Retired Westerville City School District teacher and 2020 Alston Award recipient Ann Morahan (L) is congratulated by Board of Education Member Tracy Davidson.
Members of the Westerville City Schools (WCS) Board of Education took a moment during their regular meeting on February 10, 2020, to recognize two students and a retired district educator who last month received prestigious awards during the Westerville Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Celebration.
Retired WCS teacher Ann Morahan received the Alston Award for being an advocate for immigrants and minorities, promoting and celebrating diversity and tolerance, and her involvement in BREAD (Building Responsible Equality and Dignity). McVay Elementary fourth-grader Fraser Hartnell and Westerville South High School senior Kandy Boakye each received a Fouse Award during the breakfast celebration (read more about these students’ accomplishments in this prior news release). Award recipients are nominated and selected based upon actions, activism, and leadership qualities that best exemplify those characteristics demonstrated by Dr. King.
The Fouse Award, presented annually to elementary and secondary students, is named in memory of William H. Fouse, who in 1884 became the first black graduate of Westerville’s two-year high school. He earned an undergraduate degree from Otterbein College and a master’s from the University of Cincinnati, became an esteemed educator, and later received an honorary doctorate from Otterbein.
The Alston Award is presented to a Westerville business or community member in honor of Miriam Alston, who in 1851 inherited nine slaves in her husband’s will and over time worked to obtain 21 more slaves from her husband’s nephews. She then sent all of the slaves north to be freed; their descendants became educators, lawyers, musicians, and veterans of almost every war.