Celebrating student wins: 2025 recap

Boost Fund For Students is impacting the lives of students across Central Massachusetts through financial awards that help non-traditional students earn an entry-level professional license or certification. Using a crowdfunding model, awards have been made to 4 student cohorts since our launch in October 2024.

The year proved how transformative gifts from caring donors can be! All in all, we've provided grants to cover schooling expenses for 37 students this year!  These awards allowed students already enrolled and making progress toward a credential to pay for uniforms, tuition, books, gas, and certification exam fees so they could get across the finish line to launch their career dreams.

Practical Nurses fill vital roles in healthcare and earn family-supporting wages

This year kicked off with a moving ceremony to distribute $5,200 in grants to nursing students at a regional vocational school. Meet them and hear their stories in this video.

Click to hear the inspiring stories from nursing students who received grants in January. The Boost Fund For Students community raised $5,200 in Fall 2024

In June, BFFS founder Donna attended the Practical Nursing graduation ceremony and cheered for all 17 of the students we supported as they all crossed the stage to receive their completion certificates. So inspired by the resilience and determination they showed to reach this milestone!

This Fall, the latest fundraiser sent another $4,000 to Nursing students currently in evening school in the class of 2026. Monty Tech's Practical Nursing is a difficult 10-month intensive course of study leading up to the licensing exam in July. Time-strapped students often cut back on work hours for school, and the midyear cash infusion of a Boost Fund award provides financial relief and also validation and encouragement. Sending financial support reminds students that their goals matter, and the community believes in their potential.

Fall 2025 grant recipients describe how their award helps with more than just the expenses:

"I am sincerely grateful to the donors for believing in my potential and investing in my journey. Your generosity has relieved financial stress."

"Thank you for holding my hand during this difficult time when I am struggling financially. You saved me at the right time when I needed the funds desperately. I appreciate and thank you so much."

"Thank you. So much for this generosity and kindness plus support. This means so much to me. It shows that the effort i have put into my studies have been seen and am being recognized which is super important to me . I really appreciate this. In the future i want to go ahead and purse a bachelors in nursing so doing my LPN program is going to be a huge rock in my foundation."

Holyoke Community College awardees demonstrate their skills

April provided a chance to visit the state-of-the-art nursing education labs and meet 8 Practical Nursing students nearing the completion of their year-long course who received awards donated by Boost Fund supporters. As you can imagine, these full-time students who'd been parenting and studying since August were exhausted but excited about launching their careers, and the cash infusion from our BFFS grant helped provide that extra momentum to get through the final months before their new chapter as professional nurses could begin.

Computer Technicians go for a resume-boosting certification

Boost Fund grants are designed to help with out of pocket expenses for occupational training, but not always direct schooling costs. This Spring we worked with the staff of The Tech Foundry training program in Springfield to chose an award that could best boost their students' chance of success. Tech Foundry has designed an innovative 5-month full time program that prepares students for work in many entry-level technical roles needed at large employers across the region. The training is provided at no cost to students, but it is still a struggle to carve out time and cut back on work hours to attend the months-long training, while maintaining financial commitments that we all face as adults.

Boost Fund For Students donors pooled our contributions into nearly $1,400 to pay the exam fees for 6 promising students so they could take the CompTIA A+ certification exam after their program at Tech Foundry concluded. This exam is an industry-recognized credential that opens doors to additional salary and opportunity, but the cost of sitting for the test is out of reach for most Tech Foundry students.

The staff at Tech Foundry selected 6 promising students to receive scholarships for the exam preparation materials and test fees this summer. The students have reported that having this support encouraged them to study even harder, and the exam study materials enhanced their interview readiness. We congratulated the students (pictured below) at their graduation ceremony in June and hope to hear great results as they went out into the workforce this Fall.

Sending big thank yous to all of the donors who made these gifts possible in 2025! Help us keep this momentum going by sending a tax deductible donation today.