Massachusetts

Immigrants' Son Fulfills Dream of Going to College

A Massachusetts high school student is fulfilling his parents' dreams with the help of The Catholic Schools Foundation Inner-City Scholarship Fund.

"Without it there would be no way my parents could afford to send me here," said Januario Carreiro, a senior at Marian High School in Framingham.

Carreiro plans to study engineering in college and has been accepted into a number of top universities across the nation.

He's been receiving scholarship money from the Catholic Schools Foundation and Marian High School for the past four years.

"My Mom wanted to send me to Marian but couldn't afford to do so," said Carreiro.

Carreiro's mother and father emigrated to the United States from Brazil when he was five years old.

"I don't really even know how to express how grateful I am to them," said Carreiro. "They gave up everything they had in Brazil."

Carreiro's parents wanted to give him a chance at a better life and education.

"Neither of them could afford to go to college," said Carreiro.

Carreiro said his father is a butcher and his mother is a housekeeper, both graduated from high school but were unable to receive a higher education.

His mother said she wanted more for her son.

"It was not because we could have things like the money, it's because of security, hospitals and the schools are better," said Marci Carreiro.

Some schools are now offering her son a full-ride scholarship.

"I've been excepted to Northeastern to Swarthmore to Brown and to Duke," said Carreiro.

Nearly 4,000 students within 89 schools in Massachusetts benefit from the scholarships.

"We do that by providing scholarship support to families who might not otherwise be able to access a high quality Catholic education," said Mike Reardon the executive director of The Catholic Schools Foundation Inner-City Scholarship Fund.

"The scholarship means the world to me," said Carreiro.

Now he's preparing to give the most important speech yet.

Carreiro is set to speak at the annual scholarship fund dinner Thursday night.

Marian High's principal, John Ermilio, nominated Carreiro for the honor.

"He is a passionate, caring young man and absolutely he's a great student," said Ermilio. "More importantly than that, Jay is a good person. He's such a family man."

Ermilio and Reardon have been helping Carreiro perfect Thursday nights speech.

"He's going to bring them into his life for five or six minutes and they'll be touched by that," said Ermilio.

Carreiro is nervous about Thursday night but said "I just want them (scholarship fund donors) to know how grateful that me and the 4,000 other Inner-City Scholarship Fund recipients are."

For more information on the The Catholic Schools Foundation Inner-City Scholarship Fund, you can go to their website.

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