Collins Middle School Scholars Earn Five Ribbons at Topsfield Fair Competition
CMS grade 6-8 special education scholars earn two blue ribbons, three runners-up
TOPSFIELD (Oct. 7, 2026) – Collins Middle School special education grade 6-8 students received two first place ribbons and three for second place Sunday at the Topsfield Fair Junior Fruit, Vegetable and Decorative Competition.
The ribbons mark the students’ best result in three years of submitting to the Competition. CMS students received first and second place in the miniature pumpkins category as well as first place in the escarole category. They also received second place plaudits in the carrots and romaine lettuce categories.
“They were thrilled to see their winning vegetables and loved hearing other fair-goers congratulate them on their good work,” said Barbara McLernon, an Instructional Paraprofessional at CMS who oversees the gardening program.
Last year, CMS scholars won second place in the beets category and third place in the carrots category, which are grown over the spring and summer in garden beds outside the middle school and harvested in late September.
In 2024, CMS students won first place in the beet category and second in the carrots category. Per the competition rules, students under 18 must grow, pick, submit and arrange a minimum five types of fruits and/or vegetables themselves at their exhibit space. Fruits and vegetables are judged by trueness to type, arrangement, freedom from disease and injury, condition, and uniformity.
CMS students planted the seeds in the late winter under grow lights, then transplanted them into gardens surrounding the school, and followed a strict watering schedule.
Ms. McLernon brought 17 of the students to the Topsfield Fair Sunday to see their plaudits.
“Our students love their gardening,” she noted. “Being outside, seeing what lives in the dirt, learning about good food and eating what they harvest and grow, gives each of them a sense of accomplishment and amazement. So many children have no idea of where food comes from and our students grow, harvest and bring the food to the cafeteria to be included in lunches.”
CMS’s entry into the Competition is made possible by the Massachusetts Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health through Coordination and Optimization of Resources and Partnerships (FRESH CORP) initiative which, in June of 2025, provided Salem with $133,000 over 18 months to expand and formalize food system education for pre-K through grade 8 students.
“The Fresh Corp grant has given us the ability to almost double our gardening space,” Ms. McLernon said. “Hopefully it will be extended to next year, but gardening will continue even if it is not. That is how important gardening is to our programs.”
CMS special education scholars grow more than a dozen vegetables including peppers, squash, gem corn, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, peas, tomatoes and herbs, as well as sunflowers and cosmos for pollination.
Vegetables grown in the CMS garden beds – as well as all schools’ gardens – go straight to the school kitchen to be served to students as part of the District’s farm-to-school effort, which embodies the District’s 2026-29 Strategic Plan’s core value of ‘elevate.’
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts, a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens through which we view our work. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff unconditionally serves each of our 4,000 students across 11 schools regardless of ability or language.
