MCLA's Environmental Lecture to Celebrate Center for Resourceful Living

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA's Fall 2025 Elizabeth and Lawrence Vadnais Environmental Issues Lecture will be held at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 11, in MCLA's Murdock Hall, Room 218.
 
This year's event will celebrate the creation of The Center for Resourceful Living (CRL), started 50 years ago by MCLA Professor Emeritus Lawrence H. Vadnais.
 
The evening will feature the debut screening of filmmaker Sharon Wyrrick's documentary, "Did You Put Milk in the Bucket?: A Tribute to The Center for Resourceful Living." The filmmaker will be in attendance at the screening.
 
This event coincides with "Scenes from The Center for Resourceful Living," an exhibition of photographs of the Center curated by Wyrrick and on view at MCLA's MOSAIC EventSpace (49 Main St.) from Oct. 3-Nov. 2, 2025. The exhibit features photographs from the Randy Trabold Collection, donated to MCLA by Ida Trabold; images from MCLA's Freel Library archives; and additional photographs from Center participants during its existence, from 1975 to 1980. The exhibit opens with a reception on Friday, Oct. 3, from 5-7 p.m.
 
"The Environmental Studies Department is excited to celebrate The Center for Resourceful Living and its legacy," said Dr. Elena Traister, MCLA professor of environmental studies. "This forward-thinking sustainability program remains important, not only to the alumni who participated in it, but also to the hands-on approach MCLA's Environmental Studies program continues to take in preparing students to address the environmental challenges of our time. We are pleased to be able to share the story of this impactful program with the broader community."
 
These events are free and open to the public. Please call MCLA's Office of Institutional Advancement at 413-662-5224 or email advancement@mcla.edu for more information. This annual lecture series is named for Professor Lawrence H. Vadnais and is sponsored by the Vadnais Endowment.
 
To directly support the Vadnais Lecture Series through Pathways, The Campaign for MCLA, visit lnk.mcla.edu/pathways.

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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 fulling 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. 
 
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