The $8,500 Tom Giddings
Memorial Scholarship for all-around excellence and outstanding achievements in leadership and service has been awarded to
Taconic High School senior Michael Burton Jr., son of Michael and Teresa Burton of 85 Lucia Drive, Pittsfield. .
Mr. Burton will be presented
with the award June 26 at the annual award/reunion dinner, at the Crowne Plaza. The public is invited to attend:
call Jack O’Gara (499-2070) or email jackogara@aol.com to make reservations.
Mr. Burton was an outstanding
scholar/athlete. Secretary of the National Honor Society and Head of Community Service, he was an active Eagle Scout
and the 2008 Troop 8 Scout of the Year. He captained the baseball team and was the 2009 All-Berkshire North catcher.
Burton was number eight in his graduating class of 198 with a GPA of 95.2 and placed first in the state in the Business Professionals
of America 2010 Presentation Management competition. He plans to enroll in Bentley University this fall.
The award for all around
excellence, unselfish leadership and service was established to honor the late Tom Giddings, who made significant contributions
to the economic and agricultural development of Africa over three decades. A long-time Peace Corps agency representative
said that Tom Giddings' accomplishments in Africa were “the most significant that he was personally aware of.”
This is the 20th Tom Giddings Memorial Scholarship Award.
Giddings, a 1959 graduate
of Pittsfield High, where he co-captained the football team, was inducted into the Pittsfield City Football Hall of Fame in
2006. He first served in Africa in the 1960s as a Peace Corps volunteer and later joined that organization as a civilian
employee. Next, he became vice president of the TechnoServe Foundation and headed its development effort in Africa during
the 1970s and 1980s. During a visit home to Pittsfield in January 1990, he died at age 48 of malaria contracted in Africa.
Tom’s mother, Ann, recently had her 100th birthday.
Mr.
Burton was selected for this prestigious award from a group of nine nominees, three from each high school, presented by the
respective Guidance Departments for evaluation by the Giddings Scholarship Selection Committee. Taconic High School
has now provided eight winners; Pittsfield High, seven; and Saint Joseph's High School, five.
