilitas, and Benevolentia. Every student and staff member at St. James School belongs to one of the houses, which are named for virtues to be worked toward.

Brad began the design process by meeting with all students from each of the four houses. He asked every student to give him one word representing either what was important to them about St. James School or what they wanted to see represented in their house’s window.

Based on that information, Brad designed four windows. During the six-week program, the participants learned how to paint, how to create faux finishes, flowers, landscapes, and texts, and how to work together. Brad explains that one of the key lessons was, “How do 17 sets of hands make one work of art?”

Adonnis Pearson (Class of 2021) said of his experience, "I learned that I am interested in painting. I did find it challenging at times, especially when it came to filling in for absent co-workers, but I learned to multi-task and get it done. The advice I have for those considering this program is stick with it. It may be difficult at first, but if you keep at it and work hard it will turn out very well in the end."

Brad also collaborated with the Welcome Table to create a mural for the back wall of the Adult Education Center. He met with a broad cross section of community members who shared their thoughts on what the Welcome Table means to them. He then designed a motif that reflected their sentiments. The mural was painted over the course of two Saturdays by community members ages 5 to 87.

Musa Macenyane, assistant director of the Welcome Table, notes the importance of this project and resulting mural: “The goal of the Welcome Table is to be the third space for people. The third space is a term designating a communal space that is distinct from home (the 1st space) and work (the 2nd space.)” Third places are locations where you encounter “regulars” who frequent a space, as well as potential new connections.

The Welcome Table Adult Education Center is a space open to all, where people can take a class in financial or legal literacy, ceramics or Zumba, or receive life coaching, without fees or requirements. Musa states that, “This community designed and painted mural is a visual representation that this third space truly belongs to the people who use it.”

Wednesday October 11th

The Champions are a group of our best advocates and cheerleaders. They gather 5 times a year to connect, learn what's new at St. James, and strategize how to bring new friends into our mission.