BCC Receives Funding for ESOL Classes

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC) announced that it has received funding from 1Berkshire for two cohorts of adult students enrolling in BCC's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program.

1Berkshire will provide $15,000 per cohort for the spring and fall 2025 semesters, allowing ESOL students to receive full tuition assistance.

BCC's ESOL classes are designed to assist non-native English speakers, primarily immigrants, in assimilating into the community and achieving their academic and career goals. Classes focus on English reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, while also integrating critical thinking, digital literacy, civics, and navigation of systems skills. Students learn not only the English language but also how to access the resources necessary to thrive in their community and workplace.

"This is outstanding news, because we currently have about 150 students on the ESOL waiting list. That means BCC can now offer more access to more students for ESOL language learning," said Executive Director of Workforce and Community Education Linda Clairmont. "I'm super excited about the partnership with 1Berkshire."

Clairmont explained that the program will include a bridge between workforce ESOL students and the for-credit Humanities 101 ESOL class. The Humanities 101 ESOL for-credit class will be offered to advanced ESOL language learners who are currently on BCC's waiting list or who have completed the ESOL program.

"We are eager to offer advanced language learning to people who may have earned a college degree from their home countries," Clairmont said.

The first cohort will begin at the end of January. Classes will be held on the BCC campus during the early evenings, one night a week, for three hours per class.


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Gender Diverse Community Members Talk Allyship at BCC Panel

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Maayan Nuri Héd, left, Luna Celestia Mornelithe, Jackson Rodriguez and Jay Santangelo talked about their experiences and where they had found allyship and community.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Ahead of Monday's International Transgender Day of Visibility, community members shared their experiences with gender diversity during a panel discussion at Berkshire Community College.

"Really my goal, I think, ultimately in life is to make being trans such a casual thing that it isn't even a question anymore," Jackson Rodriguez, a teaching assistant, told a packed lecture hall on Wednesday.

"It's just a way of being. I wouldn't say I've ever come out. I would always say that I'm just — I've always been me."

Hosted by the Queer Student Association, conversation topics ranged from gender and coming out to movies, drag, and safe spaces in the community. There are over 1.6 million trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people in the United States, "and they are going to continue to exist, whether you have a say in it or not," said QSA President Briana Booker.

"Trans people are not asking you to give them special treatment. They are not asking you to put away your beliefs and your ideas to fit a world for them," Booker said. "They are asking to be treated as they are: human beings, people."

Panelists included Rodriguez; artist and director of nonprofit Seeing Rainbows Maayan Nuri Héd;  Wander Berkshires founder Jay Santangelo, and artist Lunarya 'Luna' Celestia Mornelithe. When asked how they define gender, Héd said, "I don't," Mornelithe joked, "I lost mine," Santangelo explained it is fluid for them, and Rodriguez said gender is a performative thing that can be changed however a person sees fit.

Attendees had several questions about allyship, as President Donald Trump recently signed several executive orders targeting gender-diverse identities, including a declaration that the U.S. only recognizes "male" and "female" as sexes.

"Something I find myself repeating ad nauseum to people because it's really, really simple but so important and people resist doing it, is to have a conversation," Héd said. "Specifically have a conversation with a trans person."

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