Berkshire Bank Foundation Awards 8 Scholarships
 Toby Alves Jr. of Charles H. McCann Technical School in North Adams with his surprise Berkshire Bank Foundation Scholarship. See more photos on the Berskhire Bank Facebook page. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Bank has selected 30 high school seniors to receive a total of $45,000 in scholarships through its Berkshire Bank Foundation Scholarship Awards Program. Each of the recipients will receive $1,500.
A total of 134 employee volunteers reviewed nearly 200 applications to select the winners. The winners all live in the regions served by Berkshire Bank, including communities in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Vermont.
The Berkshire County recipients were all surprised with their scholarship awards by bank employees at their respective high schools. Berkshire Bank wanted to notify the scholarship winners in an exciting way, so students were called down to the guidance office at their high school and were surprised with their award and balloons to recognize their achievements.
The eight Berkshire County recipients are:
Kyle Gregory — St. Joseph Central High School
Mollie Dimise — Taconic High School
Shannon Houghtlin — Taconic High School
Judah Piepho — Monument Mountain Regional High School
Kelt Wilska — Monument Mountain Regional High School
Mica Reel — Monument Mountain Regional High School
Aidan Russell — Lenox Memorial High School
Toby Alves Jr. — Charles H. McCann Technical School
The scholarship awards recognize students that have exemplified community service through their volunteer efforts, have been successful academically, and have a financial need. The program highlights the Foundation’s support for education and the bank’s commitment to promote volunteerism in the community.
"We are pleased to recognize these outstanding high school seniors with our 2013 Berkshire Bank Foundation Scholarship Awards," foundation Executive Director Peter J. Lafayette said. "At Berkshire Bank, we believe that one of life’s most exciting moments is going off to college — and we want to do our part to make college more affordable for students in need. These students embody our values as a company and share in our commitment to making our communities a better place to live, work, and play."
Just as these scholarship recipients play an active role in their communities, Berkshire Bank encourages its employees to play an active role in theirs, through their Employee Volunteer Program. Last year, over 50 percent of the bank's 1,000 employees participated in 95 community service projects and donated more than 37,000 hours of community service through both company-sponsored and individual volunteer efforts. Berkshire Bank believes that promoting volunteerism at an early age benefits both the volunteers and communities, and will hopefully lead to ongoing community involvement.
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