The Fall River Commission on Disability hosted its second annual scholarship program on June 4, 2022, at McGovern's Restaurant. The event celebrated ten high school graduates from various Fall River schools, each receiving a $3,000 scholarship. Mayor Paul Coogan, City Councilor Andrew Raposo, and representatives from the city's special education office and several high schools delivered congratulatory remarks, acknowledging the students' hard work and future aspirations. Scholarship recipients included Angel Sherman Beauday and Samya Oliver from Durfee High School; Layla Donahue and Nicholas Silva from Bishop Conley High School; Savannah Lee and Jacob Gallagher from Argosy Collegiate Charter School; Maya Barca and Skyla Begos from Atlantis Charter School; and Hannah Bellageron and Aaron Moniz from Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School. The commission members, including Vice Chair Debbie Pacheco and Commissioners Lisa Silva and Dan Robillard, were also recognized for their contributions.
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good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the second annual fall river commission on disability scholarship program for 2022 um i want to start the afternoon by recognizing my colleagues on the fall river commission on disability the vice chair is debbie pacheco and then we have commissioners lisa silva dan robillard um am i forgetting somebody i'm drawing a blank uh and o'neil souza who's unable to make it
0:45today so those are my colleagues i want to thank them very very much for all the help we have an outreach work group of consisting of dan robillard and commissioner lisa silva and lisa was responsible for organizing the decorations today so thank you all very very much and thank the staff at mcgoverns restaurant they do a fantastic job this is the second year that we've worked with them and they just do a great job
1:22so i'd like to start off the program so that we can get to the um other portion of the program which is eating it's my distinct pleasure to introduce and i have the honor of introducing the mayor of the city of fall river paul coogan
1:57so this is always special giving away scholarships and acknowledging people's hard work it's another great graduation season in fall river we we did a couple last night i've probably done four or five this week and the beat goes on i think diamond is thursday night as i might get that right elvio yeah so i'll when by the time we're done i feel like i'll graduate again myself but this is very special because we're
2:23acknowledging a hard-working group of kids that um that have earned their college scholarships and we're i'm not gonna ruin the event by talking other than putting the focus where it belongs on the children and that's what we should be doing um let's see from durfee angel boday congratulations and the citations all say the same thing in honor and recognition of your scholarship award from the fall river
2:53commission on disability again congratulations angel i can't even read these names the next one is um an angel will be attending bristol community college next up is uh samya oliver is going to roger williams not here yeah that would help that's what i wanted and now another great graduation i attended the other night was at bishop conley so let's acknowledge some of their kids kayla donahue
3:39i'm gonna get every name wrong that's what i'll do congratulations that was nice very nice the other night thank you
3:55nicholas silva nicholas congratulations
4:10and that's the only one right now all right so let's try savannah elite and jacob gallego from augustine savannah first congratulations were you going to school umass dartmouth umass dartmouth that's where i went congratulations jacob where are you going new england tech very nice congratulations guys
4:54maya from atlanta's charter school
5:04what should i say barca yeah oh where you going to school oh you must start with very nice very nice congratulations when you're going to study very nice and the other one is um skylabegos not here let's save me and from diamond hannah bellageron she'll be attending bristol community college also very nice congratulations thank you very nice and also from diamond aaron monas going to umass dartmouth
5:54congratulations obviously that's that was the ride and you'll take care of those dead i'll take care of that so again as bad as i was the focus belongs on the kids i believe that's where we should keep our focus this time of year on the kids congratulations to all of you and it's obviously great when the families come together to support the children and the schools are sitting here also so well worth it
6:25i got a really busy day i'm doing a lot of jumping around so i won't be able to stay but i want to thank the disability commission for inviting me and i appreciate you being patient with me while i butchered your children's names thank you everybody
6:48okay okay the next person i'd like to introduce is um city councilor andrew raposo hello everybody um i told mr piscelli i was gonna say hello goodbye but i'm not gonna do more than that um on behalf of the city council we want to congratulate all our young people for their scholarships today i the educator heart inside of me is very proud of all of you um we wish you all the best going forward
7:25do some good work because we all know forever needs some great young people to lead the future of our city so congratulations and god bless you all thank you
7:46and representing representing um mr michael losch from the special education office is james sullivan a little right there i gotta point them up i'm a little tall i'll hold it for you i can just bend down i'll be flexible um thank you for having us folks i'm really really happy to be here um to my right i have becca gray who's one of the special education supervisors for durfee high school
8:31we're very proud of our durfee folks and we're very proud of um you know everybody in the room every student in the room that has received a scholarship today and we're really pleased that you know you guys are such valuable and wonderful members of our community and we're really happy that we can get together and be a part of this and i'd really like to thank the fall river commission on disabilities for
