Scholarship Given to PROVE Grad for First Time

For the first time ever, a Project PROVE graduate was awarded a scholarship at the Braintree High School awards night. William Mei was the recipient of the award. 

Below are the remarks given by Dianne Glennon, loan officer, MassHousing, at the ceremony on May 28. 

This scholarship is in memory of my mother, Anna Glennon, one of the founding parents of the Project PROVE program that began in 1972 and was the first program that  allowed students with special challenges to be included in high school.  She felt that everyone deserves the right to an education, and every opportunity that any other student had here at Braintree High.  That belief is still the driving force behind Project PROVE which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012.  But life goes on after high school and it is appropriate that the inclusion barrier is being broken through yet again by Anna Glennon here tonight as I’m here to tell you that  for the first time ever we are awarding the Anna Glennon Memorial Schoalrship to a  Project PROVE graduate.   

This year’s recipient  has already proven himself in the community by being active in Special Olympics, the Challenger baseball league and working at such places as the Town Hall and Alliance Health care. He will be going on to participate in a program that will strengthen his employment skills and will work with a job coach in the community – he is known for his incredible work ethic, and his sense of logistics.  Last but not least he is well known and well liked at the State House through his internship and time at Senator Keenan’s office where I understand he made his mark by presenting the women there  with his own hand-crafted necklaces. 

It is with the utmost of excitement, and honor that I present to William Mei, this year’s Anna Glennon Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship will help to offset William’s transportation costs which, unfortunately, due to budget cuts are no longer part of the type of program he will be entering. This scholarship emphasizes the fact that Subsidizing transportation costs has  always been and will continue to be an important requirement for success in the community for grads like William. 

And, I have a special message of congratulations and acknowledgement from Senator Keenan himself, a special citation from the Massachusetts State Senate  on the occasion of being the first Project PROVE student to receive a scholarship.  

We’d like to thank everyone for letting us take up a little extra time tonight and we hope that perhaps other presenters will consider selecting a Project PROVE student to receive the scholarship you are awarding in years to come.