Reid Middle School Students Learning at Berkshire Humane SocietyBy Breanna Steele, iBerkshires Staff
12:07PM / Sunday, October 26, 2025 | |
 The students will learn how the shelter operates and about the pets it helps. |
Eleven Reid students will attend six classes at the shelter through a grant obtained by the Humane Society.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students at Reid Middle School are attending classes at the Berkshire Humane Society for alternative learning sessions to help accommodate their needs.
"This is the first of a series of classes that our alternative education program for middle school students, the [Berkshire] Innovation Center participates in. The Berkshire Humane Society, had won a wonderful grant and awarded it to our students to come to do some social, emotional learning based in working with animals," said Meghan Gagnon, dropout prevention liaison for the Pittsfield Public Schools.
The Berkshire Humane Society applied for a $5,000 grant from the Charles H. Caldwell Foundation that will pay for a bus for the students, supplies, and lunch.
Eleven Reid students will be attending six classes lasting two hours at the animal shelter through May.
"Having our students be able to do service-learning projects and get out of the classroom and away from computers and experience things that you don't normally experience in their houses, is a fantastic way for our students to kind of go above and beyond what they're learning in the classroom," said Gagnon.
Berkshire Humane used to have a camp education program until the pandemic stopped it, and is hoping to bring students back in to learn more about animal welfare and to be an alternative learning environment.
"We used to do our Camp Humane education program, and then COVID really squashed any of the educational outreach. So this is our way of getting back out into the community and being able to bring students in and younger generations to help educate them further. So I'm hopeful that if this goes well, that maybe when applying for the grant again, we can actually ask for even more funds and extend it out to other groups of students besides Reid," said Director of Development and Marketing Nicole McKeen, who applied for the grant.
McKeen said she wants the students to realize there is a world of opportunity for them in the animal welfare field than just being a veterinarian. She also said it's great to teach kids when they are young to help develop and cultivate compassionate care for animals.
"I hope for these students that they get a good internal view of what happens behind the doors of animal welfare in the shelter world, and also opens up their minds to thinking of different opportunities for them in the future," she said.
In the classroom on Thursday, students learned what it means to be a hero and talked about some of the organizations they believe are heroic. They were also able to paint pumpkins as a fun activity. Reid teacher Kristen Leonard and Tricia Phillips, the community outreach coordinator with the shelter, both spoke to the class about what they are learning.
Some of the group took a field trip to the Humane Society last year and that was when the idea of the alternative learning was brought up again. Leonard said it's great to be partnering with people in the community to help her students.
"I'm grateful that we had the field trip last year, that we were able to communicate afterwards and to develop this into a year long school program. So that's fantastic, but it's nice just to be working with people and partners in the community, and it gives these kids other adults and role models to look up to and to know that they could go to if they had to," Leonard said.
Students Sami and Vee were able to attend the field trip last year and helped excite the students who were nervous, according to Leonard. They both say this has been a better learning environment for them because it has been hands-on and more inclusive.
"I feel like it's better to learn from being hands on than just hearing because you'll be able to better once you handle the situations better, if you have had past hands on experiences with it," Sami said.
"I would say it's a lot that it's more hands on and inclusive, so it's easier to take in information," Vee said.
Sami said her grandfather helped build the shelter and it is great to see how it is doing. She and Vee love to see the animals want to be able to help them like the Humane Society does.
"I am excited for the next few visits that we're gonna have, definitely because looking forward to volunteering here once I reach the age requirement, because I love helping animals. I always have since I was younger," Sami said.
Gagnon said the school wants to reach every student and help accommodate their needs.
"We really try to make sure that we're shaping and reaching every student. If they are not succeeding anywhere else, then we want to make sure that we create a space for them. So the Innovation Center is one of the many different alternative education programs Pittsfield Public Schools has so that we can reach every student in our community," Gagnon said.
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