8:52hosting the event and i really would like to congratulate every single one of our students in here you've come a long way and you've done a lot of great things and we look forward to seeing you do all sorts of great things in the future because there's more to come so congratulations
9:25uh next is the superintendent of diamond regional vocational technical high school superintendent dr alby pereira good afternoon everyone thank you for for having me here as echoed by everyone else it's a great accomplishment for our young folks here of the city on behalf of the school committee the faculty and staff of diamond regional we are obviously very proud of our two recipients i'll speak first on hannah i
10:04congratulate hannah for her four years in the culinary arts program she has uh in the family a pedigree of culinary arts and one of my very favorite programs at the school to be able to head over there having her prepare for the outside patrons also for the inside staff she's been a great part of that program and speaking to the instructors both in culinary arts and throughout the school
10:30they speak very highly of her very polite and enthusiastic young lady always has a smile on her face here in the hallway she's always bright and bubbly and we wish her all the best that she studies at bristol community college in the next few years we also have aaron moniz from the metal fabrication shop a great athlete for diamond regional a great student speaking to his instructors he's
10:54quoted as being a terrific young man hard-working very thorough in his work both in the technical and the academic side aaron will be going to umass dartmouth go corsairs this fall where he's going to be studying business as i mentioned to him in the family i'm a graduate three times of umass dartmouth it's near and dear to my heart ring road cedar dell and the such so i wish them all the
11:15best moving forward they're very very capable students very worthy of this honor and they're going to do great things in the future thank you
11:39okay the next uh s speaker am i doing okay here is um principal of bishop conley high school kathleen laurent saint kathleen saint laurent thank you and good afternoon everyone such a great pleasure to represent bishop county high school this afternoon i really want to thank all of you for including bishop colley in this wonderful scholarship opportunity we are part of the fall river family and
12:11love being here on behalf of our administration faculty and staff i sincerely want to congratulate our two recipients who graduated this past week layla donahue is an outstanding student athlete captain of soccer and cheer teams layla is a supporter of bishop conley in every way she's a kind and generous friend and is there for all who are in need layla will do anything that we need at any time and we're very proud
12:36of her she'll be going on to emmanuel college in the fall and she will be majoring in psychology nick silva another wonderful student at bishop conley nick is a student ambassador extraordinaire nick has been our number one fan and cheer cheerleader for all of our new students for all those who are interested in bishop conley he is so proud of his school and he is always willing to lend a hand if we have
13:00a student visiting or a school visiting he's a wonderful representative of our school and always speak so highly on our behalf nick is also a strong member of our student council a wonderful student athlete he also will be attending emmanuel college majoring in biology on behalf of your colleague community we are so proud nick and layla congratulations okay i'm gonna need a little help here is
13:35there a representative from the argosy collegiate charter school
13:52hello um thank you very much everyone i just want to congratulate everyone in this room i'm sure it took a lot of dedication and perseverance to be here today my name is jessica mello and i'm one of the deans of college and career readiness at agric collegiate charter school and we are very excited and thrilled to be a part of this program this year we have two special recipients today and
14:17i wrote a few notes so i would not forget the great and wonderful things i wanted to say about youtube um it's my honor and privilege to announce that she has recipients savannah lee and jacob gallagher um savannah you are not only hard-working and dedicated student who excels in all her academics but you are a peer who is very empathetic and a clear leader excuse me and shows great leadership amongst her peers and
14:43your underclassmen we wish havana the very best at umass dartmouth in the fall jacob you have shown such great strength and growth over these past four years and we are incredibly proud of the hard work and perseverance you've shown watching you grow this year has not only excuse me watching you grow this year not only academically but socially has been incredible to see and we wish you the best of luck at new
15:09england tech this fall and finally is there somebody from the atlantis charter on hold school
15:49okay from durfee high school um i'd like to introduce rebecca gray rebecca gray all right so i just want to introduce our two students we have one here today angel sherman beauday she was part of the varsity cheerleading and softball and she has been a participant in our early child care program and she will be attending bcc for early child care samaya oliver were missing today
16:20but she will be attending roger williams university she took classes such as project red and black and our one goal which was our early college program thank you very much and congratulations and those are school representatives this year two students from each schools they'll be getting a scholarship of three thousand dollars each person and on behalf of the fall river commission on disability
16:55thank you all very much i wish you all the best of luck in your new chapter on your journey thank you