Editor’s note: Newsmakers is a regular feature spotlighting accomplishments of Newton community members, businesses and organizations.

Boston University Academy 11th grader and Newton resident wins in Holocaust essay contest

Daniel Shaer, an 11th grade student at Boston University Academy, was one of six winners of the 19th Annual Israel Arbeiter Holocaust Essay Contest.

The students will also go to Washington, D.C., this spring to visit the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

Shaer’s essay begins on a 2023 trip to Erfurt, Germany, where he is holding his great-grandmother’s diary, recounting her life during and after her time in a concentration camp.

You can read his essay here.

Left to right: Emily Oken, president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Mukund Desibhatla and Stacey Mann, director of corporate citizenship, Point32Health. Courtesy photo

Newton resident receives Community Spirit Award

The recent Point32Health Community Spirit Awards honored Newton resident Mukund Desibhatla as Volunteer of the Year for his outstanding commitment to community, contributing more than 70 hours to the Centre Street Food Pantry in Newton.

The annual Community Spirit Awards recognize and celebrate colleagues from Point32Health, the parent organization of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, who are giving back to community through volunteerism. More than 2,300 colleagues volunteered 13,215 hours with community organizations in 2024.

William James College. Courtesy Photo

William James College awarded $600k grant for child and adolescent mental health

William James College has been selected to partner with the Franciscan Children’s Community Health Initiative, part of Boston Children’s Collaboration for Community Health.

The partnership comes with a $600,000 grant for William James College, spread out over three years, to expand its Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative.

This initiative offers field training to 20 graduate students a year to deliver care in the state’s most underserved communities.