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Driving Support
Balise Auto recently presented a check for $40,000 to Square One, combining Balise’s generosity with matching gifts from Balise’s corporate partners at Lexus and Toyota. Square One currently provides early learning services to more than 500 infants, toddlers, and school-age children each day, as well as family support services to 1,500 families each year, as they work to overcome the significant challenges in their lives.
Pictured, from left: Ken Maffia of Balise; Kristine Allard and Dawn DiStefano of Square One; and Alex Balise and Tim Cardillo of Balise.
Progress, Promise, and a Name
On March 26, regional leaders unveiled a name for the cybersecurity center at Union Station: the Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. U.S. Rep. Neal, who provided a tour of the center currently under construction, led a funding effort in 2023 that resulted in $3 million of congressionally directed spending to establish the center, which is also is supported by a $1.46 million state grant and $500,000 from the city of Springfield.
Pictured, from left: STCC President John Cook, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Neal, Springfield Redevelopment Authority Chair Armando Feliciano; and CyberTrust Massachusetts CEO Peter Sherlock.
Beyond Frames
Mechanics Hall in Worcester unveiled three commissioned portraits of 19th-century Black Americans at an event called “Beyond Frames” on March 14, as part of its Portraits Project. Westfield State University Associate Art Professor Imo Nse Imeh contributed with his portrait of formerly enslaved civil-rights leader, orator, and writer Frederick Douglass. The Mechanics Hall Portrait Gallery is an installation honoring 19th-century Worcester innovators, social reformers, Civil War heroes, and political leaders.
Pictured: Imeh in his studio with his Douglass portrait.
Student Art at the Mill District
On April 6, the Mill District General Store & Local Art Gallery unveiled an installation called “Pieces of Us,” a mosaic by more than 120 students at Pelham Elementary School. The front-window exhibit, which runs through April 27, was “inspired by classroom dialogues around identity and the many characteristics that shape our school community,” art teacher Emily Stewart (pictured) said. “Each student had full control over their creative expression within Pelham’s choice-based art studio. The selections they made in subject, media, style, and design invite us to embrace the beauty of their collective diversity and the mosaic of their varied experiences.”
The Mill District General Store & Local Art Gallery unveiled an installation called “Pieces of Us,” a mosaic by more than 120 students at Pelham Elementary School
Community Effort
Monson Savings Bank’s annual donation and pledge drive to benefit the United Way of Pioneer Valley (UWPV) recently raised a total of $5,184. Employees also raised an additional $1,063 through a bank-wide bingo game and $695 through a TGIF dress-down program. The bank also provided a corporate donation of $1,000, bringing the total United Way donation to $7,942.
Pictured, from left: Dodie Carpentier and President Dan Moriarty of Monson Savings, Tracy Trial and Megan Moynihan of UWPV, and Michael Rouette and Kylie LaPlante of Monson Savings.
Learning Opportunity
Five Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) students — Travis Canary, Bradley DeJesus, Samuel Frechette, Jessica Phillips, and Hong Zhang — joined their peers for the Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience in Seattle on Feb. 18-21. The five STCC students in the STEM Starter Academy embarked on a transformative experience, embracing opportunities for growth, connection, and learning.
Pictured, from left: Canary; Zhang; Jason Phillips, academic counselor; DeJesus; Zahi Haddad, professor of Engineering and Physical Sciences; Frechette; and Samar Ghrear, director of the STEM Starter Academy.
