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09/04/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/05/2026 06:22

Boston University’s 2026 Menino Scholars and Community Leaders Scholars Arrive Ready to Change Their World

Boston University's 2026 Menino Scholars and Community Leaders Scholars Arrive Ready to Change Their World

Boston University President Melissa Gilliam (front row, third from right) welcomes 30 new Thomas M. Menino Scholars alongside Mary Skipper, Boston Public Schools superintendent (front row, far left), at a reception at the Questrom School of Business, August 31. Also part of the ceremony were 59 Community Leaders Scholars. "Boston gives something important to this University too. And that includes all of you," Gilliam told the students.

Scholarships

Boston University's 2026 Menino Scholars and Community Leaders Scholars Arrive Ready to Change Their World

Scholarships reflect BU's investment in Boston Public Schools students and the future of the community

September 4, 2026
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In elementary school, Arielle Tritto knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: president of the United States. By middle school, she had settled for becoming a lawyer, a dream she still holds today as an incoming political science major at BU.

"I want to help people. That's why I wanted to be president," says Tritto (CAS'30). "So I figured I'd start small by [helping] a smaller amount of people and grow."

Arielle Tritto (CAS'30), a political science major and graduate of East Boston High School, is one of the Class of 2030's Thomas M. Menino Scholars.

Tritto is one of this year's 30 Thomas M. Menino Scholars, who, along with 59 new Community Leaders Scholars-all Boston Public Schools (BPS) students-were honored at a reception at the Questrom School of Business Monday evening. The 89 Terriers arrive on campus with big dreams that now seem less out of reach, thanks to Boston University scholarships.

For Tritto, the valedictorian of her graduating class at East Boston High School and the daughter of a teacher and construction worker, setting foot on BU's campus brings her one step closer to a future she has worked hard for.

"Finding out that I got the Menino scholarship was such a burden lifted off our family's shoulders," says Tritto, a political science student. "I think I cried."

Both scholarships are awarded to BPS graduates (and BPS transfer students courtesy of the Community Leaders Scholarship) who have been accepted to BU. The 2026 awards account for a $24.1 million commitment from the University toward the education of Boston students.

"For generations, BU has sought not simply to be located in Boston, but to be engaged with it-to learn from it, contribute to it, and be strengthened by it," President Melissa Gilliam said during the August 31 reception. "That relationship goes both ways. Boston gives something important to this University too. And that includes all of you.… Your connection to Boston is not something you leave behind when you come to BU; it is part of what you contribute to this community. We want you here not simply because of all that you have already accomplished, but because of what you will add to our classrooms, our residence halls, our organizations, and our conversations. Your presence makes Boston University stronger."

Named for the late Thomas M. Menino (Hon.'01), the longtime Boston mayor, College of Arts & Sciences political science professor of the practice, and founding codirector of BU's Initiative on Cities, the Menino Scholarship covers the full four-year tuition of its awardees. The program, which was established in 1973, has opened doors for more than 2,000 students and awarded close to $227 million in scholarships.

Sam Falke (ENG'30), a Menino Scholar and mechanical engineering major, graduated from Boston's John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science.

"The generational impact to the scholars, BU, and the city speaks to the University's ties to Boston and the Boston Public Schools, says Michael Dennehy (CAS'92, Wheelock'01), executive director of BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development College Access & Student Success program. "As a BPS and Menino Scholars alumnus, I am honored to serve as the current scholars adviser."

Among this year's Menino Scholars is Sam Falke (ENG'30), a lifelong Roslindale resident and valedictorian of his class at Roxbury's John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science.

He learned he had received the Menino Scholarship at 8 am on a Saturday, as he was about to take a mock version of the Advanced Placement physics exam. It took a while for the news to sink in.

"When I got out and was taking the train home, I was like, 'I have a full ride to a top 50 research institution in the United States and the world,'" Falke recalls. "That's kind of a crazy opportunity."

He developed an interest in marine science and coastal engineering over years spent visiting the Rhode Island coastline near where his grandparents live and honed that interest into a passion through an internship with the Sasaki Foundation, an environmental design firm.

Boston University President Melissa Gilliam (front row, second from left) helped welcome this year's 59 Community Leaders Scholars at the reception. Mary Skipper (front row, fourth from left), Boston Public Schools Superintendent, spoke at the reception.

During the college application process, Falke knew he wanted to find a school that would help him develop the engineering skills to better protect coastal communities, including his own. Attending college in Boston, a city he knew well and wanted to give back to, was a priority.

"The fact that I'm a Boston student, I just know now more than I did then the kind of support and love that BU has for its Boston students," Falke says.

Alongside the merit-based Menino Scholarship, the Community Leaders Scholarship is a need-based program that fully covers students' financial need without loans. Those who receive the award, which includes transfer students from BPS, are paired with a BU faculty or staff mentor who helps them with the transition to the University.

Sarah Hadj Sahraoui (CAS'30), a biology student who attended Bunker Hill College before transferring to BU, is among this year's 59 Community Leaders Scholars.

"Boston University Community Leaders join BU having already proven themselves as leaders in high school or at their previous institutions, running nonprofits, leading peers in student government, volunteering at hospitals, and much more," says Clare Fitzgerald, associate director of BU Undergraduate Pathways Programs in the Office of the Provost. . "Ready to hit Commonwealth Avenue running, these students bring a commitment to and an understanding of the city of Boston that underscores President Gilliam's mission of making this Boston's University."

For Community Leaders scholar Sarah Hadj Sahraoui, transferring to BU from Bunker Hill Community College is an opportunity for her to help the immigrant community she grew up around in East Boston.

A child of Algerian immigrants, Hadj Sahraoui (CAS'30) saw firsthand how her neighbors struggled to not only afford healthcare but understand how to access and navigate that care in the first place. At BU, she's studying biology on her way to becoming a physician-and helping others access the care they need.

"As a physician, even though you're committed to helping others through your practice, your medicine, it's also important to educate your patients," Hadj Sahraoui says. "I feel like a lot of doctors don't have the same knowledge as us first-generation students. We bring something different to the field, and I'm excited to do that."

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