Lee Middle and High School Announces Graduation Speakers

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LEE, Mass. — Kelly Molino and Sophia Puntin have been named the valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, for Lee High School's class of 2025.
 
Both will speak at the 148th graduation exercises of Lee High School at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7, at Tanglewood.
 
Molino is the daughter of Karen and Nicholas Molino of Lee. She is a member of the National Honor Society, the Class of 2025 Steering Committee, the robotics and quiz teams, and the tennis and swim teams. She has participated in spring musicals and the Fall Festival of Shakespeare during her time at Lee High. 
 
She is a past recipient of the Bausch & Lomb Science Award, the Harvard Prize Book, and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Academic Excellence Award. 
 
Molino will be attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the fall, studying mechanical engineering.
 
Puntin is the daughter of Amy and Matthew Puntin of Tyringham. She is a member of the National Honor Society, quiz team, the Class of 2025 Steering Committee, Student Council, and the GSA. She has been a member of the tennis and cross country teams, as well as the concert, marching and jazz bands. 
 
She has received the Clarkson University Achievement Award, the Cornell University Junior Award, and the Massachusetts State Seal of Biliteracy. 
 
Puntin will be attending Bentley University in Waltham to study business.
 

Tags: graduation 2025,   Lee High,   

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Friperie Berkshires Moves to New Great Barrington Location

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Friperie Berkshires has moved to new quarters on Bridge Street and will reopen this Friday, Feb. 13.

Owner Elizabeth Conkey has relocated her store from Lee above the Berkshire Co-op at 34 Bridge St., in Suite 101. 

The space is twice the size of her former spot in Lee, which is better for her, she said, because she needed it to add more services for her customers.

"I've been looking for a permanent space to land, and this space is perfect, because it's twice the size of where I was and I needed more room because I'm going to start doing men's and children's clothing as well," she said.

Besides adding more clothing, she will also be implementing a wardrobe service for her customers. 

"In addition to just constantly stocking the store and finding treasures, I started offering a capsule wardrobe service," Conkey said. "So it has three tiers, and basically, people can hire me depending on what tier of offering they're interested in, and I will go and thrift specifically for them based on a mood board that they send me from Pinterest, or just a file folder of photos that they like."

Conkey kept the Lee storefront through the summer and had been renting a space in Great Barrington from a friend. She finally found her new space around New Year's, and will be launching a website.

She is excited to open just a short distance from where she was. 

"I've really grown pretty exponentially in the past six months. I'm launching a website. I'm so thrilled with the growth. So it just seems like appropriate to finally move into the forever space, and have room to spread out and offer more categories of clothing," she said.

She also wanted to express her gratitude for her customers and friends' support to keep her dream alive.

"I am just so grateful to the people who have continued to shop in my store from the day it opened. Through the holidays, I had an incredible holiday season, and I just felt so grateful to everybody for telling their friends at my store, sharing about what they bought on Instagram, encouraging co-workers to come in," Conkey said. "It's been such a gift to feel welcomed by the community, and I feel like now my customers are becoming my friends, and I'm just excited to start this new chapter and never have to move all of this inventory ever again."

She will be open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. She encourages people to check her Instagram for updates on clothes and her store.

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