BUSINESS BRIEFS Part Two: Miss Hall’s School announces Pickett winners; BART’s presents book awards; BCC’s dean’s list; BCC awards phlebotomy grads BCC pins Practical Nurse grads; BCC certified CNA testing site; BCC field house opens; OLLI membership grows 20%; BART to destroy records

Editor’s Note: We had so much business news this week that we decided to break Business Briefs into two parts. This is the second part.

Miss Hall’s School announces recipients of this year’s Mansfield Pickett Scholarships

Pittsfield— Miss Hall’s School announces that recent graduates Grey Carmel, of Pittsfield, and Annais Vallejo, of Boston, have been named by the Lenox School Alumni Association as recipients of this year’s Mansfield Pickett Scholarships.

The awards are named in memory of Mansfield E. (Peter) Pickett, who was a longtime teacher at the former Lenox School and at Miss Hall’s School. The scholarships are presented annually to two students who exhibit outstanding performance in academics and extracurricular activities. This is the twentieth year the association has honored Miss Hall’s students.

Grey, the child of 1992 Miss Hall’s graduate Rebecca Carmel and the late Greg Carmel, has performed with the MHS Theater Ensemble and worked on the Technical Theater crew, serving as Stage Manager for the productions of Men On Boats, Mary Poppins, and the Misanthrope. Through the Miss Hall’s Horizons program, they interned this year with the Berkshire Center for Justice in Great Barrington, and Grey also volunteers with the Berkshire Humane Society in Pittsfield. They will attend Nichols College, majoring in Criminal Psychology.

Annais, the daughter of Grisell Rosado and Rafael Vallejo, is an MHS Big and a Proctor, was captain of the JV volleyball team, co-Leader of the Criminology Club, and was a member of Spectrum and the Latinx Affinity Group. Her Horizons internship this year was at the Sonsini Animal Shelter in Pittsfield, and last year, she was a member of the MHS Environmental Research Action Group. During her free time, Annais can usually be found creating art in the studio or spending time with her friends. She will attend Brandeis University as an Environmental Studies major.

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Berkshire Arts & Technology (BART) Charter Public School presented Junior Book Awards

Adams— Berkshire Arts & Technology (BART) Charter Public School presented Junior Book Awards during a ceremony on Friday, June 16th at an all-school assembly.

The awards and recipients follow:

The St. Lawrence Book Award: Marissa Ostrowski.

The Williams College Book Award: Dauray-Strange.

The Saint Michael’s College Book Award: Diego Sanchez and Alex Rodriquez.

The Lasell University Book Award: Rena Delphia.

The Cornell Award: Grace Tower.

The College of the Atlantic Book Award: Justina Lloyd.

Springfield College: Gianna Fosty.

The Suffolk University Book Award: Omaree Scipio.

The Brandeis University Book Award: Julianna Salinovici.

The MCLA Book Award: Nick Valdivieso.

The Western New England University Book Award: Jace Ziarnik.

The University of Vermont Book Award: Limoges Dauray-Strange.

The Student Sage Award: M. Schrade.

The Clarkson University Leadership Award: Cassidy Whitley.

Clarkson Achievement Award: Isaiah Oduro.

The Rensselaer Medal Jace Ziarnik.

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Berkshire Community College announces the spring 2023 dean’s list

Pittsfield— Berkshire Community College (BCC) is pleased to announce it has named 228 students to the spring 2023 dean’s list.

To be eligible for the dean’s list, full-time students must achieve a GPA of 3.250 to 3.749 for an honors designation, while students with a GPA of 3.750 to 4.000 earn high honors. All dean’s list students must have declared a major and must have completed at least 12 traditionally graded credit hours during a fall or spring semester of one academic year. Part-time students have the same eligibility requirements, except that the minimum 12 credit hours must be completed during one academic year.

