Upper Arlington Alumni Association announces 2022 Alumni Award winners

Writers who recounted the untold history of one of the community's Black ancestors and America's obsession with body image, a Paralympic athlete, a triathlete and nutritional health researcher and a technology entrepreneur are this year's Upper Arlington Alumni Association Award winners.

In addition to organizing fundraisers for Upper Arlington Schools projects and programs, the Upper Arlington Alumni Association helps connect Upper Arlington High School graduates and shine light on their accomplishments.

The latter part of those objectives was made difficult the past two years, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the UAAA to cancel annual festivities coordinated with the July 4 celebration.

This year, the UAAA has a full slate of activities planned, including an open house 1-4 p.m. July 2 where UAHS guests and members of the community are invited to tour the new Upper Arlington High School, 1625 Zollinger Road, and recognize achievements of past graduates.

A centerpiece of the planned activities is the UAAA's Alumni Awards ceremony, which was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on July 2 at the high school.

The 2022 UAAA Alumni Awards are going to:

• Distinguished Alumni Award: Leslie Lehr, class of 1977, and Chris Gladwin, class of 1982

• Outstanding Alumni Award: Kim Shoemaker Starr, class of 1973

• Inspiring Young Alumni Award: Blake Haxton, class of 2009, and John Lowrey, class of 2010.

According to information provided by the UAAA, Lehr attended Windermere Elementary, where her passion emerged through writing poetry and continued at Hastings Middle School, where she wrote the Hastings Hotline for a weekly newspaper. She also was president of WARL-TV, writing and producing shows for UAHS' local cable channel.

Today, Lehr is the prize-winning author of seven books, personal essays and screenplay, and she taught for more than a decade in the writer’s program at UCLA.

Her memoir, "A Boob’s Life: How America’s Obsession Shaped Me ... and You" is being developed into a comedy TV series for HBO, produced by Salma Hayek. Lehr will serve as executive producer.  The book was a No. 1 bestseller on Amazon in Feminist Theory, called a "must-read" by People magazine, and combines memoir with research and cultural analysis.  In it, Leslie shares her own experiences with breast envy, breastfeeding, breast implants and breast cancer.

Reached by phone June 27, Lehr said she was surprised when she was told she would be honored by the UAAA but was looking forward to returning to Upper Arlington from the Los Angeles area to be recognized.

"It's a lot of emotions," Lehr said. "For me, it feels good to be recognized for trying to do something really good in the world.

"I write to entertain, but also to inform and inspire."

Although she was envious of the "beautiful girls" in her class who were popular and received attention throughout high school, Lehr said she was impacted by the access to books at her schools growing up.

"Looking back, that was a huge advantage for me," Lehr said. "I think encouragement from teachers there made a huge difference and the access to books, I think it really encouraged a love of reading.

"I never planned to be a writer. I always wrote to vent and to have a voice. It's like magic using words and creating a story. It's just amazing when it can really touch people."

Gladwin graduated from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering.

According to the UAAA's website, he's since launched "many technology start-ups including CleverSafe, which he sold to IBM, making many of his long-time employees multi-millionaires."

In addition to Gladwin's professional success, his philanthropy includes co-founding The Forge – Adventure Park, a public/private social enterprise offering community-focused, authentic outdoor experiences for urban and suburban audiences. He volunteers for Earthwatch Institute, an environmental nonprofit.

In honoring Starr as its Outstanding Alumni, the UAAA recognized her collaboration with Diane Kelly Runyon for co-authoring "Secrets Under the Parking Lot," which was published in 2017 and tells the life story of Pleasant Litchford.

According to the book and Upper Arlington Schools, Litchford was a master blacksmith who was born and raised in Virginia as a slave. He later purchased his freedom, moved to Ohio in the late 1820s and purchased land that now is home to UAHS, Northam Park and Tremont Elementary.

"I am extremely grateful for winning this award, after all the hard work I have done," Starr said. "(Diane and I) continue to do work about this history.

"We have sold over 5,000 copies of our book, given over 200 presentations around the country, WOSU won an Emmy about Pleasant Litchford’s life in 2019 and now we have changed the curriculum for the Upper Arlington schools to include his life."

As for the UAAA's Inspiring Young Alumni recipients, Haxton, reportedly overcame necrotizing fasciitis and the amputation of both legs and went on to graduate from Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

In 2020, Haxton competed as a Paralympic athlete in the Olympics in Tokyo and won a silver medal in the men's canoe sprint.

In addition to establishing a career in finance, the UAAA's website states Haxton also prioritizes giving back, devoting his time and resources to generously supporting the Upper Arlington rowing program, "making it stronger and accessible to each and every student."

Lowrey graduated from UAHS in 2010 and had a guaranteed seat in medical school as part of Northeast Ohio Medical University's accelerated six-year bachelor of science to medical degree program. He completed his bachelor of science in two years, with a major in biology and minor in chemistry, then withdrew from the medical career to pursue his other passions.

He enrolled at Ohio State, where he spent the eight years accumulating a master's degrees in food science, business administration and applied economics, as well as a doctorate from the OSU Fisher College of Business in supply chain.

Since 2012, Haxton has qualified three times for USA Triathlon's World Championships. In 2020, he pivoted to road cycling and he's a past Haute Route Ambassador.

Lowrey is an assistant professor at Northeastern University in Boston, with a joint appointment across the Business and Health Sciences School.

"His research centrally concerns the role of food banks, both in the food retail and healthcare landscape," according to the UAAA.

A list of past UAAA Alumni Award recipients and information about this year's selections is available at bearalums.com/.

nellis@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekNate

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Upper Arlington Alumni Association announces 2022 Alumni Award winners