Editor’s Note: This is the third and final story featuring the honored students across the county.
A typical year would see Franklin County’s winners of the Superintendent’s Awards recognized with a banquet. But, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been anything but a typical year.
Since large gatherings have been suspended until the novel coronavirus is under control, the seniors selected for 2020 received their certificates from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents in different, less ceremonial settings.
Lydia Barrett-Miller, who lives in Colrain, won the Superintendent’s Award for Franklin County Technical School. Barrett-Miller has the highest grade point average in this year’s graduating class, and is the president of two school clubs. She said she wants to go to college to study criminal justice and cyber-security.
“She is about as driven a young woman as I’ve seen in my career,” said Franklin Tech Superintendent Rick Martin. “Students like her don’t come around that often.”
At Franklin Tech, Barrett-Miller is in the programming and web design class. She said that when she started at Franklin Tech, the programming and web design class was her first choice because she was interested in animation and art.
“I knew that was the direction I wanted to go in. I’m a very artistic person,” Barrett-Miller said. “I went into the shop knowing it was my first pick, and my love grew for it while I was there. It felt like a home to me.”
Outside of class, she is the president of both the school’s Art Club and Business Professionals of America chapter. She also has played basketball and soccer at school.
Her interest in criminal justice, which she plans to pursue in college next year, developed from a young age, when she watched television shows about detectives, she said.
“I liked how it made my brain work, because I was trying to solve the situation before they did,” she said.
Barrett-Miller said she is deciding between colleges and doesn’t know yet which one she will attend.
Hawley resident Amelie Rowehl was named the recipient of the 2020 Superintendent’s Award for the Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
“Amelie is a student who consistently took advantage of the opportunities at her fingertips while at Mohawk Trail Regional School and pushed herself toward academic excellence,” Superintendent Sheryl Stanton said in a statement. “She’s a shining example of the type of students we have in our schools and we are so proud to have her represent our district this year as a Superintendent’s Award recipient.”
Rowehl is a member of Mohawk Trail’s alpine ski team, and also an active member of its Social Justice Club and National Honor Society.
“I’m really honored to be a recipient,” she said. “I’ve been working hard throughout my high school career and to receive this recognition … it felt really rewarding. There are so many students in my class who have worked hard and I feel really lucky to be recognized; that people noticed all the hard work I’ve put in.”
The senior credits the students in her class for “helping to push her through her studies,” and she said she is grateful to her teachers and for the opportunities available to her at Mohawk Trail.
“I have amazing classmates,” she said. “The top five in our class all heavily contributed to my commitment to school and challenged ways of thinking.”
Rowehl plans to study political science next year with the goal of becoming an immigration lawyer.