President’s Message – March 2024

We Marvel at 200th Anniversaries in Today’s World

There are not too many businesses, organizations, or schools which have been around for 200 years or more. Your Alma Mater has. The English High School of Boston has resided in eight different locations and is still standing and educating Boston’s working-class families’ children. This statement is key. Educating every and anyone who comes through its doors. This year we are celebrating English’s 200^th Graduating Senior Class!

In 1821, when all other top schools were private, the Boston School Committee saw a need for a ‘public school’ which could educate not for Latin, Lawyering or Medicine but for becoming a draftsman, an English or Science teacher, or an architect. Teaching basic subjects better suited for modern industry in the 1850’s was essential for the Industrial Revolution boom economy.  Why do you think JP Morgan’s parents left Connecticut in 1854 so young John Pierpont could earn a foundational education at English High School? Our school’s rich history is packed with stories like his.

Most English High students today are immigrant teens whose parents want a better life for them, not unlike JP Morgan’s parents. Opportunity for a better life is what all parents want for their children. Regardless of background, assimilation and education is what English High does today for all its pupils, 35% of whom are English language learners.

Do you know English takes in over 200 immigrants each year and graduates them in four years? Did you know many of them become leading students through English’s disciplined, data-driven teaching structure? On top of that the Alumni & Friends Tutoring Center (AFTC), created and sponsored by English High alumni is critical in teaching seniors essay-writing suitable for college applications. One of the many outcomes of which has produced two acceptances to Wellesley College in the past two years. In recent years, over 90% of AFTC-coached essay writers have been accepted to college!

What does all this have to do with me, you might ask? You are a graduate of this school. Today’s student outcomes are a reflection of your support to its teachers, students and athletes. For our English High School Association, established in 1854,  your generosity is our primary staple.

This year we’ve established our 200^th Graduating Class Fund. Here is what your continued gifts afford:

• For this year’s 200^th Graduating Class, the English High School class of 2024, EHSA will provide all graduated with a special EHS 200th Graduating Class stole to wear with their caps and gowns at the graduation ceremony
• The newly-established $50,000 Cullen Family Scholarship
• Two years in a row the English boy’s basketball team has advanced into the Sweet Sixteen round of the state championship.  EHSA supports the team with pro-type sneakers for all players.
• 2023’s English High baseball team reached the semi finals of the state baseball tournament and EHSA rewarded the team with an outing to Fenway last spring.  Their Coach says they will be even better in 2024, motivated by the Fenway experience.
• EHSA is supporting a celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the 1974 English High State Championship Basketball team.  This effort is spearheaded by Ed Burley, Jr., son of Coach Burley and player alums.
• Our popular Alumni Breakfast Series featuring experts-in-their-field speakers is bringing alumni together for friendship and fundraising.
• Due to the efforts of EHSA, for the first time in eleven years, the Coach Stewart Scholarship was awarded to a Norwich College-bound senior who is now thriving on the Vermont campus.

We are one of only two Boston High School Alumni Associations, who provide support for in-school programs, scholarships and lecturers. But today we need your help to continue our mission. These past three years our monthly Alumni Newsletters have allowed all of us to learn a lot about our school’s history and it’s present day challenges as well as keeping up-to-date with fellow alumni.  But the newsletters may go unwritten without ongoing funding from our alumni family.

One final note.  Please, especially if you never have given before, sit down today and write a check or send in via PayPal a donation through out website. Any size gifts can make a difference.

To those who give, we say ‘thank you’ once again for your thoughtful generosity. It helps tremendously!

Cheers,