'SNL' alum Jenny Slate to deliver commencement address at tiny one-room schoolhouse

Small schools have their advantages.

"Saturday Night Live" alum Jenny Slate will deliver a commencement address to a very intimate audience: Just one child is graduating 8th grade this year from Cuttyhunk Elementary school, a one-room schoolhouse that sits on a scarcely-populated Massachusetts island near Martha's Vineyard.

Approximately twelve people live on the island year-round, and one of those twelve is Gwen Lynch. She'll also give a speech on graduation day, according to the Cape Cod Times, and her departure from the school, which was built in 1873, will leave it vacant. Upon her departure, the historic building will be converted into a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) academy for visiting students.

After agreeing to give the address, Slate, who grew up in Massachusetts, got in touch with the teenager so they could chat. They even met up in person over a recent weekend.

Slate is also involved with a Cuttyhunk-based writers workshop that's run by her boyfriend, Ben Shattuck.

Despite the island's near-zero population, the town is expecting a full house on graduation day: A ferry service will allow friends, family and other non-locals to come and celebrate with a potluck meal.

Last year, Boston NPR station WBUR spotlighted the island's annual first-day-of-school tradition, when residents gather to applaud and cheer as students make their way into the schoolhouse. Lynch wasn't the only student this year; there was also a second-grader, but it appears the child will not remain enrolled.

According to Lynch's father, who also grew up on Cuttyhunk Island, the town was more bustling years ago; he had 13 classmates — which may sound small, but it's 13 times the number his daughter had.

"On Halloween, there would be kids running through the streets and banging on doors and giant Christmas parties at the Town Hall. It was just fantastic," Duane Lynch said.

And while he admitted that life on the island could be "way too hard of a life," he lauded the school's one and only teacher, Michelle Carvalho. "It's a great education. It's one-on-one all the time. You can't slip through the cracks. You can't hide in the back of the class. You are front and center."

PHOTOS: Life on Cuttyhunk Island