Sarah Keefe, a native of Acton and 2023 ABRHS graduate, is a familiar face to customers at Idylwilde Farm. She began working part-time at age 16 as a cashier at the upscale farm market. Getting a job there, her parents had suggested, would be good practice for the quiet teenager in holding conversations.
“A lot of the customers are regulars,” she says. “They shop there weekly and would ask about school. I enjoyed getting to know customers over time.”
Rich Napoli, an owner along with his two brothers of the Acton business, says Sarah never missed a shift. He was impressed by her strong work ethic, especially as she started college and balanced school and work. “By the latter part of her senior year, we put her on as a shift manager,” says Napoli. “She was just so reliable and her peers respected her. She was committed to the job.”
Now 21, Sarah is a junior at UMass Amherst, majoring in landscape architecture, which focuses on designing sustainable outdoor spaces and meeting the challenges of climate change.
Her studies in how environments shape well-being became painfully real this past November when a fire destroyed her off-campus apartment, leaving her without a home. Wind-blown flames from an adjacent building under construction had spread to her apartment complex (known as Olympia Place), causing the roof to collapse. The damage was so extensive that the apartments had to be demolished after the fire, leaving more than 230 students without housing.
Sarah lost her clothes, laptop and monitor, and textbooks. She moved back to her parents’ home in Acton and spent the rest of the fall semester studying online and working again at Idylwilde Farm. But despite her losses, she keeps perspective: “I only lost stuff. No one was injured.”
This semester, Sarah is taking advantage of her college’s study abroad program in Rome. She had been on the fence about studying abroad, but after the fire, it became a good choice. Her studies have helped her keep going. She really cares about landscape architecture and is looking forward to making her own designs, going to job sites, and being able to work outside.
In the fall semester, Sarah will have another off-campus apartment. Looking on the bright side, she points out, it will be even closer to campus. Once back, she plans to return to work at Idylwilde Farm during her school breaks.
Nancy Knoblock Hunton writes for the Acton Exchange on various topics, including health, science, and profiles.
