PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC) student Marlena Pellon has been selected as the winner of the 2025 Brad Leidich Memorial Scholarship, with an award of $1,500.
She is the first BCC student and the first in New England to win the prestigious award.
The scholarship is presented to a first-generation student enrolled in an associate degree program in respiratory therapy. The winner has shown exemplary academic performance and has demonstrated a commitment to his or her career goals, as well as scholarly and community activities in respiratory care.
"I am so humbled that I was chosen. It really made me reflect on my hard work ethic, my drive and my attitude of always striving to be better than average," Pellon said. "As a first-generation college student, this recognition is a meaningful milestone. It affirms both my academic dedication and professional aspirations, while also reminding me of the encouragement I have received from those who champion future respiratory therapists."
Pellon graduated BCC in mid-December 2025 with an associate degree in respiratory care. She said the award will "significantly ease the financial pressures that often accompany rigorous study."
During Covid, Pellon worked as a patient attendant, an experience that made her realize she had missed her calling.
"I spent 30 years working in business administration and never really felt that what I did made a difference, but providing patient care gave me a sense of pride and made me feel like I was really helping someone," she says. She began taking classes at BCC to explore health sciences, and it was professor Maggie Goss piqued her interest in respiratory care. She is now studying for board exams and plans to work as a respiratory therapist.
As a first-gen student, Pellon said she is proud of her accomplishments.
"I'm extremely proud that I'm the first person in my family to graduate college. Unfortunately, my parents did not have the mindset to encourage higher education, but I never once let that get me down," she said. "I always strive to be the best I can be in order to achieve my goals."
Pellon resides in Pownal, Vt. with her husband of 29 years, Steven. She has two grown children, Matthew and Antonia.
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BRPC Exec Search Panel Picks Brennan
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Executive Director Search Committee voted Wednesday to move both finalists to the full Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, with a recommendation that Laura Brennan was the preferred candidate.
Brennan is also the economic development program manager for the BRPC. She has been in the role since July 2023 but has been with BRPC since 2017, first serving as the senior planner of economic development.
She earned her bachelor's degree from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and earned a graduate-level certificate in local government leadership and management from Suffolk University.
Zogg is vice president of place and transportation for Tysons Community Alliance, a nonprofit that is committed to transforming Tysons, Va., into a more attractive urban center.
He previously was the director of planning, design, and construction at Georgetown Heritage in Virginia, where he directed the reimagining of Georgetown's C&O Canal National Historic Park.
They each had 45 minutes to answer a series of questions on Saturday, and the search committee said they were both great candidates. Meeting virtually on Wednesday, the members discussed which they preferred.
"In my own personal opinion, I think both candidates could do the job and actually had different skills. But I do favor Laura, because she can hit the ground running and with the time we have now, I think she is very familiar with the organization and its strengths and weaknesses and where we go from here," said Malcolm Fick.
"I would concur with Malcolm, especially because she was the only candidate who could speak directly to what's currently going on in the Berkshires, and really had a handle on every aspect of what BRPC does, could use examples, and showed that she actually understood the demographic information when that information was clearly available on the BRPC website, and through other means, and she was the only candidate who was able to integrate our regional data, our regional demographics, into her answers, and so I find her more highly qualified," said Marybeth Mitts.
Brennan was able to discus the comprehensive regional strategy the BRPC has worked on for Berkshire County and said she made sure they included voices from all over the region instead of what she referred to as the "usual suspects."
"That was an enormous priority of ours to make sure that the outreach that we did and the input that we gathered was not from only the usual suspects, but community groups that were emerging in a lot of different corners of the region and with a lot of different missions of their own, and try to encompass and embrace as many voices as we could in that," Brennan said in her interview.
"I think that her knowledge of the BTI, for example, was important, because that's going to play a role in the questioning that we did on funding. And she had some interesting insights, I think on how to use that," said Irvin. "And in addition, I just thought her style was important.
"She didn't need to rush into an answer. She was willing to take a minute to think about how she wanted to move on and she did."
In her interview, Brennan was asked her plans to help expand funding opportunities since the financial structure is mainly grants and the government has recently been withdrawing some interest.
"With Berkshires Tomorrow already established, I would like to see us take a closer look at that and find ways to refine its statement of purpose, to develop a mission statement, to look at ways that that mechanism can help to diversify revenue," she said. "I think, that we have over the last several years, particularly with pandemic response efforts, had our movement to the potential of Berkshire's Tomorrow as a tool that we should be using more, and so I would like to see that be a big part of how we handle the volatility of government funding."
Member John Duval said she has excelled in her role over the years.
"Laura just rose above every other candidate through her preliminary interview and her final interview, she's been the assistant executive director for maybe a couple of years and definitely had that experience, and also being part of this BRPC, over several years, have seen what she's capable of doing, what she's accomplished, and embedded in meetings and settings where I've seen how she's responded to questions, presented information, and also had to deal with some tough customers sometimes when she came up to Adams," said Duval.
"She's done an excellent job, and then in the interviews she's just calm and thought through her answers and just rose above everyone else."
Buck Donovan said he respected all those who applied and said Zogg is a strong candidate.
"I think both and all candidates were very strong, two we ended up were extremely strong," he said. "Jason, I liked his charisma and his way. I really could tell that there was some goals and targets and that's kind of my life."
The full commission will meet on Thursday, March 19, to vote on the replacement of retiring Executive Director Thomas Matuszko.
In a time of federal funding uncertainties, community members are encouraged to maintain preventative health care, such as doctor visits. click for more
The administration will present a draft fiscal year 2027 budget on March 11, and has been focused on equitably distributing resources based on need while bridging a $4 million funding gap without layoffs.
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