Three South End Students Win Scholarships

Three South End students entering college this fall received a scholarship through the Blackstone-Franklin Neighborhood Association, the association announced on Thursday night. 

South End resident Aaron Young won the $2,500  Andrew Parthum Award for Service, and David Castillo and Jeffrey Liang both won $1,000 scholarships. 

Graduating from the Josiah Quincy Upper School with a 4.3 GPA, Young is the inaugural winner of the Andrew Parthum Award for Service. In the fall he will attend the University of New Hampshire, where he hopes to study computer science. 

“At a very young age I knew what I wanted to do,” Young wrote in his application. “I have always had a strong interest in technology and how everything worked. As a high school student I took advantage of all that I could to broaden my knowledge in computers, but I feel that it was not enough; I feel like I barely grazed the surface of it all. This is why I’m hoping to get the skills and experience I need and want in a 
college education.”

Young has also spent several years volunteering with a program called Operation Snowsports that is run through Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a South End non-profit organization. The program helps low-income families gain access to snowsports by providing children with equipment, lift tickets, transportation and lessons. 

“I was opening doors for people that didn’t have anything to do or limiting the need to join gangs or doing something bad,” Young wrote in his application essay. “I was  giving more hands to the program that helps the community in so many different  ways. Also, the best part of it all, I was showing families the great opportunity that  YES offered to low-income families, an opportunity I didn’t have as a child.”

David Castillo recently graduated from Boston Arts Academy and will attend Boston University’s B.F.A. Acting program in the fall. Since 2011 he has also worked as a teen assistant a City Stage Company’s afterschool program at the Blackstone Elementary School, where he attended school himself. 

He said he decided to work at the after-school program because of "passion for musical theatre, my desire to understand how others learn, and most significantly, my longing to help young artists feel that they were being taken seriously, through encouragement and constructive criticism.” 

Graduating from Boston Latin School with a 3.55 GPA, Jeffrey Liang plans to attend Holy Cross in the fall. Growing up in Guangzhou, China, both of Jeffrey’s parents began working before the age of 10 to help support their families. His parents immigrated to the United States  in 1989, five years before Jeffery was born. 

“I am so fortunate to have been brought up in the South End because the diverse  community allowed for an easier transition from a purely Asian culture to an Asian-America culture,” Jeffrey wrote in his scholarship application. “Coming from humble beginnings, I am able to appreciate all the little things in life and truly understand the value of every privilege.”

The Blackstone-Franklin Neighborhood Association, a non-profit organization, administers the scholarships every year to support youths from the neighborhood.