Platinum Sponsors:

On January 31st, Year Up's Class of January 2008 filled the Sheraton Boston Hotel, celebrating their graduation with more than 500 family members, corporate partners, program supporters, and community leaders. Platinum sponsors for the event included Bank of America, The Boston Foundation, Ipswitch, Microsoft, and State Street Corporation. Additional table sponsors included Children's Hospital Boston, Digitas, Partners HealthCare, and TAC Worldwide. We were honored to have Robert Lewis, Jr., Vice President for Program, The Boston Foundation, as our keynote speaker.

David Morales, Senior Advisor to Governor Deval Patrick, was presented with Year Up's Urban Empowerment Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made an incredible impact on their community by empowering urban young adults to reach their potential. William Stansbury was presented with Year Up's Outstanding Mentor Award and Joe Hayes, of Children’s Hospital Boston, with our Outstanding Apprenticeship Supervisor Award.

As with each celebration, Year Up's graduates inspired the audience by sharing their personal experiences and defining their visions of true success. Stacy Botus reflected on the lessons that Year Up taught her. “I joined Year Up to enhance my academic skills but Year Up has done more than that – it has made me into a professional and a much better person. As a result of Year Up, I now have a career, and I better equipped to deal with difficult situations.”

Graduate Auris Rosario described the change that Year Up inspired her to make in her life. She told her classmates, “It’s one thing to know there’s a future out there, but a program like this, places everything you ever dreamed of becoming, accomplishing, or doing at your feet. It’s up to you to take that first step. And we did!”

Year Up is honored to announce the Class of January 2008 awards and scholarships:

The Dave Retik Award for Excellence:
Jose Guadarrama, Sir Steven Kelley, Yasmin Mugimu

The Chris Mello Award for Leadership:
Meliza Brea, Auris Rosario, David Walker

The Tijani Award for Courage:
Erika Gamez Castro

SIM Laptop Award: Kevin Nicolas