hi i'm bobby riordan on behalf of the alumni and friends of bomb on high school here with me today as deena to salvia another belmont high along and we are here to talk a little bit about what she's doing with her life dina want to introduce herself sure i am us those are the don't know the alumni and friends of bomb on high school is a scholarship organization that was formed by a group of but when i school i'm nice some time back and each year they nominee and give scholarships to several several graduating seniors to help them as they move forward in their academic or professional careers and starting around dina's year was the first scholarships and it's continued since then so you were a class of zero nine nine and i know i was cost of oh wait there were several several recipients in my year and many of them like d n a have stayed in the community and been a part of it and done some great things so what happened what happened after where you wind up yes so i ended up going to under ground at syracuse university it was a very school i was looking at a much smaller liberal arts school by specifically got into their film program there so that was kind of you know go ahead for me like that is what i want to do actually i do have to give credit a little bit to the belmont media center here influenced my decision in going to syracuse because i really wanted to explore media and film starting from you know attending a class at dollar high that they put on so it's really nice to see that this is grown into something much bigger and has a great positive impact on the bone community yes a really it was belmont high in the media center that helped helped her move on which is great to see and you look at who would have known all these years later you came full circle so yeah  what did you feel obviously you got the scholarship you and several others from your grade that was obviously helpful to you as a student just talk a little bit about that yeah so i received the scholarship as well as three other of my peers and it was it definitely was something that helped in in you know my path and bec going undergrad and helping me pursue my passion for film also i minored in english so i really had this storytelling kind of desire so it definitely helped me and in reaching those goals and i was also the class president of my high school class so i think it also was a great way to partner with our graduating class and with the alumni friends of all the high school because we've already had our fifth year reunion and partnering with two thousand and nine we've been able to give back to the school with that partnership so i think it definitely has been a part of my life even after undergrad and you know helping me pursue my my dreams or my aspirations but also much further than that down the line like as were adults and we're giving back to our  communities and how they've influence us but it's amazing how time flies you said that you've already had your fifth year reunion as coming up on another big milestone we don't need to talk about that so you've said that your class kind of gave to the high school and to be a just can you talk a little bit about what you guys did and how you felt it important to get involved where you went from there yes so i had i was the cost president but we had three other four of their officers  not everybody could be in attendance of the actual event but everybody contributed to the planning and across the board was a consensus of you know we're this is going to be a ticket event we're hoping a lot of people can attend because we're not that far out of high school and people are so local to the area but you know in the crossword again in the back of our minds is we want to be able to give back to the commune because it was such a positive impact on all of our lives you know and we had a very varied i think for you know class president vice president secretary some were really into music some were really into theater sports and i think the consensus of giving back came from all those different great experiences out on high and we knew that right away we should be considering a partnership and that was if b h us which is great to hear and obviously like you said there were so many different people in your in your grade that received it from so many different disciplines and the nice thing about the scholarship as i'm sure you would agree is that it recognizes students from a variety of different backgrounds different strengths and different fields that they wish to go into and it's really not not something that forces you into one career path as maybe some of some other scholarships might or something like that it really supports the student and their individual interests wouldn't you say yeah absolutely and i think it's great that i mean the scholarship was given before my class and before i was or cyprian but that it's continued with these classes i mean i have cousins graduating high school and it's kind of crazy that think that they are there doing that but i also see them transitioning into undergrad or pursuing their dreams and i'm like you know it's just as important now it was back then  because i can see the impact on future graduating classes and i know you've attended some of the meetings and receptions that have been hosted by b h s and that are i would say a great networking opportunity to meet so many people from beyond the young alumni group that we know i mean obviously we grew up around the same time you know a lot of the same people but if you look back belmont has been in existence for years and there's so many other people that are now part of the community that have really become out of the salon association and he introduced me to so many along there that again were those who have very generation heard a lot of football stories from my cousin got to attend she is older than me four years older and she was also her the class president of her grade another a law that was invited but couldn't attend attended