Mill Town Foundation Announces 2025 Core Impact Award Honorees for Pittsfield Educators

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The Mill Town Foundation, in partnership with Pittsfield Public Schools and with support from the Feigenbaum Foundation, has announced the honorees of the 2025 Core Impact Awards.

This initiative recognizes educators within the Pittsfield Public School District for their contributions to student learning, classroom innovation, and community involvement.

The Core Impact Awards annually select one full-time teacher or school staff member from each of Pittsfield's 14 public schools.

The nomination process involved an open community call for submissions from students, families, colleagues, and residents. A volunteer, independent Selection Committee, comprising professionals from education and youth-serving organizations in Berkshire County, reviewed the nominations and chose the awardees based on their demonstrated impact, innovation, and community engagement.

The 2025 Core Impact Award recipients are:

• Allendale Elementary – Morgan Zukowski
• Capeless Elementary – Lindsay Sayers
• Conte Community School – Senta Brodeur
• Crosby Elementary – Heather Topolski
• Crosby Academy – Tracy Kelleher
• Eagle Academy – Colleen Oleskiewicz
• Egremont Elementary – Gwynneth Featherstone
• Morningside Community School – Olivia Oberle
• Stearns Elementary – Brianna Sabato
• Williams Elementary – Samantha Farella
• Herberg Middle School – Mallory D'Aniello
• Reid Middle School – Pam Garwood
• Pittsfield High School – Ann Marie Mutz
• Taconic High School – Brittany Gardner

"These incredible educators are the backbone of our schools and a source of inspiration for our entire community," said Andy Wrba, Program Director at Mill Town Foundation. "The Core Impact Awards aim to elevate their stories and recognize the meaningful and lasting difference they make every day."

Among this year's recipients is Senta Brodeur, a music teacher with 26 years of experience in the classroom, who reflected on the honor by saying:

"I feel so honored to receive the first Core Impact Award for the Pittsfield Public Schools and have such admiration for so many other teachers, paraprofessionals and staff that work throughout the district and equally deserve this award. I started my career at Conte in 1999 as a young and terrified new classroom music teacher for grades k – 5 and special education and the diversity of my students and the dedication of my band families is what keeps me going year after year. If I can make a difference in a child's education and make them believe in themselves, I feel alive and successful.

I want to dedicate my Core Impact Award to all the teachers and staff that have to travel between multiple schools because while it's a bumpy journey the students and families need you. Be proud of the impact that you have made. Teaching in a vestibule or using your car as an office may be a reality, but together we all make a difference in Pittsfield Public Schools."

An awards celebration for the 2025 recipients is scheduled for May 27, 2025, in downtown Pittsfield.

Pittsfield Marks Vietnam Veterans Day in Park Square

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:34PM / Monday, March 30, 2026

Pittsfield has a memorial to the Vietnam War honoring those who fought and those who died, including 27 from Berkshire County. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — About 50 people gathered at Park Square on Saturday to remember Vietnam veterans and mark the 53rd anniversary of the last American troops' departure. 

Vietnam veteran Lenwood "Woody" Vaspra thanked everyone for coming out on the chilly March morning. Twenty-seven Berkshire County residents were killed in action, and their names are memorialized in a Park Square marker. 

"We thank all who selfishly served and sacrificed. You are not forgotten," Vaspra said. 

"This provides us an opportunity to pay special tribute to the many Americans who served in the Vietnam War, both in country and out of country, to the 58,318 names inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and to those who never received the recognition they deserve. It is time to say thank you and honor all Vietnam veterans."

National Vietnam Veterans Day commemorates the sacrifices of Vietnam War veterans and their families, and is part of a national effort to recognize the men and women who were denied a proper welcome upon returning home more than 50 years ago.

"When Vietnam veterans returned from Vietnam, there were no tributes, recognition, speeches, parades, or even handshakes. For many of them, it was a horrific return home, and it was also a very chaotic time. Many veterans to this day remain silent from their combat and traumatic encounters," Vaspra said. 

"It is time now to pay tribute to all veterans from all wars and conflicts, our brothers and sisters that served on behalf of our country. We must continue to remember what all veterans did for this country. They gave their lives, whether they died in battle or came home and died later, they paid the ultimate price, the memories our brothers and sisters must go on and always remain in our hearts."

The year 2026 marks 51 years since the official end of the Vietnam War in May 1975, and is the 53rd anniversary of the last American troops departing Vietnam in March 1973. The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 designated March 29 of each year as National Vietnam War Veterans Day.