image description — Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield held commencement exercises on June 5.

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Miss Hall's School Graduates 48 Students

02:24PM / Wednesday, June 08, 2016Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Forty-eight students, including 16 local girls, graduated during Miss Hall's School's 118th commencement on Sunday, June 5.

Ceremonies took place in the Thatcher Family Gymnasium of the Anne Meyer Cross '37 Athletic Center on the school's Holmes Road campus. Vittoria Incandela, a criminal investigator with the Cook County State's Attorney's Investigations Bureau in Chicago and a member of the Miss Hall's School Class of 2000, delivered this year's commencement address.

Among the class of 2016 graduates were the following local students: Isabella Beckington of Pittsfield; Amelia Biancolo of Richmond; Casey Booth Desnoyers of Pittsfield; Rachel Campoli of Dalton; Mackenzie Corcoran of Pittsfield; Alyssa Dion of Pittsfield; Sydney Frinks of Pittsfield; Alaina Grygier of Lenox; Ella Markowitz of Windsor; Mia Mazzeo of Pittsfield; Madeline McCain of Dalton; Ritu Pandya of Lenox; Emily Pulver of Canaan, N.Y.; Natalia Soborski of Dalton; Sara Sprague of Richmond; and Sarah Willson of Dalton.

Additionally, 11 students were recognized for their induction this year into the Cum Laude Society, the national organization honoring scholastic achievement at secondary schools.

This year's MHS inductees are seniors Emily Pulver of Canaan, N.Y.; Indiana Ravenhill of Napa, Calif.; Sai Harshita Tupili of Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia; Sarah Willson of Dalton; Changyue Yin of Huizhou, China; and Hanwen Zhang of Jiangyin, China; and juniors Momoka Ando of Tokyo, Japan; Gabriela Keator of Lenox; Yuhui (Mindy) Ma of Beijing, China; Hanyue (Amy) Ouyang of Shenzhen, China; and Sicong (Cynthia) Zhang of Jinhua City, China. They joined seniors Kim Huynh of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Xin (Lois) Yuan of Shenzhen, China, who were inducted in 2015.

The following awards were also bestowed during the school's 118th commencement and related recognition ceremonies (students are seniors unless otherwise noted):

* Joseph F. Buerger Memorial School Spirit Cup: Ubah Ali of Hargesia, Somaliland

* Margaret Witherspoon Award: Sydney Frinks of Pittsfield

* Christine Fuller Holland '33 Service Prize: Xin (Lois) Yuan of Shenzhen, China

* Sylvia “Rusty” Shethar Everdell '38 Prize: Indiana Ravenhill of Napa, Calif.

* Faculty Commendation Prize: Sophia Oliveri of East Granby, Conn.

* Meus Honor Stat Keys: Presented to seniors Ubah Ali of Hargesia, Somaliland; Sarah Chhetri of Thimpu, Bhutan; Sydney Frinks of Pittsfield; Ella Markowitz of Windsor; Emily Pulver of Canaan, N.Y.; Indiana Ravenhill of Napa, Calif.; Sarah Willson of Dalton; Tan Hok (Meliza) Wong of Kowloon, Hong Kong; and Changyue Yin of Huizhou, China

* Andrea Becker '79 Prize: Jacquline Rich, Class of 2017, of North Adams

* Doris E. Pitman English Prize: Emily Pulver of Canaan, N.Y.

* Virginia Breene Wickwire '67 Reading Prize: Amelia Biancolo of Richmond

* Paul C. Cabot Jr. History Prize: Changyue Yin of Huizhou, China

* James K. Ervin Mathematics Prize: Kim Huynh of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

* live Rouse Science Award: Katrina Baumgarten of Ballston Spa, N.Y.

