About 30 neighbors, friends and relatives of the young scholars gathered at Las Ventas at 700 Harrison Avenue on Tuesday, June 17 to meet and congratulate the recipients of the 2014 Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association's (B/FSNA) 2014 college scholarships. Led by Art Block resident and schoolteacher Christopher McBride, the scholarship committee bestowed six $1,000 scholarships and one $2,000 scholarship, the Andrew Parthum Service Award. The group had planned to award six scholarships, but when an outstanding application arrived just on deadline, they wanted to offer the student, Cathedral High School graduate Cristian Pereira, a seventh award, and a donor offered the additional funds. The scholarship program was founded eight years ago by former B/FSNA president Parthum.

Scholarship winner and East Boston High School valedictorian Anna Rodriguez was a founding member of her school's NAACP chapter, the group's first high school chapter in Massachusetts. Anna, who was accompanied to the reception by her mother, Angela, is a devoted member of St. Stephen's Episcopal parish on Shawmut Avenue, calling the parish her "home away from home. They helped make me who I am today." Vicar Timothy Crellin of St. Stephen's recommended Rodriguez for the B/FSNA scholarship. Rodriguez, whose mother owned the Miami Café, is very proud of her South End roots, writing in her application essay, "Telling people that you are from the South End can be a bittersweet experience. You wonder if the first thing that comes to their mind is how wonderful the place is, or how dangerous it can be sometimes. Because of this, I have devoted my teenage years to prove how even though the South End has its downfalls, it also has people like me, who work hard in order to beautify my community as much as possible." Rodriguez is headed to Tufts University this fall.

Abel Marcial, a 2013 graduate of Fenway High School and a current student at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology at Tremont and Berkeley Streets, received the Andrew Parthum Scholarship. Marcial, who has worked as an intern and volunteer at the Castle Square Computer Repair Center, received a glowing recommendation from his supervisor, Emilio Flores, who wrote, "Abel is a remarkable young man. He has overcome significant physical and emotional hardships to get to where he is now, and I have always been extremely impressed with his perseverance and maturity." Marcial is an aspiring computer engineer.

Frankie Correa, a recent graduate of the Snowden International School and a participant in IBA-Cacique Youth Learning Center's (YLC) after-school program, reflects both the remarkable history and the future of Villa Victoria. His great-grandfather was one of Villa Victoria's founding activists, and the young Correa volunteers at Festival Betances, Villa Victoria's annual music and cultural festival, as well as with IBA-Cacique YLC's Tobacco Awareness program, which was part of a successful effort to pass tighter restrictions on the sale of tobacco products to minors in 2012. Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, IBA's CEO, made the scholarship committee aware of Correa. Correa will attend Newbury College in Brookline this fall. (Disclosure: As an adult volunteer in IBA-Cacique YLC's after-school program, this writer has worked with Correa.)

Connie Truong, who plans to attend College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, graduated from the Josiah Quincy Upper School with a 4.0 grade point average, a strong aptitude for math and science, and a desire to do medical research and develop medical devices inspired by her own father's heart problems.

Abram Ortiz, also a 2014 graduate of the Quincy Upper School, was recommended to the scholarship committee by a staff member at South End Community Health Center. Ortiz, who was escorted to the reception by his mother, Eva, and his sister Josie, will intern this summer at Tufts University before starting school at U. Mass. Boston in the fall.

Shawmut Avenue resident Cristian Pereira, who has already started summer classes at U. Mass. Boston, was highly recommended by Danielle Antonelli, general manager of Kitchen at 560 Tremont Street. Antonelli wrote, "Due to the fact that he not only lives in the neighborhood but also works in our neighborhood, I see him as a contributing member and vital part of the South End community. To me, this student represents pride on one's own community and he is a positive factor in the future of the South End." Pereira is interested in nursing and pediatrics.

Sara Ann La Valle Dartley, who was underweight and severely vision-impaired by a lazy eye when she was adopted at age four, struggled with both her health and with prejudice because of her disability. She wrote in her application essay, "It seemed that no matter where I was, people would always look at me funny or say mean things to me. Yet that never happened in the South End. I was home in the South End. Everyone respected me for me. It was the greatest feeling. I cherish it to this day." Dartley persevered and eventually became a high achiever, graduating from Boston Latin Academy with a 3.66 grade point average. Dartley attended the reception with her mother and her sister, Anna Nicole Dartley, a past B/FSNA scholarship recipient who recently graduated from Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley with a bachelor's degree in psychology.