Scholarship Awards

We had a really lovely morning last Friday, presenting 21 scholarships to Springfield residents. That included the Ray Hershel Honorary Scholarship awarded to Bryan Palmer.

Many, many thanks to John Gormally, President and Owner of abc40 for sponsoring the scholarship. And of course, thanks to Ray Hershel for being our stellar Master of Ceremonies, and for agreeing to the scholarship presentation. (that's Bryan, flanked by John Gormally on the viewer's left and Ray Hershel on our right.)

Bryan is a junior at Westfield State University where he has a double major in Communications and Ethnic and Gender Studies. Bryan hopes to work in the broadcasting field after graduation.

Our absolutely fabulous keynote speaker, Myra Smith, VP of Human Resources and Multicultural Affairs at Springfield Technical Community College, talked about Change. She encouraged the scholarship winners to approach change with a positive attitude, to ask questions even if doing so made them feel uncomfortable, to diversify their network of associates and friends, and to share their knowledge by bringing it back to the community.

She ended with a quote from Les Brown, motivational speaker, coach and author, "When life knocks you down, you should always try to land on your back - because if you can look up, you can get up!"

And I really want to acknowledge Citizens Bank for being Gold Sponsors and Bay State Gas for their Bronze Level Sponsorship. We could not have held such a nice event without their help.

And stay tuned, we'll share even more photos later. And check us out on Facebook for additional photos.