Top Students Named for 2024 at Lenox Memorial High School

11:03AM / Saturday, June 08, 2024Print Story | Email Story

LENOX, Mass. — Lenox Memorial High School has named Genevieve Collins as valedictorian and Alice Culver the salutatorian of the class of 2024.

Graduation ceremonies will be held on Sunday, June 9, at 1 p.m. at Tanglewood.

Collins, daughter of Edward and Deanna Collins of Lenox, is a member of National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society. She is a captain of the Lenox track and field and cross-country teams, as well as a peer mentor.

She has spent 12 years singing for the choir at St. Ann's Church in Lenox, and has sung in the All-State chorus in 2022 and 2023. Last summer, she partook in the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the prior year sang at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

Collins has received the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Academic Excellence Award and the Harvard Book Award.

In the fall, Collins will be attending Brown University, where she will study music.

Culver, daughter of Jennifer and Edward Culver of Lenox, is a National Honor Society officer and a member of the National Art Honor Society. She is a peer mentor and a captain of the cross-country, Nordic skiing, and track teams. She is a National Merit Commended student, and received the Seal of Biliteracy for French. She received the Dartmouth Book Award, as well as academic awards in mathematics, biology and English. This spring, she organized a drive at the high school for goods to donate to the Elizabeth Freeman Center.

She is a two-time Western Mass two-mile champion (2023, 2024), one-mile champion (2022) and a Western Mass cross-country champion (2023). She earned MVP honors for Berkshire County for the 2023 cross-country season. She is the school record-holder in the two-mile.

Culver will be attending Williams College, where she plans to study statistics and compete on the college's cross-country and track teams.

Tags: graduation 2024, Lenox Memorial,

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Pittsfield Housing Project Adds 37 Supportive Units and Collective Hope

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:01PM / Monday, December 29, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— A new chapter in local efforts to combat housing insecurity officially began as community leaders and residents gathered at The First on to celebrate a major expansion of supportive housing in the city.

The ribbon was cut on Thursday Dec. 19, on nearly 40 supportive permanent housing units; nine at The First, located within the Zion Lutheran Church, and 28 on West Housatonic Street. The Housing Resource Center, funded by Pittsfield's American Rescue Plan Act dollars, hosted a celebration for a project that is named for its rarity: The First.

"What got us here today is the power of community working in partnership and with a shared purpose," Hearthway CEO Eileen Peltier said.

In addition to the 28 studio units at 111 West Housatonic Street and nine units in the rear of the church building, the Housing Resource Center will be open seven days a week with two lounges, a classroom, a laundry room, a bathroom, and lockers.

Erin Forbush, ServiceNet's director of shelter and housing, challenged attendees to transform the space in the basement of Zion Lutheran Church into a community center. It is planned to operate from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. year-round.

"I get calls from folks that want to help out, and our shelters just aren't the right spaces to be able to do that. The First will be that space that we can all come together and work for the betterment of our community," Forbush said.

"…I am a true believer that things evolve, and things here will evolve with the people that are utilizing it."

Earlier that day, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus joined Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and her team in Housatonic to announce $33.5 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funding, $5.45 million to Berkshire County.

He said it was ambitious to take on these two projects at once, but it will move the needle. The EOHLC contributed more than $7.8 million in subsidies and $3.4 million in low-income housing tax credit equity for the West Housatonic Street build, and $1.6 million in ARPA funds for the First Street apartments.

"We're trying to get people out of shelter and off the streets, but we know there are a lot of people who are couch surfing, who are living in their cars, who are one paycheck away from being homeless themselves," Augustus said.

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