■Anne J. Teal has been named assistant director of admissions at Smith College. A 1969 Smith graduate, Mrs. Teal was an English teacher for over a year with the Columbus, Ohio, public school system. She has also served as an assistant to the dean of students and academic counselor for arts and sciences at Ohio State University.
■The Brotherhood of the Spirit, a commune with branches in Northfield and Warwick, has been allowed to salvage the heating system from the old Hampshire County Hospital in Leeds. A group of 12 commune members dismantled the entire heating system, put it into a trailer truck that the commune uses to carry equipment for its rock band Spirit in the Flesh, and carried the heating system up to Warwick.
■Count Gov. William F. Weld among the people supporting a proposal to require high school seniors to pass the GED test next spring in order to graduate. Weld said the test would send a signal to students, teachers and administrators alike that it is time to get serious about the quality of education in Massachusetts.
■A new coalition is taking a different track to prevent the abuse of alcohol and other drugs by city teenagers. The group, Kids Involved, hopes to begin by advancing the idea that the problem cannot be solved by schools alone, but needs attention where it exists — in the community.
■Just days after state lawmakers passed a transgender rights bill, more than 100 people gathered downtown Sunday night to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance and mourn those who have died violently because of prejudice and hatred. The candlelight vigil was the 10th for the city and included the solemn reading of the names of some of the 221 transgender people killed worldwide in the past year.
■Molly Bialecki, a senior at Easthampton High School with a passion for the environment, was named the 2012 Distinguished Young Woman of Greater Easthampton on Sunday afternoon. Bialecki, who had never sung on her own before, performed a solo, “Dream a Little Dream of me,” while interpreting the song using American Sign Language.