Pops and Its Sights

For the past 27 years, we’ve celebrated those firsts, and the donors who make them possible, at an occasion as joyous as it is momentous: the Pops on the Heights Barbara and Jim Cleary Scholarship Gala. Headlined this September by Leslie Odom Jr., the Tony and Grammy award-winning star of Hamilton, the event at Conte Forum sold out months in advance. Between Odom Jr.’s performance, as well as appearances by the BC Marching Band and University Chorale soloist Natalie Marsan ’21, and, of course, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the night lived up to its billing.

A continuation of founders Barbara and James ’50, H’93 Cleary’s pioneering vision, the event raised a staggering $12.3 million raised for the Boston College Scholarship Fund. It is, in short, impossible to overstate what this immense generosity means for the class of 2023. By giving so substantially to financial aid at BC, donors have made a profound impact on the lives of thousands of students, as well as the innumerable people they’ll go on to serve during and after their time at BC. Please enjoy our homage to our freshmen firsts, and consider making a donation today, so that next year’s class will have the gift of experiencing their own firsts at BC.