Mount Everett Class Touted as 'Little Engines That Could'

State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli was awarded an honorary Mount Everett diploma on Saturday from Principal Jesse Carpenter. See more photos here. 

LENOX, Mass. — Mount Everett Regional School graduates were touted as the "little engines that could" in a world riddled with conflict.

Thirty students crossed the Tanglewood stage Saturday morning under sunny skies. School Committee Chair Bonnie Silvers explained that when writing her address to the class, she turned to the American folktale "The Little Engine That Could."

"The Mount Everett class of 2024, in my opinion, is so much like that engine. It's small but, boy, is it mighty. These students had the dubious honor of being Mount Everett eighth-graders when the pandemic began and they had to deal with every iteration of national and local edicts directing their education, closed schools, remote learning, hybrid education, combining Zoom and in-person learning, almost weekly changes in health regulations to finally returning to classes in person but with mass distancing, sanitation rules, vaccinations, and worries about additional outbreaks," she said.

"Couple all of this with the fact they've lived through a three-year merger initiative that brought a great deal of uncertainty into many of our communities and as we know, when it affects our communities, it impacts the lives of our students."

She reported never seeing so many students graduating with certificates of biliteracy, one with biliteracy with distinction. The 2024 class earned the most scholarship funds in the last seven years to colleges across the county and has completed more than 230 college credits, she said, "this type of initiative is special."

"They found their voice despite or maybe because of what was happening in the areas of adversity, pandemic, conflict, et cetera," she said.

State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli also pointed to the tumultuous world that the graduates have grown up in.

"Sadly, and I say it, sadly, they have never lived in a world where we have not been at war and the unrest that is experienced here today all over the world and right here at home, the political discourse that we have, the COVID experiences that you guys have experienced and survived and prospered, the 230 college degree credits, that is an amazing accomplishment," he said.

The Steuernagle sisters stood at the top of the class, with Allison Steuernagle valedictorian and Emily Steuernagle salutatorian. During her honors speech, Allison admitted that as a twin, she had been guilty of comparison counting who scored the most goals and who did the most house chores.

She told attendees that "comparison is the thief of joy" and detailed her own journey of perseverance.

"It took me nearly 18 years to realize this but since then, I find happiness in her success. Seeing her smile makes me smile, too. When you broaden your perspective and have confidence in yourself, you're able to accept the success of others. Despite all of this comparison is not horrible in every aspect of life. In fact, it can be a mode of motivation," she explained.

"At the end of my junior year, I had a conversation with my English teacher about how I was disappointed with my final grade in the class and held higher expectations for myself. He told me that I should be proud of how much I had grown from freshman year and that I must judge my present self from the perspective of my past self. I envisioned the shy girl in the back of class, afraid to say a peep, and saw myself now sitting in the front row, unafraid to answer a question. Instead of comparing myself to my classmates, I needed to look from where I started to where I am now and I realized that this is the only form of comparison in life that is valuable."

Emily said the class members have spent the last 14 years of their lives awaiting this moment — some anxious for graduation and others wishing they could turn back time.

"But nonetheless we are here today and oh, has it been a journey," she said. "We have persevered through all our late-night homework and pulled off some of the greatest academic comebacks of all time."

At the "ripe age of 18,"  Steuernagle said her adventures are limited but she has some great stories.

"Every person on this stage has encountered different experiences that have led them here today and today is the day about all of us," she added. "It is about our accomplishments as a class and the memories we have shared. It is about the end of our journey together as we each start a new chapter in our lives."

She took the class on a walk down memory lane, sharing stories of student friendships, teacher antics, and even a classmate fainting during a chorus performance.

"Now standing here today, about to graduate high school with all these unforgettable memories, I guess everything is temporary," she said. "The bad days will pass but so will the good days so be grateful for where you are and what you have. Always be willing to take on change and experience something new."

Superintendent Beth Regulbuto recognized the strength of the class, saying, "These amazing young people are faced with their own personal endeavors, managing their fears, imagining what's possible, and forging into the unknown."

Principal Jesse Carpenter started the ceremony with a laugh, explaining that he almost didn't make it because he almost got hit in front of Dunkin' Donuts by someone who was on the stage with him.

"And it got me thinking, what happened the morning of my high school graduation? Did I almost run over some old guy with coffee? And the answer is no," he said.

