Boston Scenes

Former South African President Nelson Mandela waves as he leaves his hotel in London last Thursday. He was in the United Kingdom to celebrate his 90th birthday, which saw a concert held in his honor at Hyde Park, with the proceeds going to his 46664 charity. For more on the anti-apartheid icon’s birthday, click here. (AP photo/Simon Dawson)

State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (left) spends time with a young man at a new “Read While You Wait” playspace for children opened by Horizons for Homeless Children. The nonprofit organization opened the new space for children at the Dudley Square and Boston Family Housing Transitional Assistance offices, intended to provide children of families utilizing Department of Transitional Assistance services with a chance to play, read and learn in a safe setting. (Photo courtesy of Horizons for Homeless Children)

 

Thomas I. Atkins, Boston’s first black city councilor, an NAACP leader and a committed believer in both the power of education and the right to its equal pursuit, passed away last Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was 69. For more, click here. (Banner file photo)

 

The best, the brightest and the youngest: Two-year-old Gregory Belgrade is the youngest student in “The Drum Experience” program at Dudley Branch Library. The community music program is directed by Salim Rahman, sponsored by the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers Inc. (MAMLEO) and funded by the Fellowes Athenaeum Trust Fund. (Photo courtesy of MAMLEO)

Nine Boston-area students were members of the 128th graduating class of Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, which held its commencement exercises on June 12. (Seated, from left); Joanne Barbosa, Orobasa Ogbahon and Samira Pontes, all of Dorchester. (Standing, from left): Alyssa Watkins of West Roxbury; Marquita James of Dorchester; Kenya Simms, Joanne Gomes, Aixa Marcial and Kaibeth Peña-Cruz, all of Roxbury. (Photo courtesy of Miller Studio Boston)

Connie Y. Chan (center), a recent graduate of Boston Latin Academy, last week received the first City of Boston/Turner Broadcasting System Inc. Scholarship at a City Hall ceremony. The $2,500 prize will be presented annually to a student graduating from the Boston Public Schools (BPS) who plans to pursue college and a career in the field of media communications. Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) and BPS Superintendent Dr. Carol R. Johnson commended Chan for her academic record and her achievements in Web and graphic design. (Photo courtesy of Boston Public Schools)