More than 300 guests poured into the Fairmont Copley Plaza’s Grand Ballroom last month for Boston Collegiate Charter School’s fundraising dinner. Through sponsorships from companies like Eli Lilly and Company, Cabot Corporation, Eastern Bank, and HRP (formerly Hilco Redevelopment Partners), ticket sales, and donations made prior to and during the event, the school brought in more than $600,000 to support of its mission “to prepare each student for college.”

Boston Collegiate has two campuses in Dorchester’s Columbia-Savin Hill neighborhood and serves 700 students in grades 5-12.

The evening kicked off with the school’s Collegiate Cup Trivia Challenge – a tradition for more than 15 years. Keynote speaker Ruth Reid, Class of 2025, spoke of how her teachers at Boston Collegiate took the time to get to know her personally, and encouraged her to become a pillar of the theater program and debate team.

Her remarks, titled “My Mother Found Me a Village,” detailed her journey from a student struggling to read to a young adult ready for college.
“My life trajectory would be significantly different if I had not been in a community that fostered my passion, intelligence, resilience, creativity, and leadership,” she said. “I ask you all to be a beacon of change the same way Boston Collegiate was to me.”