"But if anybody knows how you guys on stage feel, it's me. Thirty-two years ago, I sat where you are on this stage for my Mount Everett graduation and I'm sure there are many of you out in the audience who were up on the stage for your graduation as well. I'm sure many of us share the same feelings, part of us was happy to get out of high school, part of us was sad about leaving this special place, and part of us was terrified about what the future would bring. As I think back to how I felt at the time, it reminds me how special the community of Mount Everest was and still is."

He said this graduating class has a special place in his heart, as he taught some of them in the seventh grade during his last year in the classroom. For the last 20 years, he has spoken at the eighth-grade recognition night but the pandemic interrupted it for this class.

He closed by asking the graduates if they were leaving the community better than they found it.

"Whatever your answer is, I hope in your next community, be it in the workforce, the military, and college or where you choose to live, the answer is 'I left the place better than I found it.'"

* National Honor Society
 

Becket Looks to Wind Power for Energy Savings

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Tuesday, October 20, 2026

The single turbine is a low maintenance and has a 50-year life. The town went with wind power after finding a solar installation would be too difficult. 

BECKET, Mass. — The town unveiled a wind turbine Monday that will reduce electricity costs and show the benefits of renewable energy produced by wind.

Residents, town and state officials gathered outside the Town Hall for the ribbon cutting on a project first conceived nearly a dozen years ago.

The wind turbine stands 100-feet tall next to Town Hall and is from Oklahoma manufacturer Bergey Wind Power. It has a 50-year life and is a direct-drive permanent-magnet design, meaning it has no gearbox, making it low maintenance.

According to Garth Klimchuk, chair of the Becket Energy Committee, the town started discussions about a wind turbine in 2014. The turbine is expected to generate about 36,000 kilowatt-hours. Klimchuk said Town Hall uses about 24,000 kilowatt-hours, with excess power expected to go to the Highway Department. This is expected to save $9,000 annually from the electricity cost.

"This turbine is just going to be such a good thing for the town. It is really incredible. Zero-cost electricity. Zero cost to the town. Carbon free. Just a huge, huge milestone for us," he said.

The town received a grant from the state Department of Energy Resources totaling $139,500. The remaining funding for the project will come from a direct-pay investment tax credit under the federal Inflation Reduction Act. If the town does not receive the funding, voters at the annual town allocated $100,000 just in case, but Klimchuk said the town will only need about $60,000 to $70,000 if necessary.

"It's going to help the community. Hopefully, it'll lower our tax bills. And as we look at everything going around around the world right now, energy volatility has been with us for a long time. It's going to stay with us for a long time," said state Sen. Paul Mark. "So any move we can make as a community, whether as Becket specifically, as Berkshire County as a whole, but anything we can do to bring some of the reliability into our own hands, to produce a bit on our own, and just guarantee that in a renewable, safe way moving into the future, I think is going to pay off dividends."

The town has spent more than a decade reducing municipal energy consumption in a variety of ways including HVAC upgrades and LED street light conversions, bringing it to a Level 2 Green Community status.

While solar had been considered, interconnection constraints and limited grant opportunities made it harder to achieve. But the high elevation of Town Hall and a Small Wind Site evaluation done in 2023 and 2024 found the site was perfect for a turbine with favorably high winds.

State Rep. Leigh Davis praised the project as an example of a small town addressing a larger energy challenge through persistence and collaboration. She stressed that the single turbine represents a practical step toward reducing reliance on fossil fuels and said Becket's effort could serve as a model for communities across the commonwealth. 

"You hear about all these kind of big wind farms and solar farms and all these ways that we're gonna you know create green energy, but at the same time what we're not being sensitive to the landscape, and what I appreciate about this is that this is it's a single turbine, but it represents so much more," she said. "You're right. It's really adding to the ability for this town to contribute to green energy and to bringing our reliance on gasoline fuels back down to solving big problems."

Mark Rabinsky, deputy director of DOER's Green Communities Division, said the state supports municipalities with technical assistance and grants, and that reducing municipal energy costs can leave more resources for other local priorities. He presented the turbine as an example of state support working alongside local knowledge and decision-making. 

"I think that this is a really a great example of what green communities can do," he said. "I'm obviously a really big fan of the green communities program, but I think that connection between the state, what we're doing at the state, and that local level, and relying on the local knowledge here with Becket is a true testament to what we're doing."

Select Board Chair William Elovirta thanked everyone for being here and shared his memories of first coming tp Becket in 1946 before utility electricity arrived. His family and neighbors used small 32-volt generating plants and batteries. He recalled utility workers installing poles and wires by hand around 1947.