NCEA Award Honors Philanthropy, Leadership and Service to Catholic Education

More than 400 supporters of Catholic education gathered Monday, Oct. 1 at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., for the 22nd annual NCEA St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Awards.  

The Seton Award is the highest recognition presented by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) to acknowledge significant contributions to Catholic education. The award is named in honor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), the first native-born American saint.

This year’s Seton Award recipients are:

• Robert A. Conway, Cincinnati, philanthropist and co-founder of The Bistro Group, for his expansive support of Catholic educational institutions in Greater Cincinnati.
• Charles and Nancy Geschke, Los Altos, Calif., for their ongoing leadership and philanthropic contributions to post-secondary Catholic education.
• Leigh-Anne Kazma, Chicago, who has dedicated her career to the patronage of Catholic education through the Kazma Family Foundation.
• Thomas J. Moran, New York City, chairman and CEO of Mutual of America, for his benevolent corporate sponsorship within the Archdiocese of New York and nationally.
• Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, who has renewed and revitalized Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Boston.
• Lorraine Ozar, Loyola University Chicago, received the NCEA President’s Award for her vision and leadership in the development of effective Catholic school curricula and instruction.

Each year a scholarship is awarded in the name of the Seton recipients to a student attending a school nominated by the awardee. This year’s Seton Scholars are:

• Sedomo Agosa, junior at Msgr. Farrell High School, Staten Island, N.Y., the Thomas J. Moran Seton Scholar.
• Joseph Anderson, freshman at Chatfield College, St. Martin, Ohio, the Robert Conway Seton Scholar.
• Sean Bush, senior at St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland, Ohio, the Charles and Nancy Geschke Seton Scholar.
• Emely Nunez, eighth grader at Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy, Columbus Campus, Dorchester, Mass., the Cardinal Sean O’Malley Seton Scholar.
• Brandon Schley, junior at Immaculate Conception High School, Elmhurst, Ill., the Leigh-Ann Kazma Seton Scholar.

NCEA President Karen Ristau presented the awards, which were preceded by brief video tributes.  Most Rev. Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Atlanta and chairman of the NCEA board of directors, offered the invocation.

Television newscaster Andrea Roane made her 21st appearance as emcee for the event and musical tributes were performed by Daniel Noone, a student at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America.

View photos from this event on our Facebook page.