Patricia LeBoeuf | Berkshire Eagle

PITTSFIELD — Two daylong conferences 5 miles apart Thursday helped Berkshire County students to navigate common challenges.

And to speak up, be heard and make change.

In Pittsfield, the Berkshire District Attorney's Office's Youth Advisory Board hosted the STRIVE Youth Leadership Conference for middle school students. The name stands for Students Teaching Respect Integrity Values and Equality.

And at Hancock Shaker Village, about 115 high school students chose among 20 workshops focused on the arts, compassion in action, wellness or "adulting" as part of the 411 in the 413 Youth Conference.

In one workshop there, Lucy Doren, a junior at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington, joined with co-facilitator JV Hampton-VanSant, special programs coordinator for Multicultural BRIDGE.

GREAT BARRINGTON — The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires, in partnership with The Berkshire Eagle, has named 21 finalists for the Berkshire Nonprofit Awards.

The winners in each of seven categories will be announced at the first Berkshire Nonprofit Awards Breakfast on Tuesday, May 22, from 8 to 10 a.m., at the Country Club of Pittsfield.

Sixty-two people were nominated, according to Liana Toscanini, founder of the Nonprofit Center, including Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant, Founder and CEO of Multicultural BRIDGE, for the category of "Executive leadership."