Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Rotary Club awarded 38 local students from Berkshire Hills and Southern Berkshire Regional school districts a total of $75,000 in scholarships at an event at Crissey Farm on Wednesday, May 28.
The organization’s Rotary Student Assistance Fund is now in its 50th year. “The Rotary is a great organization because it does a lot of work in the community and it helps people,” said organization member and Selectboard Chair Steve Bannon. “We really get out in the community, and we are able to help people when they are in need. In this case, we are helping students who want to go to college, which is very expensive right now.”
“College is the giant stepping stone for the future of students,” said Rotary Club President Kelly Jones. “The scholarship luncheon is one of our favorite events.”
Rotary Club member Janet Dohoney said that the scholarships “are the best investments we can make in our students.” “We hope that some of them come back to our community,” she said. “I’ve been a Rotarian for many years, and it’s a very good nonprofit that does many projects for the community. We are always looking for new members to help us out with our projects.”
As per tradition, Rotary Club Scholarship Committee Chair Mark DeCelle offered some advice to students at the event. “How many of us go through life with the belief that we cannot do something simply because we failed at it once before?” DeCelle said. “Failure is part of learning, and we should never give up in the struggle for life.”
In his speech, DeCelle also offered advice for students’ time in college. “Join a club, because you don’t have to be part of the official school sports team to get involved in a club,” he said. “Do something that you’re familiar with, but also join a club that you’re not familiar with. Learn something new. Maybe you’re not a hiker. Maybe you do join a club that might be off the beaten path, like Ultimate Frisbee. And do things that are different. Give yourself the opportunity to meet people and use [your cell phone] to set up plans to go meet them, as opposed to just chatting with them. OK, it sounds goofy and weird, but these are the things that usually get people stuck in a rut, and it’s a problem in terms of their mental health.”
Towards the end of his speech, DeCelle tried to bring positive energy into the room. “I want everybody to say, ‘I’m happy,’ 10 times,” he told the audience, to which, indeed, members of the audience proceeded to chant “I’m happy” 10 times. “There were a lot of down faces by the end, but almost everybody here smiled,” he said. “With that being said, this is the type of stuff that you have to think of, because the positive energy that you have around you is going to be translated to other people. Excitement sells. If you meet somebody and they’re excited and enthusiastic, that’s something that’s going to transfer to others.”
Scholarship Awardees
- Jade Abderhalden
- Lillie Blechman
- Khalil Carlson, Richard and Gun Stanley Scholarship
- Makayla Carpenter, 2 for All Scholarship
- Lucia Cicerchia
- John Covell
- Sophia Curletti
- Keegan Dargie, Berkshire Bank Scholarship
- Rae Geddes
- Polly Geddes
- Dominic Germain
- Ameilya Hadsell
- Erving Henderson
- Annabel Holmes, Alan Glackman Scholarship
- Scarlett Ritcher, Robert Hammer Scholarship
- Lilabel Kierstead
- Marko Kononenko
- Stella Lennex, Bruce and Barbara Person Scholarship
- Sage Marchione, 2 for All Scholarship
- Jada McKie
- Travis McLoughlin
- Aiden Murray, Pastor Van Ausdall Scholarship
- Hudah Ngoy Nkulu, 2 for All Scholarship
- Tyler Nourse, Charles Schneider Scholarship
- Michal Rave
- Noelia Salinetti
- Margaret Sarnacki
- Eli Smith
- Tyler Smith
- Grace Soule, Apella Capital Scholarship
- Nathan TenBroeck, Chad Kryznowek Scholarship
- Helen Thorp, Morton Smith Scholarship
- Samuel Trelawny-Cassity
- Samantha Ullrich, 2 for All Scholarship
- Dominic Velasco, Robert K Wheeler Scholarship
- Trinity Vincelette
- Willem Vollmer, William Dempsey Scholarship
- Sean Warren
