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By DEBORAH POTEE

For close to 40 years, I have spent almost my entire adult life working with teenagers. My work for the past 20 years has been in public, private and residential schools focusing on students’ mental health as a clinical social worker. As a resident of Northfield, I have worked to support our local public school district and have had a daughter, two nieces and a nephew graduate from Pioneer. For years, I have fundraised, written letters, protested, spoken at town and school committee meetings and engaged with administration and teachers, all in support of the success of this district.

By CHRIS LARABEE

While the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board awaits feedback from the state on its proposed regional agreement, it is also preparing assessment models for the potential Great River Regional School District.

By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN

GREENFIELD — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s public comment sessions at Greenfield Community College on Wednesday drew opposition from attendees who cited a lack of transparency in the comment process pertaining to FirstLight Hydro Generating Co.

By JUDY WAGNER

Walking in our back gardens I caught a subtle but sublime scent. I looked around and spotted the milkweed patches we let grow off to the side. The heavy, waxy blooms were blooming, inviting the monarch butterflies to feed and thrive. These frail, delicate creatures fly as far as 3,000 miles for winter migration. It takes more than one generation for monarchs to complete their travel and reproduction, an astonishing and complex process. Amazing to think our bit of land can be part of such a wonder. No matter what we think of global trade or immigration, we are connected around the planet.

BERNARDSTON — The Family & Community Event Planning Committee will host a Movie Night in Cushman Park, 19 Church St., on Wednesday, July 23.

By LUKE MACANNUCO

NORTHFIELD — Seven decades of service will come to a close this summer with the dissolution of the Northfield Kiwanis Club.

By LUKE MACANNUCO

NORTHFIELD — Outside Northfield Elementary School, Parent-Teacher Organization volunteer Cheryl George watched as a Graves Concrete truck poured the concrete foundation for the school’s new outdoor pavilion.

By CHRIS LARABEE

NORTHFIELD — The search is underway for a new director of finance and operations at the Pioneer Valley Regional School District.

NORTHFIELD – Seniors who are more than 60 years old and own their own home in Northfield are eligible to submit an application to take part in the Senior Tax Work-Off Program starting July 1.

Highest Honor: Aaron Archer, Layla Coffin, Amber Drossart, Emma Goulding, Samuel Lawler, Evangeline Lewis, Avery McKinley, Deveney Pillsbury, Gianna Shattuck, Magnolia Sheridan, Hannah Skorupa, Aza Thompson, Amy VanDoren, Gabrielle Warriner Cardin and Brooke Welcome.

By CHRIS LARABEE

NORTHFIELD — A revitalized greenhouse and garden, rehabilitation of the school’s cross-country trail and work with the Franklin Land Trust are all highlights of Pioneer Valley Regional School’s nascent Innovation Career Pathways environmental science program.

By JUDY WAGNER

June first, it snowed. The cottonwood trees were sending their white fluffy seed puffs down like large, slow-drifting snowflakes. In places they settled on puddles or coated newly raked garden beds with a light covering that did not melt.

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

Faced with total vision loss in the near future, many people might understandably respond with despair, fear, anger, or all three. Yet Virginia “Jinx” Hastings, 80, faces such loss in inspiring ways. After undergoing more than a dozen procedures for glaucoma, Hastings learned that she’s exhausted surgical solutions; her response was to create art, which is currently on display through July at the Dickinson Memorial Library in Northfield.

By CHRIS LARABEE

NORTHFIELD — As the new four-town inter-municipal agreement officially kicks into effect at the turn of the fiscal year, Northfield EMS will be installing a temporary structure at its 41 Main St. space to accommodate staff.

For anyone who was lucky enough to work with or under the leadership of departing Greenfield Public Schools Superintendent Karin Patenaude, the loss of her from this district is incalculable. Her high standards, work ethic, love for students and deep experience from being a beloved English teacher and highly respected administrator endeared her to staff, students and families in the district. To watch her talk to a quiet teen, a curious fourth grader, a distressed parent or a questioning teacher and see her treat each with understanding, kindness, respect and always an encouraging smile, is to see the very best that public education has to offer. Seen as a "teacher's teacher" by the educators at Greenfield High School, the spontaneous standing ovation that she received by the 900 people in attendance after her words of encouragement for the graduating class on May 31 spoke volumes of how beloved she is as our leader. Karin Patenaude set a standard that will be hard to fill, she will missed and I am grateful to have worked for her.

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

NORTHFIELD — One cat perished in a house fire on Main Street Thursday night, according to Fire Chief Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III.

By MARGOT FLECK

Cruelty, unabashed and relentless, is part of our inescapable reality these days. We exist in a media-dominated environment and many of us have become addicted to witnessing the horror and chaos of humans bludgeoning each other with either weapons of war or words.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

NORTHFIELD — Before the 36 Pioneer Valley Regional School Class of 2025 graduates were handed their diplomas, their class advisor Brian Campbell challenged them to “show up” for one another as they take the first step into their adult lives.

Thomas Aquinas College invited the president of The Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, to speak at its 2025 commencement on May 24. Roberts is the “architect of Project 2025.” I believe that Roberts’ values, and the objectives of his Project 2025, are antithetical to those of the Catholic Church. I think the college is a good school with a challenging curriculum. The students that I’ve met have been polite, respectful, and inquisitive. I hope that Kevin Roberts’ invitation was an aberration, and not an indication of a shift in policy. I suspect that some students — and the pope — might agree.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

NORTHFIELD – Around 80 protesters gathered outside Thomas Aquinas College Saturday in opposition to the school’s selection of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts as its 2025 commencement speaker.

By JUDY WAGNER

“What a blue sky!” so says my husband as we pause in our garden prep work. “Looks pretty grey to me,” I counter, looking straight west under the brim of my garden cap and noting the piling, darkening clouds on the horizon. Then I tilt my head to look up: magnificent depthless blue sky! Yet again this garden place teaches: just a slight change of perspective can alter everything.