Fourteen Boston Public School Students Recognized For Outstanding Achievement
Boston, Mass. - May 15, 2026 – As part of its longstanding commitment to supporting education, Boston public media producer GBH today announced the 2026 recipients of the Paula S. Apsell GBH STEM Scholarship. Fourteen Boston public high school graduates will each receive a $2,500 award toward post-secondary STEM education.
The scholarship is named for Paula Apsell, Senior Executive Producer Emerita of the science series NOVA, which is produced by GBH and seen nationally on PBS. The scholarship application process is open to all Boston public high school seniors planning post-secondary education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“At GBH, we believe that the curious minds in our local classrooms today will lead tomorrow’s breakthroughs,” said GBH President and CEO Susan Goldberg. “We are honored to invest in the academic journeys of these brilliant Boston Public Schools students and remain dedicated to empowering the next generation of big thinkers and problem solvers.”
The scholarship recipients represent six Boston public schools: Another Course to College, Boston Latin School, Charlestown High School, John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science, New Mission High School, and The English High School. These students plan to study STEM related fields at colleges and universities across the country and the globe this fall, including, Bryn Mawr College, Dartmouth College, Fitchburg State University, Harvard University, MIT, Morehouse College, Simmons University, Suffolk University, Tufts University, University of Edinburgh, UMass Amherst, and UMass Lowell.
To date, 92 students representing high schools from across the city have received the scholarship, which launched in 2020 and is endowed by GBH for 10 years. More about the students can be foundhere.
The 2026 Paula S. Apsell GBH STEM Scholarship Recipients
GBH’s commitment to education is at the heart of its mission, harnessing the power of media to bridge educational gaps, spark curiosity, and build confidence in learners of all ages. This includes a variety of resources and initiatives, from High School Quiz Show, which celebrates the academic excellence of local students in a televised competition, to the thousands of ready-to-use, standards-aligned, and purpose-built educational resources for PreK-12 educators and students available for free on PBS LearningMedia, public media’s flagship digital learning service.
About GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH produces digital and broadcast programming that engages, illuminates and inspires, through drama and science, history, arts, culture and journalism. GBH is the creator of such signature programs as MASTERPIECE, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, FRONTLINE, NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and ARTHUR and Molly of Denali and a catalog of streaming series, podcasts and on-demand video. GBH’s television channels include GBH 2, GBH 44, GBH Kids and national services GBH WORLD and Create. With studios and a newsroom headquartered in Boston, GBH reaches across New England with GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; CRB Classical 99.5; CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station, and as a partner to New England Public Media in Springfield. Dedicated to making media accessible to and representative of our diverse culture, GBH is a pioneer in delivering media to audience members who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. With PBS LearningMedia, GBH creates curriculum-based digital content for educators nationwide. GBH’s local programming includes Boston Public Radio, GBH News Rooted, Stories from the Stage, The Culture Show, The Curiosity Desk, and High School Quiz Show. GBH has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards. Find more information at gbh.org.
