Berkshire Country Day School Graduates Four Students

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Berkshire Country Day School, an independent school for students in preschool through ninth grade, celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2017 at an Awards and Graduation Ceremony on Wednesday, June 14.

Graduates of the Class of 2017 are: Emily Sharron Carmel, Pittsfield and Adams, Mass.; Fiona Loveday Ferrone, Spencertown, N.Y.; Lanna Sofia Knoll, Great Barrington, Mass.; and Emmett Earl Wotkiewich, Nassau, N.Y.

Carmel received a Viv Murray Caputo Vocal Music Prize, the Madame Grad French Prize and a Donald T. Oakes Citizenship Award.

Ferrone received a Viv Murray Caputo Vocal Music Prize, the Ramsbotham History Prize, a Philip Potter Classics Prize, an Adeline Cowhig Mathematics Prize, the Excellence in Spanish Prize, and a Donald T. Oakes Citizenship Award.

Knoll received a Marilyn Orner Crowell Art Prize, the G. James Fawcett English Prize, a Philip Potter Classics Prize, the Thomson Science Prize, and the Phillips Citizenship Award.

Wotkiewich received an Adeline Cowhig Mathematics Prize and the Judge Citizenship Award.

Grade 8 awards were presented to: Max Beckwith, Pittsfield, Mass., the Eighth Grade Spanish Prize; Cass Combs, New Marlboro, Mass., a Steffi Fletcher Creative Writing Prize; Shayna Kantor, Pittsfield, Mass., the Gail Heady Citizenship Award; Colby Lederman, Pittsfield, Mass., Viv Murray Caputo Instrumental Music Prize and the Marcia V. Jones Latin Prize; Julia Mammen, Housatonic, Mass., a Steffi Fletcher Creative Writing Prize and the Anna Zaffanella French Prize; Stella Metcalf, Ghent, N.Y., a Marilyn Orner Cromwell Art Prize and the Excellence in History Prize; and Harrison Seeley, Richmond, Mass., the Ned Douglas Mathematics Prize and the Eighth Grade Science Prize.
 

Grade 7 awards were presented to: Halle Davies, Lenox, Mass., the Nancy Cowhig Growth in Mathematics Prize; Symaira Elliott, Pittsfield, Mass., the United States History Prize; Esme Lazar, Great Barrington, Mass., the Seventh Grade Growth in Spanish Prize and the Seventh Grade Science Prize; Keely O'Gorman, Lee, Mass., a Seventh Grade English Prize and the Seventh Grade Growth in French Prize; Sammy Rusk, Stockbridge, Mass., a Theater Ensemble Prize and a Seventh Grade English Prize; Nitin Vadukul, Great Barrington, Mass., the Virginia I. Peterson Citizenship Award; Henry Van Schaick, Pittsfield, Mass., a Theater Ensemble Prize; and Chase Vermeulen, North Egremont, Mass., the Eugénie D. Fawcett Classics Prize.

Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires Honors Leaders, Volunteers

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
09:07AM / Sunday, May 24, 2026

Liana Toscanini presented the Founder's Choice Award to Smitty Pignatelli for his years of support as state representative. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires held its ninth annual nonprofit awards last week honoring the contributions of those who have helped the community in their own way.

 

The gathering at the Country Club in Pittsfield on Tuesday included the introduction of new nonprofit Executive Director Samantha Anderson, who steps in for retiring founder and director Liana Toscanini. State Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, John Barrett III and Leigh Davis attended the event.

 

Toscanini, who created NPC in 2016, was honored at the conclusion of the evening to mark her decade leading the organization. 

 

"Founders don't just lead organizations, they are the organization in the deepest sense," said NPC Board President Emily Schiavoni. "Their relationships, their instincts, their fingerprints are on everything, and when someone has poured a decade of herself into building something from the ground up, the act of stepping back is not a simple handoff, it's an act of extraordinary trust and courage that brings me to what Leanna actually built." 

 

NPC became something of a chamber of commerce for nonprofits under Toscanini's guidance, creating a hub of support for leadership and networking for the small and large nonprofits that fuel much of the activity within the Berkshires. 

 

She developed more than two dozen programs, including Get on Board, which helps connect community members with nonprofit boards, and a giving-back guide, volunteer fairs, and a resource directory.

 

Schiavoni described Toscanini as a great mentor who has had a big impact in strengthening local nonprofits.