Posted
February 01, 2023
Congratulations to Mary Anne Crampton, the 2023 recipient of St. Ed's Martin Luther King, Jr. Award. Mary Anne has been a long-time civic activist and currently serves as Board Chair at Three Arches Foundation, which seeks to improve equitable access to healthcare. She has taken action in historic preservation and giving back to the community as the co-founder of LakewoodAlive and has dedicated years of service as the Ohio Lead for City Gun Violence Prevention for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She was even invited to attend President Biden's White House signing of the BiPartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun safety law of the century. Mary Anne, a former St. Ed's Board of Trustees officer and member and proud parent of two St. Ed's graduates, Andrew '03 and Chris '08, was awarded this honor at this week's MLK prayer service, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This year's MLK prayer service at St. Ed's switched things up and invited Mary Anne to participate in an informal interview with VP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Dr. James Knight to share her story with the community. "Some of the questions that were asked were compiled by our students and it gives our honoree an opportunity to speak to them in a more contemporary and relevant way that we feel might resonate and connect more with our students," says Dr. Knight. "For example, some questions that students thought would be awesome to ask of our honoree are, 'What prompted you to become an advocate for social justice?' 'How did you find your voice?' and 'How has the spirit and legacy of Dr. King touched your life and inspired you?' and lastly, 'How can you encourage our students to be instruments of change in this ongoing fight for justice?'"
Additionally, this year's service welcomed well-known gospel singer Lucretia Bolden ministering in song to our students along with her daughter, Lacretia Bolden. A Christian band played live music and the service concluded with a surprise appearance by Christian hip hop artist, AG 2G, who performed his song entitled "Keys." The song, written and performed by Minister Brandon Ammons, talked about using our gifts as keys to be a blessing to our community in order to encourage others and be a light of hope within our world.