Zoe Kratz won first place and Alivia Ostrowski won second place.
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Seventh-graders Zoe Kratz and Alivia Ostrowski won first and second place, respectively, in Berkshire County for the annual statewide Fire Safety Poster Contest
"Preventing fires and teaching fire safety benefits all," visual arts teacher Terri Cooper said. "The contest helps teach students this valuable lesson. By participating in our annual fire safety poster contest, students are able to express and educate their peers on these issues. Fire safety education is important at any age level, but especially for middle school children."
The annual Arson Watch Reward Program poster contest is sponsored by the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association on behalf of all property and casualty insurance companies writing in Massachusetts.
The Arson Watch Reward Program sponsors and collaborates with numerous fire safety programs, groups and events, including the annual Fire Safety Poster Contest. The contest's annual theme is "Fire Prevention — Everyone/Everyday."
"I personally feel that it is extremely important to teach students about fire safety," Cooper said. "I make sure that they know the leading causes of house fires, the best ways to escape from a fire, how to make an escape plan and ways to avoid fires in the home, and how to keep campfires safe. I ask them to go home and talk to their families and to make sure that they test their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors."
In Massachusetts, the contest is held for all students in Grades 6-8 with separate divisions for each county. First and second-place county winners receive a plaque and cash prizes in the amount of $200, and $100, respectively.
All first-place county winners are entered into the statewide competition first, second and third-place statewide winners are chosen. The statewide winners receive a plaque and cash prizes in the amounts of $1,000, $500, and $250.
Judging is based on adherence to theme, artwork, and originality.
"They receive a grade on their poster from me before it is submitted into the contest," Cooper said. "They also take a fire safety quiz, and if individual students have difficulty with the content they are required to retake it until they know all of the material."
This year 327 students submitted posters for the contest, which included 40 entrants from Berkshire County.
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Adams Community Bank Holds Annual Meeting, Announce Growth
ADAMS, Mass. — The annual meeting of the Community Bancorp of the Berkshires, MHC, the parent company of Adams Community Bank, was held on April 10, 2024, at Charles H. McCann Technical School in North Adams.
The meeting included reviewing the 2023 financial statements for the Bank, electing directors and corporators, and highlighting upcoming executive personnel changes.
"In 2023, the Bank experienced another year of growth in assets, loans, and deposits, noting the Pittsfield branch reached $26 million in customer deposits from its opening in December of 2022," President and CEO of Adams Community Bank Charles O'Brien said. "Those deposits were loaned out locally during 2023 and helped drive our #1 ranking in both mortgage and commercial real estate lending, according to Banker and Tradesman."
At year-end 2023, total assets were $995 million, and O'Brien noted the Bank crossed the $1 billion threshold during the first quarter of 2024.
Board chair Jeffrey Grandchamp noted with O'Brien's upcoming retirement, this will be the final annual meeting of the CEO's tenure since he joined the Bank in 1997. He thanked him for his 27 years of dedication to the Bank. He acknowledged the evolution of the Bank as it became the premier community bank in the Berkshires, noting that branches grew from 3 to 10, that employees grew from 40 to 135, and that assets grew from $127 million to $1 billion.
An executive search is underway for O'Brien's replacement.
The Adams Beautification group, which has been quietly sprucing up the town since 2022, hopes to bring in more members of the community during a community cleanup day scheduled for Saturday, April 27. click for more
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School history teacher Alla Chelukhova has been selected as the April Teacher of the Month. click for more
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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