Schools
Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association Honors Scholarship Winners
Several of the recipients were acknowledges at Tuesday night's monthly meeting.
Tuesday night's monthly meeting of the Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association concluded with a reception honoring the winners of the Association's Book Scholarship, a thousand-dollar award given to graduating high school seniors living in the South End.
Winners Dennis Tan, Lily Wu, Jocelyn Zayas, Courtney Stewart, Jamie Ye, Mariama Sano, Taiomi Cruz, and Zamira Jamal were deemed worthy of the gift based on their answers to several short essay questions, their performance in an interview, and letters of recommendation written on their behalf.
All of the recipients present expressed gratitude towards the Neighborhood Association, and several spoke about the experience of growing up in the South End.
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“I kind of feel like all the residents are older, or have toddlers,” said Lily Wu. “Or dogs,” Courtney Stewart added.
Jocelyn Zayas mentioned that the neighborhood can be isolating, and all eight youths confirmed they had never met one another prior to becoming involved with the scholarship program, despite living in close proximity and being the same age.
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The group also addressed preconceptions about the South End.
“When people hear you're from the South End, they automatically assume you're rich,” said Dennis Tan, “but when you tell them where you're from, they're like 'oh, yeah, that's the ghetto part, alright'."
Courtney Stewart said, “People are always surprised to hear that I'm from the South End. They say, 'there aren't any black people in the South End! What are you doing there?' I say, I don't know, I'm just living my life.”
All of the recipients have big plans for 'living their lives'; Stewart plans to attend Bunker Hill Community College and then Salem State with the goal of becoming a juvenile probation officer, Zayas intends to take a similar path from Bunker Hill and eventually become a physical therapist, while Wu is off to Tufts and Tan to Denison University in Ohio.
Congratulations and good luck to all of the winners!