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Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.— Welcome sign

Suffolk County Charter School is a location in the Commonwealth in Fallout 4.

Background[]

Pre-War[]

Prior to the Great War, in exchange for additional funding, the school principal, Jackie Hudson agreed to implement an experimental nutrition initiative, the Nutritional Alternative Paste Program (NAPP) at the school. Participation in the NAPP required limiting food consumption within the school entirely to a food paste developed by Vault-Tec and the United States government,[Non-game 1] a decision she apparently made without the consent of her staff, the students' parents, or the students themselves.

The NAPP was launched on October 18 and any outside food was to be confiscated shortly after.[1] Both faculty and students reported a general unhappiness being forced to comply with the NAPP. It eventually was reported that after one week of paste consumption, there was an increase in problematic student behavior and everyone who consumed the paste was gaining a "pinker" complexion.[2][3]

Post-War[]

By 2287, the mostly intact building has become infested with feral ghouls, which have spent so many years consuming the remaining supply of the food paste that their rotten skin eventually gained the pink complexion noted to be a side effect of extended consumption.

Layout[]

Situated east of Gunners plaza in the marshlands south of Boston, the building has two main floor entrances are available, from the southwest and the southeast. Just outside the school, at the northeast corner, is a water pump. To the south of the school is the Murkwater construction site, which is home to a mirelurk queen.

The exterior and interior of the building are inhabited by pink ghouls, including a glowing one in the upstairs library. A chemistry station is upstairs in the lab classroom to the west, and a cooking stove is behind a Novice-locked door adjacent to the stage in the cafeteria.

The building consists of three levels, including the first floor, second floor, and basement. Upon entry through the front door, the reception office and adjoined principal's office are on the right, and a hole in the wall on the left leads to a restroom. In the center is a collapsed stairway to the second floor, with a hallway on either side. The hallway to the left leads to the restrooms and a series of classrooms, and the hallway to the right leads to the cafeteria, the entrance to which is initially chained from the opposite side.

The collapsed staircase can be used to reach the second floor by jumping from the railing or topmost step. The second floor can also be accessed using an intact back staircase via the working elevator that runs between the basement and first floor. Due to rubble blocking direct access to the staircase, this method requires one to traverse through the classrooms off the first floor's left hallway, and then through the basement via the hole in the cafeteria floor. In the basement, behind a door opened from an Expert-locked terminal, a mattress can be found.

Notable loot[]

  • 16 samples of food paste - Scattered throughout the school.
  • 12 Vault-Tec lunchboxes - In classrooms, on desks, on the floor, or in lockers. Eight can be found on the first floor, and four can be found on the second floor.
  • Five overdue books:
    • One on the first floor, on the counter outside the principal's office next to a broken terminal.
    • One on the first floor, on a student desk in a room behind a large Novice-locked door off the cafeteria.
    • One on the second floor, on a table behind an Expert-locked door.
    • One on the second floor, in the library next to the dead body in a pink dress. The library also features a book return terminal.
    • One in the basement, behind the security door and next to the Stealth Boy.
  • Three school announcements holotapes by Principal Hudson regarding the school's participation in and adherence to the NAPP:
    • The first is for the 18th of October, and is on the first floor in the principal's office, on the desk.
    • The second is for the 20th of October, and is on the first floor in the cafeteria, on the podium.
    • The third is for the 22nd of October, and is on the second floor in the library, on the desk next to the Unstoppables magazine.
  • Unstoppables issue #4 - On the second floor in the library, on the desk.
  • Note - On the second floor, on a teacher's desk in a classroom behind a Novice-locked door in the southwest corner.
  • Stealth Boy - In the basement, behind a door secured with an Expert-locked terminal.
  • Fusion core - In the basement, inside the farthest generator.

