Spotlights

A couple years ago, Crystal Chapman started noticing something on her way to work: BCC's "free college" billboard. Crystal had graduated from high school and entered the workforce, and soon found herself a busy mother of two with little time to think about herself. An idea started to form, but it didn't take hold just yet.

A Pittsfield native, Randy McLeod '03 was attending Pittsfield High where he started taking computer programming classes. It took off from there, eventually leading him down a path that brought him to where he is now: Director of Technology at Lenox Public Schools. "BCC was truly the foundation of bringing me to where I am today."

"Our students are filling a need. If you look within a 50-mile radius, there are probably at least 25 or 30 open positions," says Maggie Goss, Assistant Professor of Respiratory Care. "There aren't many jobs out there where you can come out of school with a two-year associate degree and your starting salary is $65,000 to $70,000+ a year."

"When I see a single mother of three children receiving her scholarship, just trying to improve her life by taking classes... Those children are in the audience, clapping for her, and she's showing them what she can accomplish with hard work. BCC's commitment to students of all walks of life is truly inspiring."

Sometimes it takes being in the right place at the right time. When Geoffrey Tabor, Coordinator of Transfer Affairs/Articulation, first visited BCC in 1995, it wasn't by invitation.