* Monique Jalbert French Prize: Xin (Lois) Yuan of Shenzhen, China

* Spanish Prize: Sarah Willson of Dalton

* Mansfield E. Pickett Latin Prize: Ella Markowitz of Windsor

* Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Studio Art Prize: Chutikan (Grace) Phromkham of Bangbuathong, Thailand; and Hsuan (Kristine) Yang of New Taipei City, Taiwan

* Ceramics Award: Linh Tran of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

* Angela Kalischer Theater Prize: Desiré Garza of Long Island City, N.Y.; and Amelia Biancolo of Richmond

* Susanna McCreath Music Prize: Zongrong (Tori) Chang of Shanghai, China; Ruoxi (Della) Qin of Beijing, China; and Natalia Soborski of Dalton

* Horizons Book Award: Ubah Ali of Hargesia, Somaliland

* Art Purchase Award for Studio Art: Yuhui (Mindy) Ma, Class of 2017, of Beijing, China

* Art Purchase Award for Ceramics: Charlotte Adelson, Class of 2019, of Lee

* Art Purchase Award for Photography: Katherine Sheridan, Class of 2018, of Stockbridge

* Rising Distinction Awards for Juniors (all members of the Class of 2017):

* Athletics: Diamond Best of Danvers, Mass.

* English: Momoka Ando of Tokyo, Japan

* English as a Second Language: Xiyuan (Andrea) Zhang of Tangshan City, China

* Expressive Arts: Josephine Dorsey of Slingerlands, N.Y.

* History: Gabriela Keator of Lenox

* Horizons: Zhongqi (Qiqi) Cai of Beijing, China

* Language: Hayden Gillooly of North Adams

* Mathematics: Yuzhi (Christina) Zhang of Qingdao Shandong, China

* Science: Julia Baron of New York, N.Y.

Miss Hall's School currently enrolls 210 girls, representing 11 states and 28 countries.

Tags: graduation 2016, miss hall's school,

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Capeless Students Raise $5,619 for Charity

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
11:13AM / Friday, December 19, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students at Capeless Elementary School celebrated the season of giving by giving back to organizations that they feel inspired them.

On Monday night, 28 fourth-grade students showed off the projects they did to raise funds for an organization of their choice. They had been given $5 each to start a small business by teachers Jeanna Newton and Lidia White.

Newton created the initiative a dozen years ago after her son did one while in fifth grade at Craneville Elementary School, with teacher Teresa Bills.

"And since it was so powerful to me, I asked her if I could steal the idea, and she said yes. And so the following year, I began, and I've been able to do it every year, except for those two years (during the pandemic)," she said. "And it started off as just sort of a feel-good project, but it has quickly tied into so many of the morals and values that we teach at school anyhow, especially our Portrait of a Graduate program."

Students used the venture capital to sell cookies, run raffles, make jewelry, and more. They chose to donate to charities and organizations like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Berkshire Humane Society and Toys for Tots.

"Teaching them that because they have so much and they're so blessed, recognizing that not everybody in the community has as much, maybe not even in the world," said Newton. "Some of our organizations were close to home. Others were bigger hospitals, and most of our organizations had to do with helping the sick or the elderly, soldiers, people in need."

Once they have finished and presented their projects, the students write an essay on what they did and how it makes them feel.

"So the essay was about the project, what they decided to do, how they raised more money," Newton said. "And now that the project is over, this week, we're writing about how they feel about themselves and we've heard everything from I feel good about myself to this has changed me."

Sandra Kisselbrock raised $470 for St. Jude's by selling homemade cookies.

"It made me feel amazing and happy to help children during the holiday season," she said.

Gavin Burke chose to donate to the Soldier On Food Pantry. He shoveled snow to earn money to buy the food.

"Because they helped. They used to fight for our country and used to help protect us from other countries invading our land and stuff," he said.

Desiree Brignoni-Lay chose to donate to Toys for Tots and bought toys with the $123 she raised.

Luke Tekin raised $225 for the Berkshire Humane Society by selling raffle tickets for a basket of instant hot chocolate and homemade ricotta cookies because he wanted to help the animals.

"Because animals over, like I'm pretty sure, over 1,000 animals are abandoned each year, he said. "So I really want that to go down and people to adopt them."

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