MCLA Receives Grant for STEM Pathways Project

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts recently was granted $75,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education for its @Scale STEM Pathways Project.

The project, which builds upon MCLA's STEM Pathways Project, aims to further increase both enrollments in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors and the number of students graduating with a degree in a STEM disciplines. With this funding, MCLA will add supplemental instruction, tutoring and expanded internship opportunities.
 
"We are grateful for the support and investment in STEM education," said Monica N. Joslin, dean of academic affairs. "This will allow us to expand and enhance strategies and successful initiatives which promote students' academic, experiential, and career awareness interests, and also to reach out and work with our sister institutions on best practices in support of student success in STEM majors." 
 
Administered through the MCLA Center for Student Success and Engagement, the college's SSPP employs a STEM student success plan that begins with activities during a student's freshman year, and continues until they graduate. The SSPP delivers enhanced academic support, advising and career planning, and marshals the efforts of MCLA's academic affairs and student affairs departments.
 
The @Scale initiative was launched by the governor's STEM council to focus public and private resources in support of an integrated portfolio of education enhancement projects aligned to achieve the goals of the commonwealth's STEM plan.
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Drury Senior Writes Song About Overcoming Challenges

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High senior and Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies student drummer Zach Hillard has composed a song, "Here I Am," as a personal anthem of overcoming challenges.
 
"If you want to do something, go do it. That's the whole point behind 'Here I Am,'"  Hillard said. "Any obstacles and challenges you may face in your life, if you have something you want to do, go for it. There is not one person on earth who does not have a dream or something they want to overcome. Whether it is physical or mental, it does not matter, if you want to do it."
 
The song is personal and showcases Hillard's struggles with cerebral palsy and how those struggles have shaped who he has become. 
 
The song opens with the lyrics:
 
Look — my name is Zach.
I was born early, eager to see the world
and drop some knowledge.
Doctors said that I would not talk, walk,
and be wheelchair bound.
But look at me:
Here I am.
I'm talking, walking, and can do anything
I wanna do; nothing can stop me.
 
Hillard said he never knew writing music would be so important to him and was surprised by how much he took to the BAAMS assignment that asked students to pen some lyrics and themes for an original song.
 
Hillard decided to write about his own life. 
 
"I've got a pretty cool life story. So I went home, I thought about it, and in about one day, I had most of it written," he said. "...The end of verse one I wrote ‘look at me here I am.' I thought 'Here I am' that is sort of catchy."
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