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 Fortune, 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 Fortune Kalala looks back on his life, he sees a series of moments that could have ended very differently.

There were the years of war and displacement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The months spent in a refugee camp in Mozambique. The long separation from his mother and younger brother. The struggle of learning English after arriving in the United States. The uncertainty of whether a family already stretched thin could ever afford the kind of education his parents dreamed about for their children.

And yet when Fortune tells his story today, he does not begin with fear.

He begins with gratitude.

“Definitely my upbringing shaped a lot of what I am today,” he said. “It’s definitely a testament to my parents, their dedication toward us, our success, and our chances to have a better life than they could have had.”

That dedication, paired with the support of CSF donors, helped turn what once felt impossible into a life of opportunity, education, and purpose.

Fortune was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where his early years were shaped by political unrest and violence. When rebel fighters threatened the safety of their town, his family fled. What followed was not a quick or simple path to safety, but years of instability, sacrifice, and survival.

In his 2012 Gala speech, Fortune shared the story with the room in unforgettable detail.

“There once was an 8-year-old boy, named Fortune,” he began. “I should also mention he was very handsome and very charming.”

Then, with humor giving way to heartbreak, he described the reality his family faced: fleeing for safety, becoming separated, and living in a refugee camp in Mozambique with his father and sister.

“The boy, his father and sister, lived in a 10 foot by 15 foot tent, sleeping on the ground with a few blankets handed to refugees,” he said. “There was no running water, little food and no outside communication.”

Even now, years later, Fortune speaks about that season with clarity and honesty.

“That experience was traumatic. It was scary,” he said in his recent interview. “But the resilience of our parents, and honestly the grace of God, got us through it.”

One memory has stayed with him in particular: watching his father give up his own food so his children could eat.

“That was the toughest day,” he recalled in the newspaper profile written during his senior year at Central Catholic.

After years of separation, paperwork, and sacrifice, Fortune’s family was finally reunited in Massachusetts in 2006. It was a moment he still describes with deep emotion.

“It was the happiest time of my life,” he said.

When Fortune arrived in Lawrence, he entered the Guilmette School and began the difficult work of learning English and adjusting to life in a completely new country. School quickly became more than an academic setting. It became the foundation for his future.

“School is the most important thing,” his mother said in the 2011 newspaper article. “Even back home, with the political turmoil and the fighting… it was to get [my children] an education.”

That value ran deep in the family. Fortune remembers seeing how much education meant to his mother, and how much his parents sacrificed to make it possible.

“My Dad and Mom worked four jobs as a janitor and nurse assistant,” he told a room full of donors in his 2012 Gala speech. “They held out hope that their children would receive a Catholic education.”

For Fortune, getting into Central Catholic High School felt almost unimaginable.

“Attending Central Catholic seemed like an impossibility,” he told donors in 2012. “It is your support that has made my education a reality.” 

Fortune received his first CSF scholarship as a freshman at Central Catholic. At the time, he didn’t fully understand what CSF was. He simply knew that the scholarship package made something possible that otherwise would not have been.

“My parents definitely weren’t financially able to afford tuition,” he said when we recently sat down with him. “Our chances of affordability were very minimal to none.”

The scholarship closed a gap that his family could not have managed alone.

“These packages just were right for what my parents would supplement the rest,” he said. “I don’t know how we came to the gap, but it was massive. It was nothing short of awesome.”

That support did more than make tuition manageable. It changed the direction of Fortune’s life.

“Going to Central changed my life,” he said. “Being able to attend, receive a Catholic education, put me in a good position to go to Stonehill College and really do well there from the get-go.”

Central Catholic did not just prepare him academically. It changed the way he thought about his future.

“Once you’re not in that kind of track, in hindsight it’s kind of hard to think about going to college,” he said. “Central Catholic kind of opened up a good snowball effect, a cascade of events that followed after.”

That is what donor support does. It doesn’t simply help a student stay in school for one year. It creates momentum. It widens horizons. It transforms what a young person believes is possible.

When Fortune was first asked to speak at the 2012 CSF Gala, he had no idea what to expect.

“I didn’t really know what the Gala was about,” he admitted. “I’m glad I did it.”

As he learned more about the event and met the people behind it, he began to understand the significance of the room he was stepping into.

“I was like, wow, this is pretty awesome,” he said. “This is the first time I’m hearing about it.”