syracuse so you know it's you just being makes the world a lot's more like smaller and it also means boston that much smaller in that you can you know we're part of greater boston right here in belmont and there are so many opportunities in this city that coming back to your roots and but also realizing that you have this bigger network of your high school not only the tapping into your network of your college or university it's there and belmont i think having that presence in the city is really important especially again for the next generations of graduating classes now the color just behind you and everything else are you back being a part of the belmont community i'm guessing you're still involved here locally so i'm back i'm living in belmont i work in boston i'm in the tech community which is huge and in essentially exploding and really putting boston on the map as like a hub not only for education which has always  but in innovation and i recently took a job but six months ago that i was really proud to have made that move because it's with a very innovated innovative company  tying that back to belmont again by keeping my network in mind keeping in mind that i have roots here so through my relatives through my friends i think that moving back and becoming more like involved with a partnership like a if are with my graduating classes is something that is a definite goal for me  you know as far as like getting involved with you know maybe extra curricular that i like coach soccer around town that's been a really great way to see a lot younger generations but it feels like giving back to  certainly is i mean you look at you look at a lot of these younger kids that you're coaching at a very young age then they'll be graduating and pretty soon they'll be sitting in the seat that you're sitting in saying where they are right with regard to young folks you've obviously been through belmont you've gone through college what would you say to the class of twenty a team who's nearing the end of their high school career or and folks who are younger in their high school career as far as how to make the most of that opportunity in moving forward yeah i was very you know when i look back on my high school career i came in as a very naive  freshman i was a soccer player i think my whole world revolves around that i played like club when i was in middle school and i played town and i was going to play soccer and that was going to be it and all my friends played soccer and something happened with during my freshman year that definitely changed my whole outlook on like becoming involved right as a young person without going into too much detail that whatever happened meaning you know that change in my mindset allowed me to open up and expand my interests so i got not only involved in soccer but i got involved in hockey which i never played around involved in the cross never played lacrosse rape got involved in theatre actually started as a techie who worked in the background  then i worked my way up and i was in a short play so i was actually on stage and i was acting became a director i joined belmont media you know expanding again my interests are not involved in government so student government there was definitely a big change for me a spotlight was on you public speaking it was the challenge that really like kind of gravitated towards like this is new i might not be good at this and i think that high school you can't be afraid to try new things and it's only going to set you up when you do take that next step where you take advantage of a scholarship that has been given to you like when you take advantage of an opportunity to go to a big school or a small school you take the opportunity to go into a tree and you know if you've experimental in high school as a young person i think you'll be better equipped to know what you want in the future and that it's ok to mess up like i think like young people you know my little cousins graduating this year she's going to colby for basketball and i can't wait and it's going to be a involved in your collegiate activities as well you know once you get to university or college take that same mindset of it's ok to experiment and kind of go for it so and some basically just get involved in everything you  interest in and obviously your path will find itself from there yeah which is very good advice i mean certainly i can speak for myself that i didn't know where i wanted to be when i was a high school student you know what sounds like was very much the same i can only think of the so many more others that are in that same boat and the great thing about a v h s is they really support folks like us and the current alumni who are trying to find their path and really supports them so that they can fulfill their dreams and i think the awareness you know from doing this interview or partnering with them and giving back you know in the form of you know after our five year union i think that that's go that's really going to help promote like the exploration for kids because even when you get to the next level after high school like you may need that will help support from the scholarship but like you also need to explore during that stage and in your career i'm sorry you feel the same way too as you probably graduated undergrad and you're still with that same mindset of i'm going to explore different things and find my path i think it's always a always good for somebody to be  part of anyone who's interested in getting more involved it's completely volunteer run so obviously anyone that's willing to help or get involved in some way to share their talent i would say as dana pointed out earlier the so many different talents that come out of bomb one high school and we really need need to par everyone to be a part of it as best they can and certainly to spread the word about what this great organization does so thank you very much dina for coming in today you for the opportunity this is great i really appreciate it thank you