Fellow Classmates of the Fabulous BLS Class of 1974!
Giving is a uniquely subjective and personal process. Your donation to our BLS74 Class Gift should be a donation that not only celebrates your personal memories of BLS, but also supports your wishes for specific needs of BLS and its students in the future.
As such, we have built a variety of options with areas and programs for you to support that you can find in the drop down menu of the “Designation" section of the BLS website Class Gift page.
Two areas we would like you to consider supporting are thriving BLS programs that three of our beloved BLS74 Classmates have directly developed and fostered:
i) The Saturday Success School initiated by Chuck Longfield ’74,
ii) The BLS Oral History Project founded by Phil Bonomo ’74 and Guy Marini ’74.
Thank you for your generosity for our very special BLS74 50th Reunion Class Gift!
In Gratitude,
Dan McCarthy ’74
President, The Fabulous BLS Class of 1974
Directed Giving
When making your gift on the BLS website, consider directing it to one of the initiatives undertaken by our classmates:
To do so, select either "Saturday Success School" or "Oral History Project" in the "My Gift Supports" dropdown of the "Designation" section.
Saturday Success School (Chuck Longfield)
Saturday Success School seeks to support students in strengthening their academic success through the use of volunteer adult tutors.
This program runs every Saturday for 20 Saturdays during the school year. Students will work one on one or in small groups with an adult tutor for about 40 minutes per session. All tutors are CORI checked and come to us from various sources such as local hospitals, colleges/universities, marketing firms, retired secondary educators, current BLS teachers and BLS alumni.
Program Applications are required as students are taught three subjects of their choice in three different sessions each Saturday for the entire year without changing into other subjects.
This is a focused program, not a drop-in platform. Students must commit to attending this program every Saturday.
Oral History Project (Guy Marini and Phil Bonomo )
Generationes Virtutes - An Oral History of the Boston Latin School
Guy and Phil have been leading the effort to create a permanent Oral History of Alma Mater. Three chapters of this video oral history have been released thus far, featuring graduate interviews from Classes of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s.
Using a professional film and video company, we ask BLS graduates to share memories and anecdotes about their Latin School experiences, using the school as the backdrop. Historical references abound, displaying the deep meshing of world events with the daily rigors of a classical education. And because the Latin School draws students from every corner of Boston proper, each student must make major adjustments to integrate with a melting pot of neighborhood and ethnic cultures - multiple threads for powerful stories. While the participants are generationally diverse, they also present common threads uniquely found in Latin School graduates.
Chapter 4 is currently in development. Meanwhile, we look forward to the day when BLS74 graduates will be called to tell their own special stories. We hope you will share Guy’s and Phil’s pride in this effort and support The BLS Oral History Project with a directed gift.