When the dean of the Old Charlestown Schoolboys picks up the old bronze hand bell and gives it a good ring on Sunday, May 20, it will mark the 105th time the organization has gathered in Charlestown to celebrate the long-time charitable organization.
“In Charlestown, we are the oldest community in Boston, founded in 1614,” reminded Schoolboy Jim O’Brien at the scholarship banquet Monday. “We celebrate scholastic achievement, athletic prowess and community service. We are the oldest organization in the oldest neighborhood of Boston.”
The Schoolboys boast a legacy membership of more than 700 – and probably more – and go back many years. Previously, one had to have gone to a Charlestown school to be a member, but that has been relaxed in recent years. Members are located all over the country, but the organization is kept intact by many of the long-time resident of the Town.
Currently, Bob ‘Gugga’ Flynn is the president, having assumed that role from Moe Gillen this year.
On Monday, the Scholarship Committee gathered at the Knights of Columbus Father Mahoney Hall to honor the 21 scholars who were chosen to receive 23 memorial scholarships.
Longtime Committee member Jack Whelan said the scholarships are very important to the organization.
“I’ve been on the Committee for 35 years, and we have some great recipients this year and in the past that we’re real proud of,” he said. “We are close to having given out $500,000 in scholarship awards.”
The Scholarship Banquet is now held on a separate night during the same week as the annual gathering. In the past, at the old, larger Knights Hall, the Schoolboys would have the gathering and the awards all at once. Now they separate it to have a smaller gathering for scholars and a larger gathering for the Schoolboys.
This year, four new awards in honor of Revolutionary War hero Col. William Prescott were added to the scholarship rolls.
The Schoolboys will gather at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, in the Knights of Columbus Father Mahoney Hall.
The scholarship winners this year included:
Solomon Taieb (Jonathan Greatorex Award); Hugh O’Donnell (Palledos/William Powers); Gus Viveiros (Ralph Brown Award and Bertha Brown Award); Patrick Wrenn (Francis & John McGee Award); Zachary Taieb (Ralph James Smith Award); Ronan Carrier (Patrick Kelly Award); Sean Wrenn (Mark Bavis Award); Mark Mayo (John Boyle O’Reilly Award); Guan Xing Chen (Joseph & Mary Gill Award and Phil Carr Award); Lukar Huang (Mary Flanagan Award); Stephen San (Pat Doherty Award); Joseph Griffith (Majestic Knights Award); Nolan Doherty (James Cushman Award); Edward Evers (Father Robert Smith Award); Jonte Joseph (Robert Hardy Award); Brennan Carrier (Edward Mahan Award); Christian Labeck (Florian Association Award); Charles J. Page (Col. Prescott Award #1); Christopher Page (Col. Prescott Award #2); Shihua Wu (Col. Prescott Award #3); and Devin Gallagher (Col. Prescott Award #4).