Stow Alum Receives Humanitarian Award for African Sky

When alumni, students and community members join the homecoming festivities at in October, they are certain to see a few familiar faces.

One of which is Scott Lacy, Ph.D., a 1989 graduate of the high school and a Munroe Falls native, who will receive an award, making him one of two members of the inaugural class of distinguished alumni recipients.

Lacy was chosen to receive the Humanitarian Award for devoting his life to the welfare of all human beings. An assistant professor of anthropology at Fairfield University in Connecticut, he is also the founder and executive director of African Sky, a nonprofit organization serving hard-working farm families in rural Mali, West Africa.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes and honors graduates of the high school whose achievements, strength of character and citizenship serve as models to inspire and challenge today’s youth.

When asked what the value of receiving a quality education from the high school has meant throughout his life, Lacy replied, “I learned many life lessons at [the high school], but the one that serves me to this day is the urgency of speaking up and taking the reigns for your education and your life path. As a sophomore at [the high school] I had completed all the music courses that our curriculum offered. I couldn't imagine making my high school experience work without more music (theory and composition) courses. I visited my guidance counselor with a proposal to take college courses in the early morning followed by my high school courses in the afternoon.

“I was amazed at how open everyone was to the plan – my parents, my teachers, the principal and even the admissions people at the University of Akron. I carved out my own curricular path and realized I controlled the reigns of my education. Educators are heroes who can help students consider the nexus of their life path and their education, but at Stow I learned that when you speak up and take the reigns of your education, the truly transformative power of your teachers is unleashed.”

As a young student Lacy said he developed an overwhelming drive to join the Peace Corps and visit Africa, a goal he ultimately accomplished upon graduating from college. Then while working on his dissertation several years later Lacy returned to West Africa as a Fulbright Scholar. He and the local villagers were conducting experiments to bring new seed and projects to the community to help bolster household food security.

“I was getting graduate school funding, a Fulbright, a dissertation, publications, a prestigious post-doc and so much more. In hopes of curbing my growing social debt, I sought out an enduring gift that I could give to the village as a symbol of my intense gratitude for everything they had shared with me,” Lacy said.

With the support of friends and family at home, Lacy developed a fundraising plan to help the Malian people by building a school. A Cleveland Browns fan, he established a Mali-based Bougouni Browns Backers Club in the African village and taught the local children how to play flag football.

Lacy’s family and friends raised $10,000 within three months selling t-shirts designed by his sister, Kathy.

The Lacy family of Munroe Falls soon visited Mali to present the funds for the three-room schoolhouse. 

“The process (fundraising and construction) led me to the single thought out of which African Sky was born: the school construction project was so easy that it would be immoral not to do it again. So I spoke with family and friends, and in 2004 we officially created African Sky to carry-on and embolden our work in Mali,” he said. 

Lacy has earned the Global Intercultural Achievement Award – Otterbein University; Senior Appreciation Award, Ducemus Senior Society – Emory U; Distinguished Teaching Awards – Phi Beta Kappa, Emory U; and Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award – Moms on a Mission & Strategic Solutions Group, Inc., among others.

He holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree cum laude, honors college from Otterbein University.

During the school year, Lacy resides in Black Rock, CT, and in non-teaching months he lives in Mali.

He will serve as co-Grand Marshal at the homecoming parade. He will also spend a day at his alma mater visiting and talking with students.

Community members are encouraged to attend the homecoming game where they can meet and talk with Lacy prior to the game. A special ticket-only brunch is scheduled for Oct. 8 in honor of the Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients.

For ticket information, call 330-689-5445.