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A grant proposal that Westfield Bank submitted to the Mass. Bankers Assoc. Charitable Foundation on behalf of Rachel’s Challenge has resulted in a $2,000 award to that organization, which provides intervention programs designed to provide a safe, caring, and supporting learning environment and is named in honor of Rachel Scott, who was killed in the Columbine school shooting in Colorado in 1999. The award will help fund local anti-bullying efforts in the Greater Westfield area, and is in addition to the $3,500 Future Fund grant Westfield Bank awarded Rachel’s Challenge in 2015. “Bullying, harassment, and violence have no place in society — and especially not in our schools,” said James Hagan, president and CEO of Westfield Bank. Pictured with Westfield Technical Academy students are (from left) Stefan Czaporowski, the school’s principal; Stacy Waite, branch manager, Westfield Bank; Westfield Police Sgt. Eric Hall; and Kristine Hupfer, Rachel’s Challenge advisor.

Springfield College and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame presented the fourth annual Hoophall Classic Leadership Award to Springfield College sport management students Brooke Fairman and Gregory Weigert (second and third from left). Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper (left) and Hall President and CEO John Doleva (right) made the formal presentation during the 2016 Spalding Hoophall Classic at Blake Arena. Both Fairman and Weigert were key contributors during the Classic, the leading high-school basketball tournament in the country. Fairman and Weigert helped lead more than 75 student event-staff workers and more than 30 student liaisons during the event. They created and conducted training sessions for volunteers of the event; collaborated with Springfield College Office of Conferences & Special Events, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and ESPN to ensure schedules of events; and supervised all event operations during the five-day tournament. They were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship.