Bob was born in Brooklyn, New York. As early as he could remember, his fondest desire was to explore the frozen north. He answered the call of the wild when he was still a young man and headed into the wastelands with his indomitable spirit.
Off the northern coast of Newfoundland, across the straight of Bell Island, and on for over 700 miles are the highlands of Labrador. Labrador Peninsula extends into the northern waters separating Hudson Bay from the Atlantic. 530,000 square miles of a deep freeze. This region held a tremendous fascination for young explorers and no less for Bob.
In 1914, Bob joined an expedition into Labrador under the auspices of the U.S. Geographic Service. The purpose of the expedition was to survey wildlife and to describe the fish and game in that frigid local. That first winter was cold for anywhere at nearly 50 below. The native food supply that Bob observed was rather limited. Any fresh vegetables had to arrive by ship. That left caribou meat and fish. Bob was intrigued by the native's ice fishing and how a fish first exposed to the arctic air would be frozen stiff the moment it was pulled from the water. What was even more impressive was that even after the catch was stored and thawed, even months later, some of those fish were still alive. Bob stayed with the Labrador expedition for three years. He never forgot the natural way that the native fisherman had preserved their catch.
In 1917 Bob was back home in the states and he began experimenting with that unusual food preservation process, difficult as it was without the aid of arctic air. In 1924, Bob was in business for himself. The General Seafoods Company he called it. He packed and sold thousands of pounds of frozen fish a year, the company's primary purpose was research and development. In five years Bob sold the rights to his perfected freezing process to the newly formed General Foods Corporation for 22 million dollars. Because Bob, the rugged explorer of the northlands, had rediscovered what the natives of Labrador had known all along. That quick freezing and sudden exposure of meats, fruits, and vegetables to extreme cold preserves, as no other method, the original texture, flavor, and nutritional value. It was Bob who introduced fresh frozen food to the civilized world. He left us with something else that you know, his name. The Brooklyn boy who answered the call of the northern wilderness and who was perplexed by the freshness of a month's frozen fish was Bob “Clarence” Birdseye.
Improvements for advancing outcomes can come from anywhere. I am always thankful that we have the pioneer spirit within our schools. Each collaboration where we look at data and collaborate on solutions or work towards incremental growth for better student outcomes are potential entrepreneur moments. Just as Bob saw a natural process and worked to perfect it for better-frozen foods, so do we look at our processes in the light of improving for our students. Thanks for your hard work with our families to make the lives of our students better for it.
https://youtu.be/VAOaThpS3ZU
https://youtu.be/pN34FNbOKXc
As a side note, we will be having a Ukrainian Family joining our schools this month. This world is certainly connected and what we do matters across boundaries. https://www.r2sc.org/
Have a great weekend,
Rob