Still, he arrived with a degree of innocence that may have made the moment easier.

“I’m glad it was that way,” he said with a laugh. “Because I would’ve been shaking in my boots if I had known the grand presence of people fostering that in that room.”

Preparing the speech was intense. He revised it many times, getting feedback from people at Central Catholic and then from the CSF team.

“I thought the speech was perfect,” he said. “But I got there and I was like, okay, I think there are holes in it.”

What he could not have predicted was how deeply the speech would move the room.

“The feeling—I can’t even put into words,” he said. “You’re just telling your story at the end of the day. It was easy to tell because I lived it.”

But the impact came afterward, in the faces, conversations, and responses of the people who heard him.

“You don’t really know the feeling of the impact that it had on people’s lives,” he said. “Once you get off the stage and start talking to people, you start to realize that impact.”

Years later, he was invited back to the Gala again, this time with a fuller understanding of what CSF had made possible, not only for him but for so many others.

“Now that I know the names of the folks in the room, it’s a little bit like, wow,” he said.

At Central Catholic, Fortune thrived. He was an honors student, a varsity athlete, and a young man with big dreams. In his senior year, he was accepted to multiple colleges, including Fairfield University, Stonehill College, Providence College, and the University of Rhode Island.

At the time, he told donors his goal was to become an orthopedic surgeon.

That dream eventually evolved, but the calling toward healthcare remained. Fortune went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Administration from Stonehill College, a Graduate Certificate in Health Informatics from UMass Lowell, and later a Master of Public Health in Health/Health Care Administration/Management from Boston University School of Public Health. Today, he works as a healthcare consultant, helping payers and providers solve complex problems nationwide.

What led him there was a combination of passion and practicality.

“I really wanted to be in medicine,” he said. “But in college, it definitely tested my love for medicine. I did love the business aspect of it.”

Healthcare management allowed him to marry those two interests, healthcare and business, while consulting gave him the variety and challenge he wanted.

“I don’t like to do repetitive things over and over,” he said. “Consulting was definitely the best mix of both worlds.”

Now, he works with clients in places like North Dakota, Illinois, California, and Texas, far beyond the boundaries of the life he once knew.

Today, Fortune’s success is not only professional.

He is married, a father, and building a life of stability and joy for his own family. He married his wife in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, and the couple now shares life with their two-year-old daughter, Giselle.

When asked what his younger self would be most surprised to see, Fortune answered with striking honesty.

“One of the biggest goals was just being able to be a family man of my own,” he said. “Having finished my education and being employed and being able to have a family… that’s something that I’m very proud of.”

For a boy who once lived in fear, in displacement, and in uncertainty, that kind of peace is no small thing.

Fortune’s advice to the current student speaker is simple and heartfelt:

“Take it all in. It goes by really quickly,” he said. “Be proud of what you’ve accomplished so far.”

He wants young scholars to understand that the Gala is not just a speech. It is a celebration, a moment to recognize how far they have come, and the many people who helped them get there.

And to the donors who continue to support CSF, his gratitude is profound.

“Please continue to believe in the CSF mission and continue to generously give,” he told the room in 2015, “because you are truly making a difference in the lives of many young men and women like me.”

Today, that gratitude has only deepened.

“When I look at all the CSF scholars I meet post-grad… I’m like, wow,” he said. “Lives are changing.”

He knows firsthand what those scholarships mean.

“Some of us would never have an opportunity to attend Catholic schools,” he said. “To be able to attend Catholic school and make it affordable for our family and not a burden, it’s all even more of a plus. We are just so grateful.”

If there is one thing Fortune hopes people take away from his story, it is this:

“Resiliency,” he said. “And leaning on your faith.”

“If you have a goal of achieving anything, or a situation changing, have faith that it will come to pass. Have faith that your hard work and your commitment… will come to fruition.”

Fortune’s life is proof of that truth.

It is proof that generosity can change not just a school year, but an entire trajectory.

It is proof that behind every scholarship is a real child, a real family, and a future still unfolding.

Because of donor support, a boy who once lived in a refugee camp was able to stand on a Gala stage and speak with hope.

Because of donor support, that same student became a college graduate, a healthcare professional, a husband, and a father.

And because of donor support, stories like Fortune’s continue to unfold every day—quietly, powerfully, and far beyond what any one statistic can capture.

That is the power of CSF.

That is what impact looks like.