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Connecticut Attorney General William Tong talks with students Jonas Johnson (left) and Ayden Wheeler at the 21st Century for HVRHS event held at the Interlaken Inn on March 31.
Ruth Epstein
Founded in 1994, the fund was the brainchild of the late Jack Mahoney, a longtime teacher and principal at the school. While on a sabbatical, he visited other high schools across the country and learned that many had established organizations to fund student and teacher projects outside the annual budgets. He brought the idea back, paired up with Salisbury resident, the late Diane Hewat, and in 1994, the 21st Century Fund for HVRHS was born. It has since raised and distributed close to $1 million to the HVRHS community.
The fund supports projects that allow students and teachers to expand learning beyond the classroom, encouraging creativity, exploration and real-world experience. The fund also supports the high school journalism program with the Lakeville Journal.
HVRHS Robotics Club members Addie Diorio, left, and Ivy Zheng explain the club’s purpose during the March 31 event showcasing the 21st Century Fund for HVRHS. Ruth Epstein
Students lined the room with their displays. Addie Diorio and Ivy Zheng of Canaan, members of the Robotics team, explained how they have to build a robot from scratch and program it to participate in two competitions a year. “You have to make a commitment,” said Diorio. “From January to March, we worked on it six days a week.” The 13 members are mentored by Devin Rout and Ben Lesch.
Both students said the experience has opened their eyes to the field of engineering, which they may pursue. They, like the others, expressed their deep gratitude for the assistance given by the fund. “It costs a lot of money for parts and competition fees,” Diorio said. “The 21st Century Fund has given us a lot of grants.”
Logan Padelli of Canaan and brothers Owen and Alastair Schnepf of Wassaic, NY, were at the Envirothon booth. That club’s members, which has teacher David Moran as its advisor, aim to improve the environment and ecosystem.
“We like to spend time in nature,” said Owen Schnepf.
This year, students will compete in New Haven on May 21, where they will be tested in five areas: wildlife, forestry, soils, aquatics and current issues, the latter of which changes every year. This year, the topic is non-point soil solutions.
From left, Logan Padelli, Alastair Schnepf and Owen Schnepf are members of the Envirothon team at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.Ruth Epstein
They are appreciative of the fund that, among other things, paid for soil kits and allows them to travel to competitions.
Chris Crane of Canaan and Michael Gawel of Sheffield, Mass., were at the vo-ag table, where they described the lab land, a two-acre parcel just down the road from HVRHS that the school is leasing from Eversource. Students are learning how to monitor irrigation practices at the nearby Housatonic River and will be installing gardens to provide fruits and vegetables for the school cafeteria.
“Everything is student-driven,” said Crane, “and we get industry leaders to guide us.” They both remarked how much help the project has received from the fund.
International Travel Club teachers Danielle Melino and Letitia Garcia-Tripp said they have sent 300 students around the world on service trips to places such as Japan, Thailand, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and the Galápagos Islands. Students visited schools and interacted with children, planted gardens and worked at an elephant sanctuary.
While the teens have to help fundraise for such trips, financial barriers were reduced given the help of the 21st Century Fund. One student showed a video of a trip she’d taken, using it as her capstone project.
Mollie Ford describes her week-long summer program on international relations and American politics at Georgetown University.Ruth Epstein
Among those who addressed the audience was state Rep. Maria Horn, D-64, of Salisbury, who said nonprofits are facing uncertainty because of federal funding cuts. She praised Mahoney and Hewat for their foresight in establishing the fund to “widen students’ horizons and let them pursue new ideas. There are so many in this community who support our kids.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who was in attendance, said he was so impressed by the projects he saw and, even though it sounds like a cliché, noted that education is the answer. He touched on some of the issues his office is working on and then mentioned the Birthright Clause now before the Supreme Court, something of which he, as the son of immigrants, has great interest.
Tong said he still marvels that someone who once worked in his parents’ Chinese restaurant could grow up to become Connecticut’s 25th attorney general. “My life was only possible here and no other place in the world,” he said.
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Dan Baker, left, and Daniel Latzman at Barrington Hall in Great Barrington.
Provided
The partnership behind Barrington Hall began long before the building itself. Both Baker and Latzman grew up on Long Island, spent more than a decade in New York City, and eventually found their way to the Berkshires, drawn by the desire for something different. What they didn’t realize at first was just how closely their lives had already mirrored one another.
They were born in the same hospital, a year apart. Their families had distant connections. They even played on the same soccer team — never meeting, but moving through the same spaces. It wasn’t until they became neighbors in Egremont about five years ago that those parallels came into focus.
“In hindsight, it feels inevitable,” Latzman said. “But it was actually extremely random that we ended up here.”
From the beginning, Barrington Hall was meant to be a place people return to, not for any one event, but for the experience of being there. On any given week, the space might host a jazz performance, a dance party, a songwriter circle or a children’s event. Some nights bring in touring acts. Others highlight local creatives. The variety is intentional and so is the atmosphere.
“It’s about people,” Baker said. “It’s about being present.”
Inside Barrington Hall.Provided
Baker and Latzman are keenly aware of the world outside with its constant barrage of information, political conflicts, a culture that pulls people deeper into their screens. Barrington Hall offers a way out of that noise.
“A little bit of a bubble,” Latzman said. “A place to step away from everything else.”
During a recent event, they noticed something telling: a full room of people dancing, talking, engaged — and almost no one on their phone.
“That’s when you know something is working,” Baker said.
Taking over a beloved local space comes with responsibility, one Baker and Latzman have met by honoring the building’s traditions while also expanding them.
“We didn’t feel obligated,” Latzman said. “We felt honored.”
Part of what makes the space distinct is its versatility. Large enough to host more than 250 people, yet intimate enough to feel personal, it fills a gap in the local landscape, serving a wide range of people and bringing different groups together in the same space.
“We want people to feel like, if something’s happening here, it’s worth checking out,” Latzman said.
They are carefully balancing community access with the realities of running a business, with an eye toward the long term.
“We want this to be here in 20 years,” Latzman said.
Inside Barrington Hall.Provided
That vision extends beyond the building itself — future collaborations, expanded programming, a growing role in shaping the cultural life of the Berkshires. But at its core, the mission remains simple: to create a place where people can gather, a place that feels alive.
And perhaps most importantly, to create a place where, if only for a few hours, people can step away from the noise of the world and enjoy being together.
When asked who they’re most excited to host next, their answer was immediate: The Mammals on April 10 and Lee Ross, a one-man party band from Massachusetts, scheduled to perform on May 1.
For more information and tickets, visit
barringtonhallgb.com
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