The following 119 students qualified for high honors:

Connecticut:

North Canaan: Mercedes Bell

Stafford Springs: Tori Lashway

Massachusetts:

Adams: Ryan Bednarz, Amy Cary, Rosaliz Hernandez, Cassie Scott, Alexander Strauser

Cheshire: Sarah Royal

Chester: Jacob Robbins

Clarksburg: Marcia Bailey

Cummington: Jeremiah Reagan

Dalton: Kendall Benlien, Ashton Bird, Nicole Henault, Cassidy Kendall, Laurie Moselsky, Logan Sargent

Great Barrington: Avery Ball, Elizabeth Gerwaski, Kaisa Montondeaux Peacock, Rachel Moriarty, Stephanie Sanchez Heredia

Hancock: Rose Blodgett

Hinsdale: Jennifer Hinton, Nichole Juliano, Crystal Townsend

Housatonic: Aryane Dos Santos, Roberta Hayes

Lanesborough: Melissa Phillips

Lee: Aidan Aliberti, Robert Daley, Megan Gaul, Luisa Huertas, Louis Russo, Christina Tighe

Lenox: Amy Alderton, Emilie Holst-Grubbe, Violeta Rabiaj

Lenox Dale: Guadalupe Miranda

New Ashford: Destiny Charron

New Marlborough: Audrey Bartzsch

North Adams: Suzanne Bateman

Peru: Kristin Zuber

Pittsfield: Mary Adriance, Briana Arseneau, William Baker, Ryan Bateman, Tatiana Beckett, Joshua Bolduc, Brianna Breault-Clary, Nicholas Brown, Laura Charry, Olivia Chelstowski, Melissa Cobb, Alexis Depson, Tonia Depson, Santiago Diaz, Erin Dillon, Jane DiNicola, Jana Easterwood, Conner Ferris, Nicole Fillio, Marlie Fitch, Michelle Foley, Matthew Garrity, William Garrity, Hayleigh Gavin, Thomas Gwinnell, Chloe Haas, Jessica Hall, Gabrielle Harding, Carly Holmes, Page Houser, Rachael Jamros, Raisa Kachevsky, Nerline Koffi, Ashley Lewis, Ashara Lindemann, Anya Lyford, Marissa Maher, Madison Manning, Shivang Mehta, Perla Mendoza, Simeon Mercier, Kathaleen Mogul, Logan Osorio, Adam Oubtrou, Carolyn Parris, Karla Pauta, Shaina Petell, Braydon Peterson, Tanya Pettibone, Hugo Pizarro-Gundelfinger, Zabion Powell, Gabriel Rayme, Gloria Rodriguez de Souza, Brianna Rogers, Jill Scussel, Nya Shrader, Amber Southard, London Steinman, Walter Suarez, Rosa Tabango, Ethan Trautman, Stephanie Velez-Vega, Alissa Weigand, Emily Welch

Richmond: Sinaia Smith

Savoy:Michelle Stone

Sheffield: Arielle Betti, Lucas Duval

Stockbridge: Emily Goudey, Renee LeClair, Myrna Shapiro

Washington: Quinn Lennon

Williamstown: Lauren Barenski, Jean Grant, Josephine Overbeck, Alecia Williams

 

The following 109 students qualified for honors:

Connecticut:

Norfolk: Mackenzie Muzzulin

Suffield: Dawn Kent

Massachusetts:

Adams: Bree Ballantyne-Hinckley, Melissa Burdick, Tonya Burns, Gianna Daley, Crystal Harrington

Becket: Jenny Laston

Cheshire: Tanisha Goines, Rayanna Therrien

Clarksburg: Amanda Mazza

Dalton: Brittany Durand, Grace Elliott, Callum Prett, Gilen Prett, Kethia St. Hilaire, Jacob Wasielewski

Florence: Teri Woodland

Great Barrington: Kelsey Mcmahon, Faye Ross

Hancock: Cameron Turner

Hinsdale: Theresa Carusotto, Priscilla Lee, Natalie Pollard, Bridgid Reed

Lanesborough: Mackenzie Melski

Lee: Alyssa Barnes, James Hitchings, Lucy Vuolo

Lenox: Veronica Bone, Anadelia Hart, Chloe Inhelder, Varinthon Prapagornviriya, Sara Stevens

North Adams: Amalio Jusino, Darcie Lampiasi, Erica Langnickel, John Moore, Hilary Solomon, Tessa Zoito

