Monument Mountain Announces Valedictorian, Salutatorian for 2021

01:54PM / Saturday, June 05, 2021Print Story | Email Story

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Karina Mahida has earned the distinction of valedictorian for the Monument Mountain Regional High School class of 2021 and Abigail Zeik has earned the distinction of salutatorian.

These students will receive scholastic medallions and certificates awarded by the Berkshire Hills Regional School District at commencement exercises on Saturday, June 5, at 1:30 p.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School.

The following profiles of the class speakers were provided by the high school.

Mahida, daughter of Jignesh and Rita Mahida of Great Barrington, is a member of the National Honor Society, the recipient of the Chang Chavkin Scholarship, the University of Rochester Bausch & Lomb Award, the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Certificate and the President's Educational Award. Mahida is highly motivated and holds herself to the highest standards but more importantly demonstrates the utmost humility and kindness through all of her commitments. She has been a leader in Monument Mountain's restorative justice work and has worked tirelessly on building a student advocacy group, continuing the work virtually throughout the pandemic. She has been a leader in student government, service groups and on athletic teams.

Mahida has been accepted and enrolled at Harvard University, where she plans to pursue biology, philosophy and the pre-med program.

Zeik, daughter of Todd and Helen Zeik of Great Barrington, is a National Honor Society member and the recipient of the Rensselaer Institute of Technology Math & Science Award, the Austen Riggs/Erikson Institute-Evelyn Stefansson Nef Scholarship, and the President's Educational Award. She is an accomplished musician, playing first violin and participating in the All-Western Massachusetts District Orchestra every year and winning the National Orchestra Award. Her contributions to the community include her service as class president, in which she demonstrated grace, composure and creative problem solving in navigating the challenges of being a senior through a pandemic.

Zeik has been accepted and enrolled at the University of Connecticut, where she plans to major in biological sciences or biochemistry..

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Lee Wants Bioremediation in Housatonic River Vernal Pool Study

05:24AM / Thursday, September 03, 2026

LEE, Mass. — The town has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric to include PCB bioremediation in its vernal pool study on the Housatonic River.

Lee officials are urging the EPA to require GE to add a bioremediation treatment arm to the vernal-pool study or provide the public with a clear explanation for why such testing is being excluded.

"This is exactly the kind of question EPA and GE should be asking before final remedy decisions are locked in," Select Board Chair Bob Jones said in a statement released to the press. "The town is not asking to slow the cleanup. We are asking EPA and GE to make the cleanup smarter, less destructive, and more protective over the long term."

An open house was held in Pittsfield earlier this summer for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A of the Housatonic River, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border.

EPA has required GE to conduct a Vernal Pool Pilot Study as part of the Housatonic River Rest of River remediation, comparing excavation and restoration with activated-carbon-based treatments, including a product called SediMite and powdered activated carbon, the town said.

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned of polychlorinated biphenyls in total, five with excavation and five with active carbon, and seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

The Lee PCB Advisory Committee wrote a letter calling for the 21st-century approach it said could reduce long-term toxicity, avoid unnecessary destruction of sensitive habitats, and improve the effectiveness of the cleanup.

It states that Lee supports the study's purpose and agrees that EPA and GE must understand how cleanup activities affect sensitive vernal-pool ecosystems.

"The current pilot includes 10 treatment pools and seven control pools, while local officials understand that roughly 100 vernal pools may occur in the broader remediation corridor," the Aug. 27 letter reads.

"That makes the pilot study consequential: the methods tested now could shape how many sensitive wetlands are excavated, reconstructed, treated, or left with PCBs managed in place."

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