Williams Economics Major Named Global Citizen Finalist

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Will Turett, an economics major of Williams College and native resident of Irvington, N.Y., has been honored as a finalist for the IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award. 

The IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award is the first student-focused study abroad award of its kind, recognizing six U.S college students who studied with IES Abroad in 2017, positively impacted their communities through academic, philanthropic, or personal efforts while abroad, learned from their cross-cultural experience, and continued to better their communities, at home and abroad.

Through internships abroad with the European Environmental Bureau and European Forum Alpbach, Turett invested his translation and research skills and was able to partake in once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to share knowledge globally. 

One winner from Grinnell College, Yesenia Ayala, and four other finalists - from Loyola University of Chicago, University of California-Berkeley, Villanova University and Yale University - join Turell as the next generation of global leaders as part of the 2017 Global Citizen of the Year Award. 

IES Abroad is a not-for-profit organization providing access to 140 study abroad and internship programs in 34 cities around the world. IES Abroad received inspiring submissions from its students across more than 30 different U.S. colleges, such as Williams College, University of California- Berkeley, and Yale University, to name a few.

As part of their applications, student winners shared a range of meaningful contributions and anecdotes, such as working with students from low-income communities in Santiago, translating documents to support the work of an environmental bureau in Vienna, volunteering with a nutritional health organization in Buenos Aires, and bringing attention to the individual stories of women in Spain and Morocco.

As the winner of the Global Citizen of the Year Award, Ayala will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and the five finalists will each receive a $200 cash prize.


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Williamstown Planners Advance Bylaw Proposals, Discuss Sweet Farm Road

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week advanced two of its zoning bylaw proposals to keep them on track for inclusion on the annual town meeting warrant and discussed what issues it should consider when considering a proposal it is tasked with considering.
 
One of the board-generated articles has been on the table for years: limiting the number of days a "primary dwelling unit" can be used as short-term rental to 90 cumulative days in a calendar year. The other is a more recent project of the planners: requiring installers of geothermal wells in the two Water Resource Districts to either use only potable water or prove their systems pose no threat to the town's public water supply.
 
Both proposals last Tuesday were sent to the Select Board, which will take a ceremonial vote to refer them back to the Planning Board for public hearings in March.
 
But those are not the only town meeting articles that the Planning Board will need to discuss in the weeks ahead.
 
The owner of the Sweetwood assisted living facility on Cold Spring Road has submitted a landowners petition to create an overlay district for the South Williamstown property that would allow conversion to multi-family housing. While the planners have no say over the content of the proposal, the board will need to host a public hearing on the article and likely will make an advisory vote to the May meeting.
 
And the Sweet Farm Road Homeowners Association plans to ask the annual meeting to accept Sweet Farm Road as a public way. By law, that request requires input from the Planning Board to determine whether the road design conforms with the town's bylaw and decide whether to grant waivers before passing the article to the Select Board for a public hearing.
 
At the outset of the Planning Board's Feb 11 meeting, Chair Peter Beck informed the group that the HOA asked to reschedule a planned discussion of the road acceptance request.
 
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