South Boston graduate receives $5,000 award for college
The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) announced the recipient of the annual scholarship honoring the memory of Tommy Butler, the long-time Massport Director of Government and Community Affairs and son of South Boston. The 2018 Thomas J. Butler Memorial Scholarship was awarded to South Boston resident Timothy Smyth.
“We are so excited to award Timothy with the Thomas J. Butler Scholarship,” said Massport CEO Thomas P. Glynn. “Timothy has shown a strong commitment to helping those in the South Boston and has followed Tommy’s example through his service. He has excelled as both a volunteer and a student, and that represents what we were looking for when we established the scholarship in memory of our friend and colleague Tommy Butler. We wish him the best in the years to come.”
The Thomas J. Butler Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to a student who resides in South Boston, is graduating from high school and has been accepted to an accredited college or university. Smyth is a graduate of Boston College High School, volunteers his time at South Boston Catholic Academy where he tutors youth and is a member of the Mayor’s Youth Council. He will be attending Boston College in the fall. In his essay, Smyth says, “it is a great honor to give back to the place that meant so much to my family and me.”
Butler was the former mayor of the South Boston Boys Club, Youth Counselor and then Director of Little City Hall in Charlestown, former president of the South Boston Citizens Association and member of the South Boston Irish American Society. When he arrived at Massport in 1987 as a manager of intergovernmental relations, he was a licensed social worker who had worked in the Boston Juvenile Court, and for the City of Boston.
To be considered for the Thomas J. Butler Scholarship, students are required to have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and submit an essay of 1,000 words describing their career interests or how their community service has affected their outlook on life. Scholarship essays are judged by a committee made up of Massport employees and a representative of the Butler family. Students interested in applying for the 2019 scholarship should visit www.massport.com/scholarships for eligibility requirements.