Related quests[]

  • Cleansing the Commonwealth: Knight Rhys gives the Sole Survivor an assignment to clear the location of what he calls "abominations" to further the aims of the Brotherhood of Steel.
  • Ghoul Problem: Settlers have asked the player character for help in taking care of some feral ghouls that have been terrorizing a nearby location.
  • Leading by Example: Lancer Captain Kells requests the Sole Survivor's help in training a Brotherhood squire by allowing him to accompany them on a mission.
  • Quartermastery: Scribe Haylen has identified the location of a piece of technology she wishes to retrieve and catalog. She asks the Sole Survivor for help in bringing back the technology in one piece.
  • Pest Control: Dr. Binet of the Institute's Robotics division asks the Sole Survivor to eliminate some feral ghouls that are causing problems for a synth scavenger team.
  • Randolph Safehouse: The Railroad agent Mister Tims will leave dead drops in the form of six holotapes for the Sole Survivor, containing information about possible hazards to the Railroad's escort and escape of synths out of the Commonwealth. They can assist in these efforts by clearing out the location of hostiles.

Notes[]

  • In the hallway with the chained library door on the second floor, there is a hole in the wall next to the door. If one looks through the hole, they can activate a book return terminal. This will teleport the Sole Survivor into the room.
  • There is a terminal outside the principal's office that does not seem to do anything. It boots up to a screen, but does not offer any interactive options.
  • The location itself will reset, but the pink ghouls will not respawn, as they are unique, meaning on a second visit one will only have to deal with the final leveled ghoul and two radroaches.
  • Although labeled as "Mr. Davidson's Terminal," the logged-in user is Henry Smith. Moreover, Mr. Davidson's terminal is situated in Vault-Tec Regional HQ on the third floor.
  • To the south-southwest of the school are three concrete structures. Opening the door on the middle structure spawns a leveled sentry bot and reveals a fake wall with some graffiti that reads "YOU LOOK NICE TODAY!" This is reminiscent of the graffiti behind another fake door in Fallout 3, which reads "FUCK YOU."
  • Often in an area between the school and Gunners plaza, a leveled super mutant behemoth spawns.
  • Curie is seemingly aware of the NAPP and the effects of eating the food paste, commenting on the pink ghouls if brought there.[4]

Appearances[]

Suffolk County Charter School appears only in Fallout 4 and is mentioned in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Suffolk County Charter School was created by level designer Justin Schram.[Non-game 2]
  • The 200-year-old message on the board at the front of the school is "Education is what survives when what has been learnt is forgotten." This is a quote from B. F. Skinner, famous for describing the psychological concept of operant conditioning.
  • The pink food paste is a reference to The Stuff, a 1985 horror movie in which a popular gooey dessert food turns people into mindless killer zombies. Henry Smith's draft letter even refers to the pink paste as "the stuff".
  • The pink food paste may also allude to pink slime, more commonly known as lean finely textured beef or LFTB, which is often used in fast food. The product is sometimes made using ammonia gas and came under a lot of scrutiny after an ABC news series on the issue. The use of the pink slime in school lunches in particular came under heavy fire.[Non-game 3]

Gallery[]

References[]

Non-game

  1. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 384: "The student base of this school consisted mostly of lower-income and disadvantaged students. These children were lucky enough to be chosen for trials of a new food substitute paste developed by Vault-Tec in conjunction with the U.S. government. The paste was intended to provide all necessary nutrition and have a shelf life of over 100 years. Despite some minor side effects, the paste is both nutritious and delicious. Why not try some yourself? You’ll be in the pink!"
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
  2. Alumni Guest: Justin Schram From Bethesda Game Studios (reference starts at 13:19)
    Justin Schram: "So, in Fallout, you would have, like... I had Suffolk Charter School, which is this elementary school on the southern end of the map. And so, you sort of know what a school should look like on the inside and on the outside. And we build that, and then you sort of have to match the inside to that. So when you're designing a level, you have to remember this has to look on the inside what it should look like on the outside. So that's something you have to keep in mind."
  3. 'Pink slime' in school lunches: Government is buying 7 million pounds worth - The Washington Post
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