Instructors and students of Greater Lowell Technical High School joined representative of the Officer Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund display the bench that students recently constructed for fund's annual golf tournament. Courtesy photo/Greater Lowell Technical High School

TYNGSBOROUGH, Mass. — Jillian Davis, superintendent of Greater Lowell Technical High School, recently announced that six students received scholarships from the Officer Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund.

The fund was established to honor the memory of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier. At the age of 27, he was killed in the line of duty on April 18, 2013 by Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

This past June, Collier Fund Executive Director Richard Sullivan and Joseph Rogers, Collier’s stepfather, visited the school to provide the $500 scholarships and tools to the students who have worked collaboratively with the fund.

For the past five years, Greater Lowell Tech students in the Carpentry, Metal Fabrication and Automotive Collision programs have made plaques and benches for the Collier Fund’s annual golf tournament using the skills they have learned in their shops to benefit a community organization.

This year’s golf tournament will honor Waltham, Mass. Police Officer Paul Tracey and National Grid worker Roderick Jackson, both of whom were killed in a crash at a construction site in Waltham on Dec. 6, 2023. The bench, constructed by students, will be displayed at the tournament and then donated to the Waltham Police Department.

This year, Sullivan and Rogers visited the school to thank the students for their work, provided them with a pizza lunch and awarded scholarships to seniors Ayden Young and Guillermo Montijo of the Carpentry program, seniors Lucas Dagg and Keller Whitton of the Metal Fabrication program as well as seniors Jaimien Diaz and Shayne Kerrigan of the Auto Collision program.

“We strongly felt the need to show our appreciation to the students and instructors for the outstanding work they have done for us,” said Sullivan. “I feel it’s important to make sure the work these students do is acknowledged. It is our goal to carry on this event each year.”

“I am incredibly proud of these students for applying the technical skills they’ve acquired to support the Officer Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund and give back to the community,” said Davis. “Their efforts truly highlight the importance and impact of a career technical education.”