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Pittsfield High Names Speakers, Top 13 Students for 2023

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield High School class of 2023 will hear three graduate addresses at graduaton ceremonies being held on Sunday, June 4, at 4 p.m.
 
The senior class has elected Lennox Silvestro-Dias Jr., Asa Chard and Daysha Bell to speak at graduation.  These three students represent the voice of this year's senior class who have worked diligently through a challenging four years of high school.  
 
The ceremony will be held on the grounds of Pittsfield High School's 300 East St. campus. Shuttle buses will be available to pick up families parking near the Common and then bring them back at the end of the ceremony.
 
Pittsfield High School recognizes students who have achieved the top 10 cumulative grade point averages in the senior class.  This year there is a tie that creates a top 13: they are, in alphabetical order, Taibat Ahmed, Allison Blau, Asa Chard, Li Chen, Kiera Elizabeth Devine, Jamie C. Duquette, Randi H. Duquette, Kellie K. Harrington, Katerina Marie Livermore, Colin Anthony McKinney, James Herbert Swanton, Tyler J. Vosburgh and Jack Arthur Wildgoose
 
Academic departments also give awards to honor the most outstanding students in their respective disciplines.  
 
The following are this year's outstanding students: Cameron Sime (Art), Kellie K. Harrington (Band), Collin Merwin (Business), Walker Abdallah (Computers), Sidni Anderson (CVTE), Tessa Hanson (Drama), Marlene Mary LeBeau (English, Edward J. McKenna Award), Asa A. Chard (Math), Eladio Mendoza (Multilingual), Geivens Dextra (Orchestra), William B. Kinne (Physical Education), Abigail Archey (Psychology), Kiera Elizabeth Devine (Science, John P. Leahy Memorial Award), James Herbert Swanton (Social Studies), Taina Denise Figueroa (Chorus), Lily Smith (World Language).
 
The Seal of Biliteracy recognizes graduates who speak, read, listen, and write proficiently in another language in addition to English with a seal on their high school diploma. The Seal of Biliteracy movement has the goal of promoting long-term foreign, native, and heritage language study, documenting achievement in biliteracy, and producing a biliterate, multicultural workforce. 
 
Pittsfield High School is proud to be one the first schools in Berkshire County to recognize seniors for this achievement. The students who received this distinction are: Katerina Livermore, Kasey Miranda and Angel Sandoval, all for Spanish with distinction; and Manuel Lewis, Gabriela Loaiza Chavarro, Paola Rosito, James Swanton and Maria Villanueva Portillo, all for Spanish.
 

Tags: graduation 2023,   PHS,   val & sal,   

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Pittsfield ZBA Grants Casella Permit for Waste Transfer Facility

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Zoning Board of Appeals calls Casella's planned redevelopment of the former trash incinerator an improvement to the site.

Last week, the panel approved a special permit to allow a waste transfer facility at the site on 500 Hubbard Ave. Casella Waste Management purchased the waste transfer facility on Hubbard Avenue from Community Eco Power LLC, which filed for bankruptcy in 2021 and has demolished it for redevelopment into a waste transfer station.

The owners say the trash will be brought to the facility and transferred away daily. Concerns that were voiced about the project include odor and impacts to the surrounding area but Casella says the new operation will be less of an impact than the former.

"I think this is going to be a vast improvement based upon the facility that was there previously. I know that sometimes you would get a sight of the other one, they used to dump the waste and it was laying like a floating pond," board member John Fitzgerald said.

"And since the trash is not going to be there, it's going to be in and out, I think the odor will be reduced and I think the vermin will be reduced."

It was also pointed out that the site has handled trash for 40 years.

"I think a lot of the odor before was related to burning," board member Esther Anderson "And there's not going to be burning so it it's going to be greatly reducing the amount of odor and if it's not sitting there is no place for vermin to be."

The former incinerator, including a 118-foot tall stack, has already been demolished a fabric structure is being used temporarily for waste handling.

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