Berkshire Hills Regional School District (BHRSD)
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As we get ready for Monument Mountain’s graduation on June 5th at Tanglewood, I’d like to share some of our students’ post-secondary plans. Monument has a great tradition of setting up young people for success. Our students choose to pursue a wide variety of opportunities in college, career and the military.
This year students are enrolling in small colleges and large universities all over the country including: UMASS Amherst (8), UVM (4), Holy Cross (3), Northeastern (2), Clemson, Santa Clara, Indiana, Middlebury, Skidmore, Wisconsin, RIT, RPI, Rhode Island, University of San Diego, Colorado School of Mines, Oregon, Virginia, Virginia Tech. They are studying arts and music at: Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, School of the Arts Institute Chicago, Maine College of Art and Design, and Berklee College of Music. Some are staying closer to home at Berkshire Community College and MCLA. Some are working as plumbers, electricians, farmers, and mechanics. Some are taking gap years. To date, at least one student is enlisting in the Marines.
We conducted a longitudinal study of enrollment over the past 5 years and some colleges stood out as particularly popular. They include:
| Berkshire Community College (2 Year) | 91 |
| University of Massachusetts Amherst | 31 |
| Northeastern University | 12 |
| University of Vermont | 12 |
| Westfield State University | 11 |
| Western New England University | 10 |
| Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts | 8 |
| Massachusetts College of Design and Art | 8 |
| Emmanuel College | 6 |
| Hudson Valley Community College (2 Year) | 6 |
| Syracuse University | 6 |
| Boston University | 5 |
| Middlebury College | 5 |
| Siena College | 5 |
| St. Lawrence University | 5 |
| Worcester Polytech Institute | 5 |
| Berklee College of Music | 4 |
| Lasalle University | 4 |
| Lincoln Institute of Technology (2 Year) | 4 |
| Mount Holyoke College | 4 |
| New York University | 4 |
| Pace University | 4 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | 4 |
| Skidmore College | 4 |
| Springfield College | 4 |
| University of New Hampshire | 4 |
| University of Rhode Island | 4 |
| University of Tampa | 4 |
| Wheaton College | 4 |
You can access the full spreadsheet here and we will update with the class of 2022 plans as they become more finalized.
Next week we will host our annual awards and scholarship presentation. Students benefit tremendously from town, philanthropic, and individual funds. Typically, students are awarded more than $200,000 in community grants as well as additional support in college based scholarships.
We continue to work on expanding our Career Vocational and Technical Education (CVTE) opportunities. As you may know, we have two approved Chapter 74 programs in Automotive and Horticulture. Over the next few years, we hope to expand programs in early childhood education, health, hospitality and small manufacturing and other areas aligned with community needs. We recently hired Keith Wright, an experienced Chemistry teacher and former Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching as our new assistant principal for CVTE.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions — Peter.Dillon@bhrsd.org.
Next issue, I’ll share some updates on our work with the 9th grade team which we will discuss at our School Committee meeting at 6PM on June 16th.
