PEP Rally for Kids Celebrates Growth and Change
This year’s PEP Rally for Kids raised more than $160,000 – a new record – to help kids learn and grow...
Newly elected Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody J. Stewart, the first African-American woman elected to this position, offered the keynote address. Stewart, who grew up in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood and East Cleveland, spoke about her unique path to the state’s highest court. Her path took her first to a Conservatory for a degree in music, then to law school for her Juris Doctor, culminating at CWRU’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, where she earned her Ph.D.
Stewart’s passion for music traces back to her kindergarten class. When other kids would go out for recess, Stewart gravitated to the classroom piano. Years later, the kindergarten teacher who nurtured that early love of music attended Stewart’s dissertation defense.