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
 

Sheffield Craftsman Offering Workshops on Windsor Chairs

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
10:30AM / Sunday, March 29, 2026

Andrew Jack uses hand tools in his wood working shop. 

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — A new workshop is bringing woodworking classes and handmade items.

Andrew Jack specializes in Windsor chairs and has been making them for almost 20 years.

He recently opened a workshop at 292 South Main St. as a space for people to see his work and learn how to do it.

"This is sort of the next, or latest iteration of a business that I've kind of been limping along for a little while," he said. "I make Windsor chairs from scratch, and this is an effort to have a little bit more of a public-facing space, where people can see the chairs, talk about options, talking about commissions.

"I also am using it as a space to teach workshops, which for the last 10 years or so I've been trying to do out of my own personal workshop at home."

Jack graduated in 2008 from State University of New York at Purchase, and later met woodworker Curtis Buchanan, who inspired him.

"Right after I finished there, I was feeling a little lost. I wasn't sure how to make the next steps and afford a workspace. And the machine tooling that I was used to using in school." he said, "Right after I graduated, I crossed paths with a guy named Curtis Buchanan, and he was demonstrating making really refined Windsor chairs with not much more than some some flea market tools, and I saw that as a great, low overhead way to keep working with wood."

Jack moved into his workshop last month with help from his wife. He is renting the space from the owners of Magic Flute, who he says have been wonderful to work with.

"My wife actually noticed the 'for rent' sign out by the road, and she made the initial call to just see if we get some more information," he said. "It wasn't on my radar, because it felt like kind of a big leap, and sometimes that's how it's been in my life, where I just need other people to believe in me more than I do to, you know, really pull the trigger."

Jack does commissions and while most of his work is Windsor chairs, he also builds desks and tables, and does spoon carving. 

Windsor chairs are different because of the way their backs are attached into the seat instead of being a continuous leg and back frame.

"A lot of the designs that I make are on the traditional side, but I do some contemporary stuff as well. And so usually the legs are turned on a lathe and they have sort of a fancy baluster look to them, or they could be much more simple," he said. "But the solid seat that separates the undercarriage from the backrest and the arms and stuff is sort of one of the defining characteristics of a Windsor."

He hopes to help people learn the craft and says it's rewarding to see the finished product. In the future, he also hopes to host other instructors and add more designs for the workshop.

"The prime impact for the workshops is to give close instruction to people that are interested in working wood with hand tools or developing a new skill. Or seeing what's possible with proper guidance," Jack said. "Chairs are often considered some of the more difficult or complex woodworking endeavors, and maybe less so Windsor chairs, but there is a lot that goes into them, and being able to kind of demystify that, or guide people through the process is quite rewarding."

People can sign up for classes on his website; some classes are over a couple and others a couple of weekends.

"I offer a three-day class for, a much, much more simple, like perch, kind of stool, where most of the parts are kind of pre-made, and students can focus on the joinery that goes into it and the carving of the seat, again, all with hand tools. And then students will leave with their own chair," he said.

"The longer classes run similarly, although there's quite a bit more labor that goes into those. So I provide all the turned parts, legs and stretchers and posts and things, but students will do all the joinery and all the seat carving the assembly. And they'll split and shave and shape their own spindles, and any of the bent parts that go into the chair."

His gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m to 2 p.m., and Monday and Tuesday by appointment.