Otis: Catherine Consolati

Peru: Vanessa Taylor

Pittsfield: Sahra Abderrahim, Ainsworth Ainsley, Alyssa Anderson, John Archey, Alyson Behan, Anastasiya Bolotova, Brody Boos, Mabeline Burgos, Christine Carlson, Sydney Casino, Amy Clark, Noah Collingwood, Sierra Colon, Michaela Craft, Morgan Depson, Ashley Evans, Kristen Fontaine, Tyler Geoghan, Richard George, Lauren Giusti, Lena Godfrey, Sarah Gordon, Rain Hajjar, Elizabeth Hammond Rose, Kenneth Horbah, Caleb Houghtling, Linda Lambert, Angelique Levesque, Jazmyn Majors, Joshua Meaney, Katherine Miller, Norah Moindi, Lexie Morse, Anna Najimy, Anita Ofori, Amelia Pecon, Lucas Pelkey, Elisabeth Richman, Louis Roberts, Austin Rock, Devin Ryer, Clarise Seguin, Sadie Sims, Cordelia Toomey-Arnold, Christopher-Michael Vecchia, Izabella Vianna, Kavita Victor, Rachel Williams, Ashley Witto, Luis Xicotencatl, Marquita Yager, Katelyn Zwingelstein

Savoy: Hailey Williams

Sheffield: Rosa Lopez Moritz, Matthew Seward

South Lee: Nicole Bianco

Stockbridge: Shanekia Richmond

West Springfield: Mercedes Santana

West Stockbridge: Elisabeth Jones, Liuba Kurtyn-D’Herlugnan

Windsor: Hannah Brennan

Worcester: Erin Sears

Worthington: Aimee Hornickel

New York:

Canaan: Angelica Sanchez

Chatham: Caitlin Murphy

East Nassau: Tara Darcy

Vermont:

Manchester Center: Joalina Chicana Cacya

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Berkshire Community College awarded certificates to students who completed the Phlebotomy Technician Workforce Training

Pittsfield— Berkshire Community College (BCC) recently awarded certificates to seven students who completed the Phlebotomy Technician Workforce Training, marking a total of 16 students who have completed the program since fall 2022. The students are now trained to collect blood from patients and prepare the blood for testing in a medical laboratory filling a much-needed workforce position in Berkshire County.

The graduates are:

Colleen Blanchard, Lanesboro

Talia Hamilton, Pittsfield

Julie LeBeau, Pittsfield

Wendi Ridgeway, Pittsfield

Tammie Shafer, Adams

Stephanie Soriano, Pittsfield

Nicholas Torres, Pittsfield

“Phlebotomy technicians are in great demand throughout the Berkshires. The students work hard to complete this rigorous training, often while working full-time,” said Tiffany Moreno, BCC Instructional Program Manager: Health & Wellness. “Our PTC workforce training prepares individuals with the technical and career-ready skills they need for immediate placement in jobs across the county and provides a pathway for continued education and career development.”

PTC certifications are nationally recognized and can be utilized anywhere in the United States. Typical careers include working as an inpatient or outpatient phlebotomy technician, as a mobile phlebotomist, or as a phlebotomy instructor.

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Berkshire Community College held a traditional pinning ceremony for graduates of its Practical Nursing Program

Pittsfield— Berkshire Community College (BCC) held a traditional pinning ceremony for graduates of its Practical Nursing Program on Thursday, June 29th. The event honored 16 graduates, four of whom received special awards.

Award winners are as follows:

Academic Excellence in Nursing: Megan Gaul

Clinical Excellence in Nursing: Chantel Wynn

Professionalism in Nursing: Reyhan Ocak

Spirit of Nursing: Caroline Todd

 

The graduates are:

Shaniha Burnett, Springfield

Nelita Campbell, Chicopee

Christine Carlson, Pittsfield

Diana Gabriela Diaz, Pittsfield

Megan Gaul, Lee

Katie Higgins, Dalton

Kayla Hudson, Pittsfield

Elizabeth Kwaw, Pittsfield

Norah Moindi, Pittsfield

Mackenzie Muzzulin, Norfolk

Reyhan Ocak, Pittsfield

Lisa Ssali, Worcester

Yuko Tasato, West Springfield

Caroline Todd, Pittsfield

Chantel Wynn, Springfield

Daniel Yameogo, Pittsfield

The wearing of the school pin symbolizes the right to serve others, signifying the acceptance of the responsibilities of the practice of nursing and the educational preparation of the wearer. The ceremony is a time-honored nursing school tradition dating to the turn of the twentieth century. The gold center of the pin features the college seal, including the words “To travel hopefully.”

