Boston University Welcomes Newest Class of Menino Scholars and Community Service Award Winners | BU Today – Boston University
On August 28, Boston University President Melissa Gilliam (front row, far right) helped welcome 23 new Thomas M. Menino Scholars and 52 Community Service Award recipients. “Know that Boston University is a special place,” she told the students.
This year, Boston University welcomes 23 new Thomas M. Menino Scholars and 52 Community Service Award recipients to its campuses. Among them will be Menino Scholar Julio Perez (CAS’29), an East Boston High School graduate and incoming biology major, whose parents landed in nearby Allston when they first immigrated from Guatemala.
“One funny story my mom likes to tell me is that she would always walk around BU’s campus, and specifically the BU Beach, when she was pregnant with me,” says Perez, a longtime peer science mentor at East Boston High and a first-generation college student. “Looking back, she says she never would have imagined her immigrant son being a part of that campus [one day].”
The prestigious scholarships are awarded to eligible Boston Public Schools (BPS) graduates entering BU (transfer students can also apply for a Community Service Award). For the 2025 recipients, their awards represent a combined commitment of approximately $18.4 million from Boston University over the next four years.
“I am so excited for the next chapter of your lives to begin,” BU President Melissa Gilliam told the student scholars at an August 28 reception held in their honor at the Questrom School of Business, also attended by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. “Know that [BU] is a special place, and that our people are our greatest asset. BU will offer you an extraordinary range of academic and extracurricular opportunities…. I hope that you will study broadly, expand your minds, and pursue coursework in the humanities, arts, and the sciences. I hope that you will challenge yourselves and your own preconceived ideas about the world.”
Recipients of the merit-based Menino Scholarship—named for Boston’s longtime mayor, the late Thomas M. Menino (Hon.’01), a College of Arts & Sciences political science professor of the practice and founding codirector of BU’s Initiative on Cities—have their full four-year tuition covered by the award. Since its inception in 1973, the scholarship program—the oldest and largest one for BPS graduates—has awarded almost $220 million to just over 2,000 students.
“As a BPS alumnus who came to BU through the Menino Scholarship, I can personally attest to the impact of the scholarship across decades,” says Michael Dennehy (CAS’92, Wheelock’01), executive director of the College Access & Student Success program for Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. “These scholarship programs speak directly to Boston University’s commitment to the Boston Public Schools. I’m grateful to now serve as the current advisor to these incredibly talented students.”
That includes students like Perez, who was born and raised in East Boston. He found out he got into BU while checking emails and waiting for a Blue Line T at Maverick station. “I was basically jumping on the platform, and I called all my family on the train,” he says. That’s also when he found out he won a Menino Scholarship—the latest in a coincidental series of connections to the late Boston mayor.
Perez says he met and took a photograph with Menino during a visit to the Boston Children’s Museum as an almost-kindergartener. Years later, he worked in the Thomas M. Menino Learning Lab during one of three summer research internships at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. “I just feel like I’ve been really connected to the Menino name, and that feels like something that’s brought me to BU,” Perez says.
The BU Community Service Award is a need-based scholarship. Awardees receive their full calculated financial need, without loans. Each winner is paired with a staff or faculty mentor to help them transition to BU, and must complete 25 hours of volunteer work each semester.
“BPS Community [Service Award recipients] and Menino Scholars add a vibrancy to the fabric of Boston University,” says Clare Fitzgerald, associate director of BU Undergraduate Pathways Programs in the Office of the Provost. “They do research with faculty, intern at City Hall, tutor Boston school-aged students, and give back to the city of Boston through volunteering. They show their peers the richness that Boston has to offer, beyond BU’s campus.”
For Sarah-Simone Dyer (Wheelock’29), a Community Service Award is a natural continuation of her dedication to helping others. Dyer, an incoming child development major, is a graduate of John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury. Her résumé is a list of community-based work, including volunteering for the Special Olympics Massachusetts and traveling to the Dominican Republic to help build houses and mentor children in migrant worker communities.
She credits O’Bryant with introducing her to community service. The school emphasizes community-building in addition to its rigorous academics. But the importance of the work really hit home during her volunteer trip to the DR. She met and mentored a six-year-old girl named Claudie. On Dyer’s last day, she says, Claudie gave her a huge hug and handed her a notebook full of drawings and writings, including numbers the two had practiced together.
“That moment reminded me why building and being part of a community matters—because it’s in a community that we can help make access possible for others,” says Dyer, who says she’s the first of her cousins to go to college. Entering BU, she’s been thinking a lot about her duty to use her education for higher purposes. “Education is not just about personal achievement, but also about empowering [the people around you],” she says. “At BU, my passion for education and social justice will continue to find its home.”
Community Service Award recipient Quang Vu (CAS’28) comes to BU from Boston Latin School, by way of one year at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As a high schooler, Vu participated in TRIO Upward Bound, a federal program held at BU that’s designed to help first-generation and low-income high school students access higher education. He took classes at the University throughout the school year and spent a summer living and studying on campus.
“During my time at BU, I was immersed in the community as well as the academics,” Vu says. “Over that summer, I felt as if I was part of BU itself—and that’s why I was determined to come to BU no matter what.”
Vu’s major is computer science, and he’s interested in how artificial intelligence can help students like him: Vu moved to the US from Vietnam at four years old. Once here, he struggled to adjust to the school system. “I experienced how often students were left behind, either because teachers were moving too quickly or because the students weren’t able to adapt to a new language and environment fast enough,” he says.
He thinks AI could be utilized to offer personalized learning support for students who struggle. “I find AI has the potential to change our everyday lives for the better, which is why I decided to major in computer science,” Vu says. “I’m excited to have the chance to dive deep into AI through the CS program, as well as the research opportunities here.”
Like many incoming students, Vu says he looks forward to meeting new people, signing up for clubs, and learning. And, of course, the biggest perk of being a Terrier: “As a seafood lover, I especially am looking forward to Lobster Night.”
Boston University Welcomes Newest Class of Menino Scholars and Community Service Award Winners
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