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 Tatiyana, 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.

“Your Support Changed Me More Than Academically.”

Today, Tatiyana Orrego Dupree is exactly where she once wasn’t sure she could be.

She is a Boston College student studying psychology, exploring behavioral psychology, participating in intensive service work, and preparing for a future advocating for young people who feel unseen or unsupported. She speaks with clarity, thoughtfulness, and conviction, but she wasn’t always this confident.

When she looks back, she sees how far she has come. And she knows the Catholic Schools Foundation was a turning point.

“I feel like your support changed me more than academically,” she says. “It helped my confidence. It helped me speak out against inequalities. Students like me never thought that we could get to college or have access to everything.”

That belief is what makes her story proof of impact.

Tatiyana received CSF’s GO Scholarship in 2016, when she moved to Boston and enrolled at Saint Columbkille Partnership School midway through the school year. But that sentence alone doesn’t capture the weight of that moment.

Before Boston, she had been living in Maine with her mother and stepfather, both struggling with serious drug addictions. One day, her mother left and didn’t come back. At nine years old, Tatiyana was left to care for herself for over a week buying food with a food stamp card, getting herself to school, and relying on neighbors for meals and a place to shower.

Then her father brought her to Boston.

“CSF came to me when I was moving… and we were going through financial struggles,” she reflects. “I wouldn’t have been able to go to Catholic school without that support.”

But when she talks about the scholarship, she’s quick to say it wasn’t just financial.

“It wasn’t just about money. CSF gave me stability. It gave me an environment where I was welcomed with open arms and didn’t have to worry about being judged.”

For a child coming out of instability and trauma, that stability wasn’t small. It was everything.

As she continued her Catholic education eventually attending Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart something began to shift. She wasn’t just surviving anymore. She was growing.

She challenged herself academically, taking AP Literature, AP Art History, and AP Spanish. She became a member of the National Honor Society. She became the first in her family to graduate high school.

But when she talks about what mattered most, it isn’t the course list.

“I was able to be surrounded by a really supportive environment,” she says. “I had teachers who didn’t just worry about homework. They made sure I was continuously doing the best I could.”

She credits Catholic education with instilling values that shaped how she moves through the world today especially through service.

“I learned about the importance of being one with others and just having a community. It gave me opportunities to share my story. It gave me opportunities to become someone I didn’t think I was going to become.”

That sentence says everything.

A scholarship opened a door.
A community helped her walk through it.
And belief helped her grow into someone new.

Tatiyana describes herself as naturally soft-spoken. For much of her life, she kept the hardest parts of her story close, worried that people would see her differently if they knew.

Then came the CSF Gala.

Taking the stage as the student speaker at CSF’s 35th Annual Building Minds Scholarship Fund Gala in April 2025 was a moment she never expected would define her, but it did.

“As silly as it sounds, it was probably the gala,” she says when asked when she realized, I can do this.

“I tend to keep the traumatic parts of my life to myself so people don’t look at me differently. But when I got the opportunity to speak at the gala, I realized I was making a difference in other people’s lives.”

Standing in front of hundreds of supporters was nerve-wracking. But it was also empowering.

“I didn’t realize people wanted to hear about my journey. It made me realize that people are here to listen.”

That night wasn’t just about telling her story. It was about reclaiming it. It was about realizing that what she had survived and who she had become mattered.

For donors in the room, her speech was powerful. For Tatiyana, it was transformational.

Today at Boston College her dream school  Tatiyana is studying psychology with a focus on behavioral psychology. She’s already thinking deeply about how trauma shapes behavior and how support can change outcomes.

“I really want to work in a juvenile detention center,” she says. “I want to help kids understand that they have support and that they’re not alone.”

Through BC’s PULSE program, she combines theology and philosophy coursework with direct service. She works with individuals with extensive care needs and neurological disabilities, learning how to advocate for others while continuing to build her own voice.

“It helped me speak up for them,” she explains. “And I carried the confidence from the gala into that.”

She also notes how well her Catholic education prepared her academically.

“It wasn’t that hard of a transition into college because I went to such a good high school. My studying skills and academic skills were instilled in me.”

That preparation is another layer of impact. Donor generosity didn’t just help her enroll  it helped her excel.

When asked what she would say directly to CSF supporters today, she doesn’t hesitate.

“The belief that students can be in spaces that were never in their minds  that’s what your support does.”

She wants donors to understand that their generosity doesn’t just pay tuition. It reshapes identity. It builds confidence. It allows students to step into rooms they once thought were closed to them.

“Your support changed me more than academically,” she says again. “It helped me with my confidence, speaking out against inequalities… students like me didn’t always think college was possible.”

Today, she is living in that possibility.

A Boston College student.
A psychology major.
A future advocate for vulnerable youth.
A young woman who uses her voice.

When she looks back at the nine-year-old girl who had to take care of herself, she sees how far she has come and she sees the people who helped her get there.

At CSF, we couldn’t be prouder of Tatiyana and all of our Senior Scholars. Her story is not only one of resilience it is proof that when donors invest in a child, the return is a life transformed, a voice empowered, and a future expanded.

And she’s just getting started.