Shelltz Pierre

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“My dad was this big light. He was hilarious, and he was the only person who didn’t make me want to rip my hair out,” explains Shelltz Pierre, a composed and joyful sophomore on a recent Zoom interview with the Catholic Schools Foundation (CSF). “I was always a daddy’s girl.”

In March 2020, Shelltz was finding her rhythm during her freshman year at The Cambridge Matignon School when the COVID-19 pandemic altered her life forever. Like most of the world, Shelltz and her family watched as businesses closed, her school pivoted to remote learning, and social distancing measures were implemented across the nation. 

By April, Shelltz’s father, an essential worker at a local grocery store, succumbed to complications related to COVID-19.

“When my dad passed, I cried, and then within the hour, I got myself together and I went to class,” Shelltz shares. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to let this stop me. I need to sit down and start reevaluating my priorities.’”

Shelltz is one of over 700 students within the Boston Archdiocese who received an emergency scholarship from CSF’s emergency fund to help families who were financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one of the most difficult moments of her life, Shelltz’s school community was the difference maker. Shelltz explains that she informed her school immediately of her father’s passing, and her teachers united in support. 

“They were so understanding. They were reaching out constantly, teachers were sending me gifts because they didn’t know what else to do,” says Shelltz.

With tuition payments looming, Shelltz’s mother was unsure what to do, having lost a significant amount of income in addition to the painful loss of her husband. Tim Welsh, headmaster of The Cambridge Matignon School, utilized CSF’s emergency fund process, which was ramped up to include additional application rounds and support throughout the spring and summer, to provide a necessary scholarship to keep Shelltz in her school. However, the need has never been greater for in-need families across greater Boston, and CSF plans to continue its fundraising efforts to help more students like Shelltz at the upcoming Annual Celebration event on April 15th.

CSF has distributed $1.6M in emergency scholarships and extraordinary support to its students and schools since the pandemic began. Because of the foundation’s community response, hundreds of students, like Shelltz, received the support they needed during a time of crisis so their education and school support was uninterrupted. 

“Shelltz’s resolve is remarkable, and it is stories like hers that give our work meaning,” says Mike Reardon, executive director of CSF. “During grave uncertainty, the CSF community stepped up to show these students that the world believes in what they can accomplish. We are honored to be able to support so many students through such a challenging time in their young lives.”

As for Shelltz, her future is bright. She has big dreams of running a business and pursuing her passion of singing. 

“My heart is in California. I so badly want to go,” explains Shelltz. “UCLA is calling my name.”

The Catholic Schools Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding educational access to low-income students in greater Boston. Through its signature program, the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, more than 4,000 students each year receive scholarship aid to attend local high-quality Catholic schools.

You can meet more students like Shelltz at the Catholic School Foundation’s Annual Inner-City Scholarship Fund Celebration, being held virtually on April 15, 2021. 

Learn more and register for the event here.