The meeting was a dedication ceremony to name a tutoring lab in honor of the late Manuel "Manny" Papoula. The speaker recounted Manny's life and extensive contributions, noting he had volunteered with the organization for over 25 years, providing thousands of hours of tutoring services to high school equivalency students. Manny, a dedicated teacher for 30 years, was a graduate of BC with a master's degree in education and received numerous accolades, including being named Teacher of the Year in New Jersey and being inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, the Fall River men's softball hall of fame, and the Dury Athletics Hall of Fame. The speaker detailed Manny's profound generosity and commitment to the Fall River community. He provided scholarships to Dery basketball players and Columbus Park little league participants, replaced broken basketball nets on public courts every spring, and paid for repairs when courts at Lafayette Park were vandalized. For the first 20 years of his involvement with the speaker's organization, he anonymously provided scholarships to the top three graduates, only accepting public recognition in his final few years. The naming of the tutoring room was presented as a fitting tribute to a man who gave so much to the community and its students.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Public / Other
The plaque's been sitting in my office for a while and it's just been such a hectic um time that we've never quite could carve out the time to do it, but I'm really happy that we were able to do it um finally. Um so um I know many of you know Manny have known Manny for many many years. Um some of my colleagues who are here with me today, we've also feel
0:21like we've known Manny for many, many years. um over 25 years that he was here with us and um we really couldn't think of a better way to honor his memory other than to name our tutoring lab um after Manny um because he did provide uh volunteer tutoring uh services to our high school equivalenc equivalency students for many many years. Manny was a legend in our community and it was a
0:46great loss when we lost him two years ago. Um he accomplished many athletic and professional achievements over his lifetime. After graduating with a mathematics major from BC, he earned his master's degree in education. He was a dedicated teacher for 30 years and was selected teacher of the year in New Jersey by the New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers. He was elected to Who's Who among America's teachers
1:09three times. He was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Fall River men's softball hall of fame. He was inducted into Dury Athletics Hall of Fame and then served on their board researching and determining future inductees. Um, I know I'm probably going to miss some of his many accolades. Um, but um, he was also a Brighton award recipient for his
1:32community service. He was awarded the Mass Association of School Committees Friends of Education Award. In 2017, the basketball court at Rugles Park was dedicated and named after Manny, acknowledging his countless hours of volunteer time, the generosity he provided to the Fall River community. He also provided scholarships to the Dery basketball players, the Columbus Park um little league participants who had good
1:58grades. He replaced all the uh broken basketball nets every spring um on the public courts, which was amazing. And when the courts at Lafayette Park were vandalized, he paid to have them repaired. I mean, the list just goes on and on. Again, I'm sure I've missed some things, but it's just uh I think these are all just examples for of what we already know, right? That Manny was a
2:19great guy. He knew how to give back to his community and um and he gave a lot to us and to our students. Um so for us, he's particularly legendary. Um so he benefited many many of our students. Um he gave thousands of hours of t of uh tutoring uh volunteer time here. Um and after he retired, he just showed up on our door. It was like a gift, you know.
2:45He just unannounced just came in said he wanted to give back to the community.
2:49And uh we have many many uh high school equivalency graduates who would not have probably passed their high set exam or their GED exam without um Manny's help.
2:58And the thing about Manny is he never wanted public recognition in any way. So in addition to his many hours um he also gave uh scholarships to our graduates every year at our graduation ceremony um to the top three graduates. And I would say for the first 20 years he would lecture me right before the ceremony. He would give me the envelope and he would say and if you say that it's from me
3:20I'll never do it again.
3:22So he said just say it's from Sarah Jobs. And so we accommodated him for many years, but I kept sort of, you know, plugging away at him and I was like, "Manny, come on. Let me just say, you know, let me just give you a little credit. Let me just say it's from you."
3:35And then I would say the last four or five years, he did let me acknowledge that he was actually um the one who was donating the money. And I think maybe the last two or three graduations, he actually um came up on stage and handed out the scholarships himself, which is what we had wanted all along. But um Manny being Manny um he just didn't didn't want that to happen. So um I can
3:55think of no better way to memorialize him here than to name our tutoring room after him. So well.