NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High School has named Colin Matthew Daly and Atlas Lescarbeau as the valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of the class of 2025.
Both will speak at graduation ceremonies on Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m. A livestream of the event will run at www.napsk12.org/graduation.
Daly, son of Anthony and Shelley Daly of North Adams, has challenged himself academically, going out of his way to
take advantage of the opportunities offered to him and will graduate with a GPA of 4.6. and having completed eight college courses through the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Early College Program. He has been
inducted into both the Nu Sigma and Pro Merito Honor societies, was awarded the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Medal of Distinction during his junior year and has received the Principal's Award for having the one of the top five averages in his class for four years.
In addition to his excellence in the classroom, he has been an integral part of the boys soccer and basketball teams, has been an altar server at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish for the past nine years, is an active Student Ambassador and has held down a part-time job throughout high school.
Daly will be attending Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield in the fall and plans to major in engineering.
Lescarbeau, whose parents are Louis Lescarbeau and Angel Lescarbeau of North Adams, also has taken a rigorous course of studies including the completion of AP courses and several early college courses both at Drury High School and on the campus of MCLA. He has excelled academically with challenging coursework and was inducted to Drury High School's Nu Sigma Honor Society junior year and Pro Merito Honor Society senior year for maintaining a high grade point average. Lescarbeau has performed in the "School of Rock," marching band, and chorus/jazz band and has played the trumpet with Drury's band since seventh grade. He studied art classes as well and assisted backstage for Drury's theater program as a freshman and perform in several productions through senior year.
Lescarbeau has also shared his passion and creativity in the community as a member of the Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra since seventh grade and of Kids for Harmony since sixth grade. In senior year, he played trumpet for a theater production in Bennington, Vt., and was a teen activator at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art during junior year.
Lescarbeau will be attending St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt., to major in theater
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Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Mason Langenback calculated that Clarksburg would get almost $1 million if the $60 million was allocated equally.
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Eighth-graders at Clarksburg School took a lesson in civic advocacy this week, researching school funding and writing letters to Beacon Hill that call for fully funding rural school aid.
The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.
"They all address the main issue, the funding for rural schools, and how there's a gap, and there's the $4 million gap this year, and then it's about the $40 million next year, and that rural schools need that equitable funding," said social studies teacher Mark Karhan.
A rural schools report in 2022 found smaller school districts cost from nearly 17 percent to 23 percent more to operate, and recommended "at least" $60 million be appropriated annually for rural school aid.
Gov. Maura Healey has filed for more Chapter 70 school aid, but that often is little help to small rural schools with declining or static enrollment. For fiscal 2027, she's budgeted $20 million for rural schools, up from around $13 million this year but still far below the hoped for $60 million.
Karhan said the class was broken into four groups and the students were provided a submission letter from Rural Schools Advocacy. The students used the first paragraph, which laid out the funding facts, and then did research and wrote their own letters.
They will submit those with a school picture to the governor.
The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.
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