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Lenox Valedictorian, Salutatorian for 2021 Announced

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LENOX, Mass. — Lenox Memorial High School has announced Cooper Shepardson as the class of 2021 valedictorian and Jenna Codey as the class salutatorian.
 
Graduation will take place Sunday, June 13, at 1 p.m. at the school.
 
Shepardson, son of Tanya and Jeremy Shepardson, has been an active member of school and the larger community. He has been a member of the varsity hockey team and captain of the baseball and soccer teams. He is also a member of the National Honors Society and a peer mentor to sixth-grade students. Shepardson participated in Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Invitational Math competition at which his mathematical proficiency earned him a scholarship. 
 
He has received yearly academic awards including Mathematic Achievement Awards, English Achievement Awards and the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award. This award is granted to a student in recognition of academic achievement and superior intellectual promise in the field of science. He also received the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship. In addition, he is a volunteer firefighter for the Lenox Fire Department. During the summer, he works on a farm where he has learned many life lessons over the past five years. In his free time, he enjoys fishing and hunting. 
 
Shepardson will be attending Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., in the fall, where he will study mechanical engineering.
 
Codey is the daughter of Patrick and Pamela Codey and resides in Pittsfield. She has been engaged throughout high school in a variety of activities. The past four years she has been a member of the Monument Mountain varsity co-op swim team and was captain this year. She also works as a lifeguard and swim lesson instructor at the Country Club of Pittsfield. She is a member of both the National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society. She is a peer trainer for the Anti-Defamation League's World of Difference program, a school peer mentor and student government treasurer. 
 
Codey is also a three-time silver medalist for the National Spanish Exam. Other high school awards she has received include: English Book Award for Distinct Achievement, the Creative Writing Book Award for Significant Mastery in the Creative Interpretation of Literature, the World Language Achievement Award in Spanish and the Outstanding Effort awards in Chemistry, Art, and Graphic Design.
 
In the fall, Codey will be attending Fairfield (Conn.) University, and plans to double major in communications and marketing.

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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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