MCLA Celebrates STEM Week with Virtual Programming

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA and the Berkshire STEM Network will offer virtual programming for local public school students, K-12 educators, and the general community during Berkshire County STEM Week (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) from Oct. 18-22.  
 
A complement to the statewide STEM Week initiative, Berkshire County STEM Week's theme is "See Yourself in STEM." Free and open to the public, the week will feature a series of unique virtual panels, workshops, speakers, tours and information about opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math in the Berkshires and beyond.   
 
Pittsfield Community Television (PCTV) will be the platform host for the week's series of events. Community members can access programming on cable access or at www.pittsfieldtv.org. See a full program schedule at www.mcla.edu/stemweek.  
 
Each day of Berkshire STEM Week is theme-based and is robust in part due to the partners in the Berkshire County STEM network. 
 
Monday, Oct. 18: Food, Farming and Sustainability with contributing programming sessions from Berkshire Grown: "How to Keep Farmers Farming"; fall owling with Williams College; organic agriculture by Full Well Farm; and a LIVE Zoom session with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. 
 
Tuesday, Oct. 19: Careers in STEM with programs in building trades, nursing, mental health and design technology. 
 
Wednesday, Oct. 20: STEM in Business, with sessions from Berkshire Innovation Center partners. 
 
Thursday, Oct. 21: STEM Education, with programs from Flying Cloud Institute, the Berkshire Museum, MCLA, BCC, and Williams, as well as the MassHire Berkshire Career Centers Virtual Job Fair from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.  Employment opportunities include STEM and manufacturing careers as well as internships and jobs for youth. The program also will have educational resources. An in-person STEM Café will be hosted in the Connector at BCC. 
 
The week will also include all three episodes of "Project Frontline" by Boyd Studios, an Internship and Job Information Session by General Dynamics for MCLA and BCC students, a STEM Education panel hosted by the Berkshire Innovation Center with educators and students, and in-person STEM family programs at the Berkshire Museum on Oct. 23. The Flying Cloud Institute will also offer STEM art kits for families participating in Berkshire STEM Week. 
 
  

Tags: MCLA,   STEM,   

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Myotherapy Practice Opens in North Adams

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Holistic Myotherapy in Greylock Works offers a calming area for clients to discuss their treatment and problems.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new mind and body therapist has opened for business in Greylock Works.

Owner of Holistic Myotherapy, Georgette Yannetti, started her muscle therapy practice in her native Brooklyn, N.Y., to help those with spinal problems like herself.

"I started my practice in Brooklyn in 2015 specifically to help teenagers with spinal deformities, scoliosis, because I myself struggle with that since I was an adolescent, I had four spinal surgeries and was disabled," she said. 

Yannetti worked as a massage therapist at the Greenwich Hotel and started doing myotherapy as a side project until it took off and she could focus on it full time. 

Myotherapy is a deep-tissue massage and stretching treatment that focuses on muscle and joint pain.

"The practice just took off, and it wasn't just for scoliosis," she said. "It branched out to other spinal deformities and just other kind of people suffering with other kind of disabilities, and not even just physical disabilities, but psychological, you know, anxiety, depression, anything that people really needed space to be held for."

She explained her process as building a connection with clients and being able to talk with her about their problems before they get on the table.

"It needs to be more than just like, well, you're gonna get undressed and now I'm gonna touch you for like 60 minutes. To go from I don't know you to now get on the table — you can't, there needs to be more," Yannetti said. "So I provided this seating area and tea and like a little bit of connection. So even though I'm not a psychotherapist, I mean, I am very clear with people, like I'm not your therapist ... but I provide the space for people to also share more about themselves, what's happening."

She said she couldn't find the type of service she is now giving and wanted for herself.

"I basically started my practice, and I was like, when I receive body work, this is what this is the kind of work that I would want because this is what I need when I'm receiving body work because of my trauma, and I can't find that," she said. 

Yannetti moved to Berkshire County earlier this year because she had always enjoyed visiting the area, saying this was her preferred vacation spot and even came here for her honeymoon.

"I've been visiting consistently for the past 10 years, specifically to Berkshire County, just because I love it here. It's been a safe space for me. I never wanted to leave," she said. "Every time I came, I was always like, I don't want to leave, and that said something to me. Whenever I had the opportunity to travel, if it wasn't internationally, I was like, I want to go to the Berkshires." 

She was looking online one day and found a house, and her husband agreed it was their perfect place. On a whim they decided to buy it and move out here. While she was not initially planning to restart her practice, she decided to do a free class with Greylock Yoga and fell in love with the renovated mill building. She immediately asked about a space for rent and signed the lease in early June.

She held her soft opening on July 1.

She hopes her clients know this is a safe space where she will support them.

"That I'm here to support them in whatever their process is. That this is a safe space. A lot of people release emotionally in here, because the body stores emotion. A lot of people are still learning that."

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