Our Work

Every Student Has a Story: Looking Back at the Voices That Inspired Our Galas

Every year at the Annual Building Minds Scholarship Fund Gala, there is a moment when the room grows still.

A student steps up to the podium.
The spotlight shifts.
And suddenly, we are reminded why this night matters.

This year’s Gala theme — “Every Student Has a Story” — celebrates the journeys made possible through your generosity. As we prepare to gather once again, we are looking back at some of the incredible students who have taken the stage before — students like Sophia, whose story continues to unfold in powerful ways.

Because when you support the Catholic Schools Foundation, you are not just funding scholarships.
You are shaping futures.

When Sophia Desmornes thinks about the role Catholic education has played in her life, she does not talk about it as one chapter among many. She talks about it as a foundation.

“It became very important to me,” she said. “I’m a high achiever. I strive for success.”

That foundation began in elementary school at St. Catherine of Genoa in Somerville, now St. Theresa’s, continued through Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Brighton, and carried into college and graduate school. Along the way, it shaped not only her education, but her faith, her confidence, her career in healthcare, and the way she now raises her own four sons.

Today, Sophia works as a nurse case manager for Mass General Brigham’s health plan and brings together years of experience in biology, healthcare administration, and nursing. She is also a mother, a first generation college graduate, a published children’s book author, and a three time CSF Gala speaker whose story continues to reflect the life changing impact of donor support.

Her journey is one of inspiration and purpose. Those are the words she chose herself when asked to describe it.

And they fit.

Sophia grew up with a clear message from home. Education mattered.

Her mother was a single parent who worked in housekeeping and did not have much materially, but she had something powerful to give her daughter: a belief that education would open doors.

“She really valued education,” Sophia said.

That belief became an expectation in their home.

“I think it was always an expectation,” Sophia said. “Like, hey, this is the expectation. We don’t know how we’re going to do it, but that is the expectation for my mom.”

For families navigating financial hardship, expectations like that are not small things. They become acts of faith. They become declarations of hope.

Through scholarship support, Sophia was able to attend Catholic school and grow in an environment that gave her exactly the kind of structure, community, and challenge she needed.

“I think the structure, the community, I think the expectation,” she said, reflecting on what Catholic school gave her.

She also believes her faith was shaped there in a lasting way.

“I think my faith and going to Catholic school helped a lot,” she said. “You can tell the difference.”

Sophia first became involved with the Inner City Scholarship Fund, now CSF, as a student volunteer. She remembers attending the gala as a greeter while she was in high school, helping welcome guests and supporters into the room.

At the time, it may have felt like one small task in a busy evening. Looking back, she now sees it as the moment when things began to shift.

“That’s how I met Dr. Doyle,” she said. “Which allowed me to work at his practice and just connect with people that I probably would have never had connections with.”

That connection became one of the first major turning points in her life.

It opened up a path into healthcare and gave her early professional exposure that many students do not have until much later. More than that, it showed her the power of what happens when donors and supporters do more than give financially. When they invest relationally, doors open in a completely different way.

“I feel like that’s where the turn sort of happened,” she said.

That is one of the clearest forms of donor impact. It is not just tuition assistance. It is access. It is mentorship. It is a relationship that helps a young person imagine a future they may not have been able to see on their own.

In 2007, Sophia was invited to speak at the Building Minds Scholarship Fund Celebration. She still remembers the shock of being asked.

“I was like, what?” she said with a laugh. “Just honored, but shocked because it’s so many people.”

The room was filled with supporters, leaders, and donors. For a young student, it was overwhelming. But it was also deeply affirming.

Sophia would go on to speak at the gala multiple times over the years, including again in 2012 when she introduced Fortune Kalala, and later in 2023 as an alumna sharing how Catholic education had continued to shape her life.

Being invited back meant something important to her.

“It just made me feel like I really had an impact,” she said. “That I brought value, and that I was a good example of what success through Catholic Schools Foundation looked like.”

When Sophia thinks back to those evenings, one moment still stands above the rest. It was not a celebrity encounter, though she does remember meeting former Patriot Troy Brown. It was not even the size of the room, though that left its own impression.

What she remembers most is hearing the crowd applaud for her mother.

“Everybody just clapping for my mom,” she said. “That was probably the biggest highlight for me.”

For Sophia, that moment mattered because it honored the unseen labor behind her success. It recognized the woman who had worked hard, sacrificed, and held onto a vision of education as the path forward.

