Gabriel Abbott Memorial Student Recognized for Service Leadership

FLORIDA, Mass. — Lael Pavlak, an eighth grader from Gabriel Abbott Memorial School was recently selected as Florida's 2023 Project 351 Ambassador for her ethic of service and values of kindness, compassion, humility, and gratitude. 

According to a press release, Project 351 is a non-profit organization that empowers a youth-led movement for change powered by an eighth-grade student representing every city and town in Massachusetts.

"Lael is a student that is always concerned about how she can help others. She was just a natural choice to be Project 351 ambassador," said Tim Rougeau, Lael's English and Social Studies teacher.

On Jan. 14, Pavlak will unite with more than 425 Ambassadors and Alumni mentors for Project 351's 13th annual Launch and Service Day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Coretta Scott King. Launch Day kicks-off 12 months of leadership development through unifying service, Alumni mentorship, and enrichment through Project 351's Service Leadership Academy.

Over their year's term, ambassadors develop the skills and confidence to mobilize schools and communities in four statewide service campaigns: Spring Service, benefitting Cradles and Crayons, Hope & Gratitude Walk benefiting nonprofits selected by Ambassadors; 9.11 Tribute Service with the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund; and Fall Service, which seeks to eradicate hunger through support of hundreds of hometown Food Pantries.

At the close of their service year, Ambassadors are invited to continue to hone skills and lead communities as a member of the Alumni Organization.

Launch Day will celebrate the Class of 2023 and honor the legacy of the Kings, with a tribute of the "The Embrace," the Commonwealth's first memorial to Dr. and Mrs. King. Highlights include a kick-off program at Faneuil Hall and an end-of-day celebration.

Ambassadors will dedicate the afternoon to high-impact service with 10 nonprofit organizations including La Colaborativa, Cradles to Crayons, Hope & Comfort, and the Wonderfund. United across 351 cities and towns, Ambassadors will address 

issues including hunger, educational opportunity, childhood poverty, mental health and wellness, and care for military and veterans – impacting thousands of neighbors across Boston and the Commonwealth.

"The 35ONE generation is compassion-in-action. We're honored to welcome our 13th Class of leaders, dreamers, and doers," said Carolyn Casey, Project 351's Founder and Executive Director. "We are proud of their commitment to unite as the Class of 2023 to

build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead the change they wish to see in the world."

Since 2011, 4,492 Ambassadors have impacted more than 1.2 million neighbors through unifying statewide service.

Healey, Driscoll Talk Transportation Funding, Municipal Empowerment

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:56PM / Friday, January 24, 2025

The governor talks about a transportation bond bill filed Friday and its benefits for cities and towns.

BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll were greeted with applause by municipal leaders on Friday as they touted $8 billion in transportation funding over the next decade and an additional $100 million in Chapter 90 road funds. 

 

Those were just a few of the initiatives to aid cities and towns, they said, and were based what they were hearing from local government

 

"We also proposed what, $2 1/2 billion the other day in higher education through investment in campuses across 29 communities statewide," the governor said. 

 

"Really excited about that and with those projects, by the way, as you're talking to people, you can remind them that that's 140,000 construction jobs in your communities."

 

The governor and Driscoll were speaking to the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association's conference. Branded as Connect 351, the gathering of appointed and elected municipal leaders heard from speakers, spoke with vendors in the trade show, attended workshops and held their annual business meeting this year at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

 

Healey and Driscoll followed a keynote address by Suneel Gupta, author, entrepreneur and host of television series "Business Class," on reducing stress and boosting energy, and welcomes from MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine, outgoing MMA President and Waltham councilor John McLaughlin, and from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu via her chief of staff Tiffany Chu.

 

"We know that local communities are really the foundation of civic life, of democracy. We invented that here in Massachusetts, many, many years ago, and that continues to this day," said Healey. "It's something that we're proud of. We respect, and as state leaders, we respect the prerogative, the leadership, the economy, the responsibility of our local governments and those who lead them, so you'll always have champions in us."