The Golden Ticket

arvis Goosby ’24 had spent his whole life in Houston, Texas. He served each week in his family’s Baptist church, was a star student at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, and had a large circle of local family and friends. When it came time for college he set his sights farther afield, seeking out a personal and academic challenge equal to his ambition. 

Accepted at several elite schools, Jarvis painstakingly researched each, ultimately choosing Boston College for both its rigor and its reputation. But, he knew, it would take more than an acceptance letter to actually attend. His mother had been ill for many years before she died of cancer, so he’d lived most of his life with his grandparents, a retired couple living on fixed incomes. 

“My grandmother insisted that every night we get down on our knees and pray that God would make a way,” says Jarvis. “Then I got my financial aid package from BC, and I knew our prayers had been answered.” 

In his time at the Heights, Jarvis has worked on original research with faculty, risen to a leadership role at his campus job, built an exceptional circle of friends and mentors, and landed a truly transformative internship with a Boston business magnate. Thanks to his hard work—and the generous Boston College community—he’s built a resume of academic and professional experiences that he says were “more than I could have ever dreamed.”  

Seizing Every Opportunity

Jarvis came to BC determined to gain both the knowledge and the network he’d need to succeed as a lawyer, his dream career since childhood. His first year, he took part in Options Through Education (OTE), a seven-week summer academic program for new students who have overcome challenging circumstances, and he elected to live in the Shaw Leadership House, a living and learning community that provides seminars, retreats, and mentorship for motivated students. Like many Eagles who rely on financial aid, Jarvis also took on several campus jobs to help cover his daily expenses, including as an administrative assistant at the Office of the Dean of Students where he worked all four years.

In a first-year seminar, Jarvis began working with Visiting Professor Nora Gross, a sociologist who studies the impact of gun violence among young men and political polarization among students in elite high schools. What began as a class project turned into a two-year collaboration as Jarvis helped Gross with research and editing for her 2024 book, Brothers in Grief, as well as an upcoming journal article for which he is listed as co-author—a major coup for an undergraduate. 

Jarvis points to multiple faculty and staff who provided counsel through his time at BC—Taylor Perkins, associate director at the Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action; Teresa Cella ‘99, JD’03, who taught real estate law at the Carroll School of Management; numerous academic advisors who kept him on track for graduation; even Vice Provost for Enrollment Management John Mahoney, now retired, with whom he’d struck up a friendship based on a shared love of books. But it was Joana Maynard, his original OTE advisor, who he says served as an anchor throughout all four years. “She has been such a voice of reason in learning how to navigate college,” says Jarvis. “She taught me that it’s my education, and I should tailor it to fit me.”

An Extraordinary Internship

By his second year he’d become increasingly active in the Corcoran Center, took a leadership role in the student-led Real Estate Club, and landed a summer internship at the national nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing. “I started taking more classes within the BC real estate core, learning about the business of real estate—almost a kind of tunnel vision.”

His focus paid off in a big way when he had the opportunity to meet the chairman and CEO of Suffolk Construction, John F. Fish—also chair of the University’s Board of Trustees and a proud BC parent—at an event hosted by the BC Alumni Association’s Real Estate Council.

“I was immediately impressed by Jarvis’s character and intellectual curiosity,” says Fish, who went on to meet with Jarvis separately and encouraged him to apply for an internship at his firm. Jarvis impressed the Suffolk team with his passion for learning. “It was clear that he was special,” Fish recalls, “so I asked that he work directly with me.”

Then came a whirlwind summer, as Jarvis shadowed Fish from morning to night, traveling to Suffolk’s branch offices; donning hard hats for site visits; meeting with Suffolk’s marketing, legal, HR, and other teams; and generally getting a CEO-level insider’s look at the firm’s operations. He put his research skills to use preparing briefings for the dozens of meetings Fish held each week, and he managed several special projects for Fish and his executive team.

A highlight of the internship was when Fish invited Jarvis to accompany him at a Real Estate Roundtable meeting in Washington, D.C., a high-powered event where the young man from Texas found himself mingling with the country’s top real estate developers and lenders as well as national political leaders. “It was just a fantastic learning experience,” says Jarvis.

Fish says the summer internship was formative for him as well as Jarvis, helping him to reflect on his own leadership style and the people he hires. “Jarvis has a unique balance of IQ and EQ that not many people have,” says Fish. “He is a committed student and is ambitious, but he also cares deeply about building relationships with people.”

Lifting as He Climbs

Fish says Jarvis’s story is a testament to the impact of donor support on individuals and communities. “He’s had the opportunity to develop as a person, student, and now as a professional, first at Cristo Rey and now at Boston College,” says Fish. “These opportunities opened doors for Jarvis that otherwise would not have been available, but he has not forgotten where he came from. He takes seriously the commitment of ‘men and women for others.’”

As one of the first in his neighborhood to attend an elite university, Jarvis feels a responsibility to help students back home aim high and pursue their dreams as well. When he is home visiting family, he spends time at church working with younger students on how to prepare for college, write personal statements, fill out financial aid applications, and most importantly, make the transition to college.

“I tell them I’m always there for them,” says Jarvis. “I’ll hop on a Zoom call to talk through their applications; I’ve talked on panel discussions, anything to help make it easier for the next kid from my neighborhood to make it to BC or somewhere like it.”

Jarvis was only able to come to Boston College because of the University’s commitment to meeting the full demonstrated need of its students—a key priority for the current Soaring Higher campaign. A sizable portion of his aid was covered by an endowed scholarship established by Robert J. Murray ’62, P’90, ’93, ’97, a self-described “poor Irish kid” from Dorchester who credits BC with giving him both the tools and the vision to succeed in business.
“I want [students] to have the same shot at success that I had,” Murray said in a 2018 interview. “That’s the BC legacy I want to create.”

After four years as a Robert J. Murray Scholar, Jarvis has fulfilled all his benefactor’s hopes and then some. “I know I wouldn’t be here without his generous gift,” he says. “I aspire to be in a position like that one day where I could sponsor a kid and make their dreams come true.”