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Berkshire Community College has qualified to be a testing site for students taking the Certified Nursing Assistant exam

Pittsfield— Berkshire Community College (BCC) has qualified to be a testing site for students taking the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) exam. The exam is administered by D&S Technologies, also known as Headmaster, which was recently awarded a contract to administer Nurse Aide Competency Evaluation knowledge and skill certification testing in Massachusetts.

“We are excited to offer this testing for Certified Nursing Assistants here at BCC, and our testing site can serve the whole county. There is an ongoing need in the Berkshires for CNAs, which are an integral part of the health care team,” explained Lori Moon, BCC Dean of Nursing, who said the first students tested at BCC were from Taconic High School. “We will keep adding testing dates to the calendar to try and meet the needs of those completing their training.”

Previously, the Red Cross had tested CNA students at a location in the Berkshires, but the testing site moved to Springfield a few years ago, and the Red Cross eventually stopped offering testing for CNAs. After an unsuccessful run from another company, Headmaster stepped in — but the closest testing site was two hours away from BCC.

Sue Haughey, Taconic High School Instructor, Health Assisting Program, said, “I cannot thank BCC enough for stepping up to the plate when the need was recognized for a Central Berkshire CNA testing site.” She called the previously required travel to eastern Massachusetts a “massive hurdle” for students and their families.

BCC is now accepting applications for the CNA course beginning in fall 2023. For more information, email workforce@berkshirecc.edu or call (413) 395-7545.

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The Paterson Field House at Berkshire Community College is now fully open to serve students, faculty, staff and the Berkshire County community

Pittsfield— The Paterson Field House at Berkshire Community College, which recently underwent substantial renovations to its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and flooring, is now fully open to serve students, faculty, staff and the Berkshire County community.

“The Paterson team is thrilled to be back doing what we love to do — serving BCC students and our community,” said Daryl Shreve, Director of Recreational Services. “Our newly air-conditioned space is a place for our community to come, be active and connect.”

Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 5:30 a.m. through 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The pool hours are Monday though Friday, 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Community members may purchase a field house membership, which includes use of the pool, for $23 per month (members must be at least 16 years old to use the field house). Family pool memberships are $135 for families of up to five persons, or $185 for families of six or more.

The Paterson Field House is an integral part of the Paterson Recreation Complex. The Field House maintains a fitness center, basketball court, turf field, two grass soccer fields, three adult outdoor tennis courts, two youth tennis courts, and a seasonal outdoor pool.

For more information, email paterson@berkshirecc.edu or call (413) 236-1670.

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Membership in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College has grown nearly 20% in the past three years

Pittsfield— Membership in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College has grown nearly 20% in the past three years, from 1,300 members in July 2020 to 1,546 today.

OLLI at BCC provides exciting educational, social and volunteer opportunities designed especially by and for people over 50 years old. The organization offers more than 175 classes and programs each year in history, literature, the arts, politics, sciences, and more. These offerings include courses throughout the Berkshires and online, Distinguished Speaker Series lectures, author talks and special events, trips and programs throughout the year.

“In the last year, OLLI at BCC has continued its excellent lifelong learning programs with five semesters of courses covering a wide range of topics, building on the growth of program during the pandemic,” said Carol Allman-Morton, Executive Director of OLLI at BCC.

Allman-Morton pointed to OLLI at BCC’s 2022 University Days program, “We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast,” as a particularly vibrant example of its cross-cultural programming efforts. The event brought together Indigenous scholars, artists and musicians for lectures, artist talks, walking tours and book groups across the county and online. In fall 2022, OLLI at BCC partnered with OLLI at the University of Richmond to highlight the early 20th century story of Julius Rosenwald, a child of German Jewish immigrants, president of Sears Roebuck and visionary philanthropist who partnered with Booker T. Washington and African American communities to build nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the Jim Crow south.

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BART to destroy student records

Adams— In accordance with MA state regulations, all temporary cumulative school and health records (except permanent grade records) for students who graduated from or left Berkshire Arts & Technology (BART) Charter Public School during the 2017-2018 school year will be destroyed on August 10th. 

Students interested in retrieving their records before they are destroyed should contact the Charter Office (413-743-7311, ext. 700) between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m before the destruction date of August 10th.