Lee Stuart ’71: Organizing for a Just and Compassionate Community
Jared Scott Tesler
Lee Stuart ’71 first fell in love with nature at the tender age of eight, when she and her mother, Jacqueline Molthan Stuart ’43, were exploring the Appalachian Mountains, where they ultimately stumbled upon a curious discovery: fossils of Devonian coral reefs. Stuart’s interest in social activism began around the same time, while accompanying her mother on trips to support mining families who were being evicted from company housing following the work-related deaths of their husbands and fathers.
“From my mother,” Stuart says, “I first learned how to stand up and speak up when I saw things that weren’t right, and then to do everything I could to set things straight.”
After graduating from The Shipley School, where she developed the “underpinnings of how to learn anything,” Stuart pursued her childhood passion for science, earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Prescott College, a master’s degree in biology from San Diego State University, and a doctoral degree in ecology through a joint program between San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis. She then served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
An advocate and agitator at heart, Stuart shifted her focus toward community organizing and community development, when she and friends created the SHARE (Self Help and Resource Exchange) food assistance program that quickly grew to serving over 350,000 households in 35 cities across the U.S. She quickly transformed herself from a natural ecologist into an urban one. She would spend the next 35 years working for several nonprofit organizations, including SHARE - New York as Founding Executive Director, South Bronx Churches, The Hunger Project, and Duluth LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation).
On April 30, 2021, Stuart will retire from her post as Executive Director of CHUM (formerly known as Churches United in Ministry), where, for the past eight years, she has joined forces with other people of faith to provide basic necessities, foster stable lives, and organize for a just and compassionate community. Each year, the organization’s programs—Stabilization Services, Distributive Services, and Congregational Outreach and Community Organizing—serve more than 8,000 low- and no-income, homeless, hungry, isolated, or otherwise marginalized community members throughout Duluth, Minnesota.
“I’ve really tried to live out ‘Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing’ in just about everything,” Stuart says. “I’ve been in some really challenging environments and situations, and it’s a good guidepost.”
It comes as no surprise, then, that Stuart—a Margaret Bailey Speer Award recipient—was invited back to campus as a Commencement speaker in the late ’90s and was recently credited as a distinguished alumna in A Daring Vision: A History of The Shipley School, 1894–2018, researched and written by former Director of Communications Trina Vaux ’63.
Stuart is particularly proud of her part in building nearly 1,000 new homes during the South Bronx Nehemiah Project, the founding of a new public high school in the Bronx (the Bronx Leadership Academy High School), building strong connections with Duluth’s health care system for improved quality and coordination of care for people experiencing homelessness, and CHUM’s leadership role in St. Louis County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carlos Casilla is Shipley’s Director of Choirs, PreK- Grade 12 Performing Arts Department Chair, and Class of 2021 Co-Dean. As a Black Dominican man, he is proud of his heritage, but also acutely aware of how those identities impact others’ perceptions of him, especially when he speaks Spanish in public. Learn more about Carlos and his experience as a person of color in our new series, Centering BIPOC Voices at Shipley.
Inspired by their reading of A Long Walk to Water in English class, sixth graders Lilla Tsvetkov ’27 and Adam Hornberger ’27 have organized a fundraiser aiming to raise $5,000 towards the cost of building a well with the organization, Water for South Sudan. "We aim to inspire our community that no challenge is too big to be resolved or fixed, as long as you try to make a difference, big or small," they say.
The Shipley School is proud to announce Elektra Ballas '21 and Sebastian Fras '21 have been nominated as candidates in the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.
As Social Studies Department Chair and Equity Liaison at Deer Park Middle Magnet School in Baltimore County, Maryland, Brianna Ross ’10 says, “I’m focused on interrupting teacher biases, beliefs, and practices that perpetuate inequities while working to build teacher capacity to create inclusive classrooms that reflect the strengths and interests of our students.” Learn more about Shipley Changemaker Brianna Ross ’10.
Lee Stuart ’71 has dedicated her life and career to improving the lives of others by providing access to food, housing, education, and a caring community. From the Bronx, NY, to Duluth, MN—she has lived Shipley’s motto, Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing. “I’ve been in some really challenging environments and situations, and it’s a good guidepost,” she says. Learn more about Shipley Changemaker, Lee Stuart ’71.
As founder and Chief Executive Officer of Keiki Capital, Dan Lichtenberg ’99 marries his technical and financial expertise with his passion for developing creative solutions to global problems—global warming and climate change, food and water insecurity, income and wealth inequality—and transforming data into actionable intelligence.
Shipley senior Emma Lo has been recognized as a 2021 National YoungArts Foundation Winner in Classical Music (Piano). Through a rigorous audition process, she joins over 600of the most accomplished young visual, literary, and performing artists from across the country.
West Collection: Recent Acquisitions of Diverse Voices This exhibition focuses on nine visual artists who through their work are commenting on world issues ranging from the climate crisis, immigration and migration, and exposing human rights violations.
The Shipley School Performing Arts Department will present Beautiful Trouble to audiences everywhere on Friday, November 20 at 7:30 pm via the School's YouTube channel. The production replaces the traditional Fall Play and is a performance protest piece comprised of scenes, monologues, poetry, short films, and more. Beautiful Trouble hopes to raise awareness for issues that matter to students.
A Shipley Young Alumni Award-winner and one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Generation, Sarah Megan Thomas ’97 has just released her third film, A Call to Spy. “I hope my films not only entertain and enlighten but also have a long-term impact, prompting viewers to ask themselves what they might have done in a particular situation and what they can do to help make this world a better place,” she says. Learn more about this Shipley Changemaker.
The Shipley School, The Episcopal Academy, and The Haverford are proud to present a three-part virtual series focused on building and sustaining healthy multiracial communities at our schools, and exploring how families of all racial backgrounds can discuss race in order to contribute to a healthy and inclusive community.
Upper School English teacher John Hornung believes that literature can make a positive impact in the world by helping people develop empathy for others. He teamed up with Hope in a Box, an organization dedicated to making rural classrooms more LGBTQ+ friendly, sharing a study guide for the Laramie Project, which he teaches in his Modern American Drama English elective.
Shipley’s eighth graders participated in a murder mystery whodunnit role play as part of their mystery genre study in English class. Teachers Lila Corgan and Kirsten Small hope the activity deepens students’ understanding of some of the literary devices that define the mystery genre in a fun, social way. The activity wrapped up a two-week study of the Mystery genre, which also included a virtual talk-back with the cast of the Hedgegrow Theater’s Tales from Poe film production.
Shipley seventh grader Natalie Tran ’26 placed 25th in a national Science Olympiad Competition on Epidemiology in September. She is the Middle School team’s first ever national medalist.
Shipley's Middle School science teaching team wanted to find meaningful ways to make their curriculum more inclusive, highlighting diversity in a discipline that has historically been dominated by white men. Their goals? To show the positive impact that diversity can have on the scientific process and to allow all students to view themselves represented in science.
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.