This is the 12th year of the Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award.It is given in recognition that a Boston Trinity Academy education prepares students for leadership and service in college and beyond. We are delighted and proud to honor Toni Oloko with this year’s Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award. He was recognized for his contribution in the area of business and entrepreneurship.
Toni’s time at Boston Trinity Academy set him on his current path. When Toni spoke BTA’s Spring Banquet during his senior year, he credited the school with giving him the faith and confidence to apply to “an Ivy League university that was out of my league.” That same year, Toni focused his Symposium research paper on a subject he is still passionate about, economic justice. In his paper, he challenged for-profit companies to accept ethical responsibility for social justice initiatives.
It was also during Toni’s senior year that he developed an app called PracticeGigs. He received funding for the app after he graduated and decided to take a gap year as an Entrepreneur in Residence at a large, early-stage Boston Venture Capital firm. For this innovation, he was recognized by Boston Globe Magazine in 2014.
Toni attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he contributed to the growth of another multi-billion-dollar tech startup called Go-Puff. These experiences helped him launch Dandy, a biotech startup, with his co-founder and college friend, Dan Hanover. Dandy has simplified and improved dental lab work using digital tools. The company currently employs over 800 people and is valued at over $1.4 billion. Toni and Dan were named to the 2022 Forbes 30 under 30 list for their work in Enterprise Tech at Dandy.
Just as important as his success in the private sector, Toni remains a man of deep faith and is committed to giving back to his community. He currently serves on the Board of Youth Cities, the Boston entrepreneurship mentoring program that supported him when he was in high school. Toni is also a generous supporter of Boston Trinity.
“I am honored to be a graduate of Boston Trinity Academy as people so often ask where I went to high school. Much of my thinking and success should be attributed to BTA. This school has opened doors for me, but most importantly, empowered me to do and be more. BTA truly changed my life.”
This is the 11th year of the Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award, and it is given in recognition that a Boston Trinity Academy education prepares students for leadership and service in college and beyond. Vincenzo “Vinny” DeRosa leads a life of faith, integrity, and service, and by his own account, his Boston Trinity Academy education prepared him to become a servant-leader. Since graduating from BTA in 2014, Vinny attended Saint John’s University in Queens, NY majoring in History with a dual minor in Theology and Philosophy. He was a member of the President’s Society at St. John’s and also enrolled in the ROTC program and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant 1 day before graduating.
After graduation, he went on to the Infantry Officer Basic Leadership Course at Ft Benning, Georgia where he learned the fundamentals of being an Infantry Officer, then on to Ranger School. In addition to becoming a US Army Ranger, he has earned his Air Assault Wings, Airborne Wings, Pathfinder Badge, and has graduated the Infantry Mortar Leader Course. He is currently completing his time as a Rifle Platoon Leader while also serving as the Training Officer for his Battalion. Vinny helped stand up a 1000 soldier Task Force that assisted 70 hospitals, 66 nursing homes,12 EMS facilities throughout the commonwealth from late December through early April as his battalion helped medical facilities with staffing due to critical shortages from COVID. He just celebrated his first month of marriage to his beautiful wife Elizabeth, and they live in West Roxbury. They are active at Saint Mary of the Assumption Church in Dedham where he is involved in a ministry at church called i-thirst which helps provide clean water to a vulnerable village in Nigeria. We are delighted and proud to honor Vinny DeRosa with this year’s Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award.
Vincenzo “Vinny” DeRosa ’14 is the 2022 Alumni Recognition Award recipient. By his own admission, Vinny was not a strong student at Boston Trinity. However, his education planted the seeds that led to him becoming a groundbreaking servant-leader.
Vinny says, “When I came to BTA, my ego was out of control, and I was the center of my own universe. But my faith was fostered in this community. I had the opportunity to be around people who are genuinely good. Now, my decisions are guided by how I can serve God and my neighbor.”
The tenth year recipient of the Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award is Zach Ravichandran.
Zachary Ravichandran leads a life of faith, integrity, and service and by his own account, his Boston Trinity Academy education prepared him to become a servant-leader. After graduating BTA in 2014, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and during summers, he worked as an intern software engineer for BAE Systems, MITRE Corporation, and Trip Advisor.
Zac graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2018 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. He now works at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he focuses on robotics and computer vision.
He also serves as a Boston Fellow because of his love of and service to others based on the redemptive love of Jesus. One of his nominators commented, “Although a quiet leader and one not to boast of his accomplishments, Zachary Ravichandran takes every task seriously, stewarding his energy and resources to promote God’s justice.”
We are delighted and proud to honor Zac Ravichandran with this year’s Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award.
Emilie is a Boston Trinity Academy alumna from the class of 2013. After graduating BTA, she took a gap year during which she served with a church in Turkey. She then matriculated at University of Virginia, graduating there with honors in 2017. After college, she moved to Turkey where she served Syrian refugees through a local church for five years. In Turkey, she met her husband Siwar and had two children, Joy (4) and Ayaz (2). The Osman family returned to Boston in 2023 and Emilie is now on staff at Boston Trinity teaching 10th grade humanities.
This is the eighth year of the Boston Trinity Academy Alumni Recognition Award, and it is given in recognition that a Boston Trinity Academy education prepares students for leadership and service in college and beyond.
Joqui Girón-Meléndez entered Boston Trinity Academy in 2002 as part of our first eighth grade class. She is the daughter of Honduran immigrants who made their home in Chelsea, MA. Her first language was Spanish, and her public transportation commute to and from school was long and arduous. She graduated BTA in 2007, and attended Gordon College thanks to receiving their prestigious Clarendon Scholarship.
Joqui Girón-Meléndez has participated in nearly every major milestone at Boston Trinity Academy. She was an 8th grader when Boston Trinity opened its doors in Brookline and a 12th grader when the school moved to Hyde Park. After graduating from Gordon College, Joqui returned as a teacher from 2011-2021. Ms. Girón-Meléndez, as she is known to her students, credits Boston Trinity for changing her life.
Joqui recalls, “I didn’t want to go to Boston Trinity. I wanted to stay in my public school. My parents took me out because I was developing a bad attitude, and they didn’t like who I was becoming.” Soon after arriving at the school, Joqui felt the gaps in her academics compared to her peers. “They seemed to do things so seamlessly. I thought, no, I don’t want to go back to public school. I need to stay here and grow.” And she did. As a student, she became a leader in several areas of school life, particularly Chapel band. “Little by little, I started taking my faith seriously, and Ilearned what leadership was. I also saw that learning in all of its definitions takes place at Boston Trinity. Not just academic and spiritual learning, but people discover themselves here.”
After graduating in the Class of 2007, Joqui returned four years later as a teacher. “I wanted to give back to my community and be a part of Boston Trinity’s history.” She quickly became one of the most beloved faculty members. Joqui served as Dean of Students, one of the chief leadership positions at the school, and she is the 2019 Alumni Recognition Award recipient. Thanks to her unique perspective, Joqui can see how far Boston Trinity has come. “The school has grown in every way. There’s more diversity of students, faculty, and staff. In terms of faith, the school is more diverse in Christian practices and traditions, which makes Chapel services richer.” Joqui moved to Chicago with her family last summer. She is an online Spanish teacher and Dean of Students at Gravitas, the global extension at Stony Brook School. She maintains a deep love for Boston Trinity and continues to support the school from afar.
“Boston Trinity is such a special place. When you leave, even if you’ve only been there for just a year, you’re a better person for it. The presence of God is at Boston Trinity, and it’s amazing to see everyone’s lives transformed. I’ve certainly been transformed.”