By Victoria E. Romero
Special to The Medium
The Seattle Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. honored three individuals for their public service accomplishments at the chapter’s 2016 Trajectory to Excellence event. The year’s honorees were former State Representative Dawn Mason, Anthony Shoecraft and Dr. Bessie Young.
Dawn Mason has served the Seattle community in several capacities. She was appointed to the Seattle Human Rights Commission by the City Council in 1992, elected twice as a Representative in the state legislature, founded the Parents for Student Success and currently serves as a board member for the state’s first K-5 charter school, First Place, devoted to working with children living in poverty and affected by multiple traumatic experiences.
Anthony Shoecraft made local and national news when he put a call out to Black men to come together and celebrate African American Parent Involvement Day at one of Seattle’s predominately Black schools and 250 men responded. The men formed a greeting line for students and staff and high-fived all that walked through. After seeing a news report in Detroit of this spectacular event, Bryant George, Executive Director of Real Life 101 Scholarship Fund, offered scholarships totally $100,000 for 10 Black male students who had attended the same school.
Dr. Bessie Young, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Washington, an Adjunct Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Health Services and a core investigator for the Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center. Dr. Young conducts research focusing on evaluating risk factors for progression of kidney disease, genetics and kidney disease, and transplantation and home dialysis modalities. For the past 12 years, Dr. Young has been one of the organizers of the Kidney Health Fest for African American Families featuring health screenings, education, entertainment and healthy food made by local celebrity chefs.
