AMHERST — Dr. Khama Ennis, an Amherst resident and board-certified emergency physician with more than 20 years of clinical experience, is receiving the 2025 Black Excellence Award for the 3rd Hampshire District.

State Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, nominated Ennis for the award at a ceremony at the State House on Feb. 28.

Ennis, who serves as the associate medical director of University Health Services at the University of Massachusetts, offered thanks to Domb for the nomination, as well as to legislators who took time to recognize Faces of Medicine, her project centered on the paths of Black female physicians in the United States.

“I am grateful for and humbled by this recognition of health equity and representation in improving health outcomes,” Ennis said.

“Dr. Ennis champions the role of physician diversity as we strive for health equity, reducing disparities and improving outcomes for all,” Domb said in nominating Ennis. “Her leadership, expertise and insight are needed more now than ever before as is the focus of her activism and her creative work.”

Previously, Ennis served as the chief and medical director of emergency medicine for Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton and president of the medical staff there. Black Excellence on the Hill is an annual event held by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Caucus to celebrate Black community leaders and trailblazers who make a difference in their communities.

Fire benefit

A Go Fund Me page is raising money to help the family of Sheetal Ghadse and Shivaji Kumar following the early morning Feb. 22 fire that destroyed their home on Pondview Drive.

The fundraiser is at https://gofund.me/211b36cf.

“In times like these, community is everything,” writes Jayshree Krishnan, who is organizing the fundraiser with Asha Kinney. “It’s what carries us through when the unimaginable happens. My heart aches for this family, and I pray for their strength and resilience in this difficult time.”

A Pondview Drive resident is also appealing to town officials to find a way to keep fire hydrants clear of snow and ice. When firefighters attacked the fire that morning, the first fire hydrant was covered in snow and ice and didn’t function.

Adrienne Terrizzi spoke to the Town Council about this problem and also wrote a letter to Town Hall. Terrizzi suggests the town investigate a fire alarm monitoring system that directly connects home smoke detectors to the Fire Department and to create a “Hydrant Brigade Corps” that could get school, college and university clubs, along with volunteer groups, to keep hydrants clear.

Tibetan NationalUprising Day

Starting at 9 a.m. Monday, local members of the Regional Tibetan Association of Massachusetts will gather with Amherst officials on the steps of Town Hall to recognize the 66th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day.

The event will include a reading of a Town Council proclamation and the the raising of the Tibetan national flag, which will remain up for a week.

A march will then head to Northampton and conclude in Easthampton. On Wednesday, local Tibetans will recognize Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day.

School choice

At a recent hearing on continuing school choice in the Amherst elementary schools, Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman told the Amherst School Committee that school choice generally provides financial benefits to the schools and that resident students remain the majority in most classrooms.

“My concern is us being able to programmatically fund everything that comes along with school choice,” Herman said.

Herman suggested that an analysis by the principals would determine the number of slots available. She noted that at Wildwood School there are challenges when families affiliated with UMass arrive mid-year.

School Committee member Deb Leonard said it makes sense for the school leaders to decide on how many slots are available, though she said it may be wise to look further out to ensure that school choice won’t affect the consolidation and redistricting of the elementary schools when the new 575-student K-5 school opens in the fall of 2026 next to Fort River School, and both Fort River and Wildwood close.

“I do believe choice enriches us — I just want to be thoughtful about the limitations to the funding that comes with those students,” Leonard said.

Author talk

Mickey Rathbun, author of “The Real Gatsby: George Gordon Moore,” speaks at the Amherst Woman’s Club, 35 Triangle St., on Monday at 1:30 p.m.

The free talk will be followed by tea and conversation.