That kind of recognition stays with a person.

Sophia graduated from Emmanuel College in 2011 with a degree in biology and a minor in religious studies. Even in college, she continued to lead. She served as President of the Legacy of Praise Gospel Choir, Vice President of the Black Student Union, and received the Class Leadership Award.

Her service experiences also began expanding her view of healthcare and of her own calling.

She traveled to New Orleans to encourage students in Catholic schools whose lives had been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. She participated in the Ubuntu Institute South Africa Student Service Trip. After graduation, she returned to South Africa and Swaziland to serve in orphanages and with a hospice organization supporting patients with cancer and HIV/AIDS.

“This experience changed my life and my future goals,” she said in an earlier gala reflection.

Sophia had long imagined that healthcare would be part of her future. At first, she thought that meant becoming a doctor.

“I wanted to be a doctor, actually,” she said. “And through the Catholic Schools Foundation, I was able to work for Dr. Jerry Doyle.”

But those service experiences widened her perspective.

“I was like, oh, there are people that do lots of work that are not doctors,” she said. “So I was like, okay, let’s do that.”

That realization opened up a broader sense of vocation. Healthcare was not just one profession. It was a field full of possibilities to serve, lead, and care for others.

After earning her master’s degree in health administration from Regis, Sophia’s career was already developing in healthcare. But in 2017, life took a deeply personal turn.

Her young son needed a stem cell transplant.

“He was two when he had the transplant,” she said. “He’s 11 now.”

That experience changed everything.

In 2023, speaking once again at the gala, Sophia described it clearly.

“I decided to go back to Regis in 2017 to obtain my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing through an accelerated program after one of my children required a stem cell transplant at just 2 years old. This experience changed my life.”

It changed not only her perspective, but her path. She returned to school and earned an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2018. The pain and fear of watching her child go through such a serious medical experience became the catalyst for a new level of purpose.

That is one of the most powerful themes in Sophia’s story. She does not simply endure hardship. She transforms it into service.

Today, her work as a nurse case manager allows her to combine both her nursing background and her health administration training in order to support patients and families across Massachusetts.

“When I look back on my love for healthcare and the different roads I’ve taken,” she said, “it always leads me back to the opportunities provided to me through the Catholic Schools Foundation.”

Sophia believes Catholic education prepared her exceptionally well for college and beyond.

“Struggles that other kids coming from non Catholic institutions had, I didn’t have,” she said. “I knew how to type. I knew how to write papers. I knew how to study. So I feel like I was very prepared for what college life was going to be.”

That preparation gave her confidence, but it also gave her momentum. She understood how to work hard, how to lead, and how to build on the opportunities in front of her.

It is no surprise that she now sees education as one of the highest priorities in her own life.

When asked how she views education as a mother, her answer was immediate.

“As a top priority,” she said.

She now has four boys, ages 13, 11, and five year old twins. Her life is busy, joyful, and demanding, but she remains deeply grateful.

“Very, very grateful,” she said.

And as she pours into her own children, she also continues to encourage others. Sophia has become an advocate, particularly for future nurses and for students of color.

“I think I’ve become more of an advocate,” she said. “And I really value education, whether that be educating future nurses, inspiring students of color.”

That advocacy is part of her legacy now. She is not only someone who benefited from support. She is someone using what she received to help others rise.

When Sophia was asked what she would say to the current gala speaker, her advice was simple and deeply rooted.

“Don’t forget your foundation,” she said. “It helps you get to where you are and it’s solid enough to keep you going.”

That message feels like it could just as easily apply to her own life.

Her foundation was built by a mother who expected education to matter, by Catholic schools that formed her in faith and discipline, and by donors who made that education possible at a time when it could easily have been out of reach.

When asked what she would say to those donors today, she did not overcomplicate it.

“Thank you,” she said. “Your sacrifice, your effort, and your donations are not in vain. I am proof.”

Those words say everything a donor could hope to hear.

Sophia’s life is not simply a story of academic success. It is a story of formation, purpose, and ripple effects across generations.

Because of donor support, a young girl from a single parent household was able to receive a Catholic education.

Because of donor support, she became a college graduate, a healthcare leader, and a nurse.

Because of donor support, she now raises her own children with the same conviction that education changes lives.

And because of donor support, she continues to inspire the next generation with both her story and her example.

That is the power of CSF.

That is what proof of impact looks like.