Club Scholarships Place College and Great Futures Within Reach

For many hopeful first-generation college students, gaining college admission is a tall task in and of itself. Add to that soaring tuition and on-campus living expenses, and the act of enrolling in college becomes an almost herculean feat for low-income students looking to access higher education. 

November is #NationalScholarshipMonth and at our Clubs, it’s a month devoted to raising our members’ awareness about the many scholarship opportunities available to them through Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South’s many corporate and community partners who share our commitment to their future success. 

At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South (BGCMS), we believe that #greatfutures start with a great education. We also believe in doing all that we can to address as many of the socioeconomic barriers to college access and college graduation as possible. 

College access is more than just ensuring that our members have the support they need to get good grades, score competitively on college entrance exams, and tour colleges to find their best match - it also means working to help them identify opportunities and resources to get the financial assistance they need to realize their dreams of attaining a college education.

At our Clubs, promoting #AcademicSuccess is more than a priority - it’s the foundation upon which all of our programs are built, and the results speak for themselves.

According to our Clubs’ April 2019 NYOI (National Youth Outcomes Initiative) data compiled by Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 95% of BGCMS members are on track to graduate high school in four years.

Further, 88% of our members expect to complete a 2 or 4-year post-secondary degree, and 48% of our members expect to achieve an advanced degree at some point in their lives. 

Clearly, our kids have big dreams and we’re committed to helping those dreams become a reality by connecting them with ten of thousands of dollars in available merit-based academic and leadership-focused college scholarships -- like Sullivan Tire & Auto Service Scholarships which are awarded annually to Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South members, staff, and alumni. Over the past 5 years, more than $50,000 in scholarship funds have been awarded through the Sullivan Tire & Auto Service Scholarship to help send dozens of well-deserving Club members on to college and to help many of our Club staff members continue their educations. 

“I don’t think teens and kids fully realize how much our Boys & Girls Clubs can inspire and support them,” said Mario Centeio, who graduated from Brockton High School and from our Brockton Clubhouse, and who received a Sullivan Scholarship this spring. 

“The scholarship I received made me so happy and hopeful! $5,000 is a lot of money for me and I just feel so thankful to the Club for every staff member that believed in and inspired me - they’re the reason that I’m standing here today,” said Mario.

The Phia Group’s $10,000 Great Futures Scholarship is awarded annually to one college-bound Club member to assist them in their pursuits of building a strong work ethic, developing self-appreciation, and pursuing their educational dreams.

In May of 2019, Adam and Kelly Russo awarded the first-ever $10,000 Great Futures Scholarship to graduating Club senior Anthony Ellcock, who also worked part-time at the Brockton Clubhouse. Adam Russo (founder and CEO of The Phia Group) and Anthony's family visited our Brockton Clubhouse to surprise him with the news during one of his shifts and present him with the scholarship. Anthony is now a freshman at UMass Boston studying Electrical Engineering.

Another scholarship opportunity at our Clubs is the annual Youth of the Year competition. Each year, Boys & Girls Clubs of America holds a Movement-wide competition to award the most prestigious honor a teen can receive as a member of their local Boys & Girls Club. The Youth of the Year is BGCA’s signature effort to foster a new generation of leaders, fully prepared to live and lead in a diverse, global, and integrated world economy. With this title at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South comes a $4,000 scholarship and a laptop (courtesy of The Phia Group), and the chance to compete on a regional and national level to become Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Youth of the Year. 

Many of our other corporate partners offer scholarship opportunities as well which our members are encouraged to apply to. These partners include Bridgewater Savings Bank, Crescent Credit Union, HarborOne Bank, Mechanics Cooperative Bank, Metro South Chamber of Commerce, Planet Fitness, Taunton Federal Credit Union, the Rotary Clubs of Brockton and Taunton, and Wells Fargo. 

As part of this #NationalScholarshipMonth, we are building a scholarship database for our teen members to utilize during our Diplomas 2 Degrees program with the support of our #MassachusettsPromiseFellowship College Access & Career Exploration Coordinator. This database provides our members with easy access to scholarships offered by our generous core partners, scholarships that they may qualify for as Club kids, and additional regional scholarships they may not know are available. To date, we have identified over one million dollars in scholarships that our members and youth in the Metro South region may qualify for. 

At our Clubs, supporting education doesn’t stop when our members graduate from high school and Club membership -- supporting their continued success with college scholarships is a critical component of our commitment to creating pathways to college and #greatfutures!