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McCann Pins Largest Practical Nursing Class in School History

The 23 graduates chose personal mentors to apply their pin to the shirts. See more photos here.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It required 10 months, 945 hours of classes, 540 clinical experience hours but now 23 graduates of McCann Technical School's Practical Nursing Program are ready for their licensing.

The school pinned the largest class in school history on Wednesday.

"I feel like I am sending my children off. And I'm going to miss them so much," said Program Coordinator Susan Watson said with tears in her eyes at the ceremony.

Watson said the students have gone through a lot to get to that point and not just with the rigors of the coursework — and being a graduate of the program, she knows how tough it is.

But many of the graduates were balancing raising children or working while they went through the program, she said.

"I'm sure it was not always easy. The program demands a lot of devotion. But they are all here tonight," she said.

Superintendent James Brosnan said the families who supported the students during those 10 months deserve credit as well.

Giving the graduation address, Elizabeth Kassel, director of nursing at Berkshire Community College, said learning the tools needed for the profession is difficult and teachers don't make it easy.

"We see you as the future of nursing. We did expect perfection in nursing school. But now we want you to be human, compassionate and gentle. In the interactions with our loved ones and the loved ones of others," she said.

Kassel has been teaching nursing for 29 of her 40 years in the profession and said there has been tremendous changes in the field. But while it changes, the nurses can keep up with it because "nursing  isn't what you do. It is who you are."

Just last summer, Kassel was teaching a class at the University of Massachusetts and her students were working with an elderly patient who refused to eat. The students later heard the woman singing showtunes. When Kassel returned to the room, she found her students singing with the woman while feeding her the first bites of food she had taken since being admitted to the hospital.

"I couldn't have been prouder to have been a nurse, teaching others, who took the time to really care about this patient. Nursing has been so much better than I envisioned it when I entered 40 years ago," she said.

She asked the students to love the profession like she does and to "keep learning and keep loving the profession."

After Kassel's encouragement, the student each had a mentor — a friend or family member — attach the nursing pin to each of their shirts and School Committee Chairman Thomas Mahar awarded them their certificates. And before leaving the school, they took the nurses' pledge.

Cyclists Pedal Into Berkshire Bike Month

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:42AM / Saturday, May 04, 2024

Berkshire Bike Path Council President Marge Cohan addresses bikers at the event. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Clad in helmets and bright colors, more than 20 people gathered in Park Square to kick on Berkshire Bike Month on Wednesday.

The month of May will be stacked with bicycle-centered events throughout the county — beginning with an eight-mile loop from the city's center that ends at Hot Plate Brewing Co.

"We have we have a lot of things going on in Pittsfield for bicycles and for safety," Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales said.

"We're not anywhere near where we should be. We have a lot of work to do."

Bike month is meant to promote the safe use of streets for anyone and everyone no matter how they are traveling, he said The commissioner is especially excited about Bike to Work Day on May 17, as he can register to be recognized for his typical commute.

He presented a proclamation to President of the Berkshire Bike Path Council President Marge Cohan. It states that the city is committed to the health of its citizens and environment, safe cycling with road bike lanes and the extension of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, and that the Police Department encourages safe cycling by distributing lights and helmets and accompanies the city's Ride Your Bike to School event.

BBPC is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Cohan said the quarter century has been full of commitment to bike paths and bike safety throughout Berkshire County "on roads, on trails, on tracks, and on paths."

"In expanding our mission in this way we have been able to encompass all kinds of cycles and all kinds of riders," she said.

She noted that participants range from babies to 90-year-old people. Bike month includes events for all ages.