Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools Gallery of Success announces Steven Garton as 2023 inductee – Morning Journal

Brookside High School student council leader Tandi Fritz, left, inducts Brookside alum Steven Garton into the Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools Gallery of Success. (Submitted)

Since his graduation from Sheffield Lake’s Brookside High School, 1812 Harris Road, in 2000, Steven Garton has dedicated his life to serving his community and making Northeast Ohio a kinder place.

Recently, Garton’s work was recognized, and was selected as this year’s Gallery of Success recipient.

Cynthia Hayes, Sheffield Schools human resources and public relations manager, said the gallery is an alumni project, but voting is done by the Brookside Student Council.

“The Gallery of Success was started 12 years ago by a group of Brookside alumni,” Hayes said. “They thought it would be nice to honor fellow alumni for their accomplishments in life, after graduation.

“The type and level of success has no boundaries.”

Originally, Garton was nominated by his wife, Jessica.

Following a candidate’s nomination, the person’s name stays on the ballot for the next five years, Hayes said.

“The Gallery of Success is an annual thing, and they need to be nominated by somebody in the community,” she said. “He was nominated … and then the Student Council, our high school Student Council, look through all the nominations and they choose a winner.”

Garton said he found his life passion while working in inner-city Akron.

Since then, he said he has made helping at-risk youth into his life’s work.

“I’ve been in education, working in education in various positions, for about 16 years now,” Garton said. “The biggest thing to me with working with at-risk students, is just finding where the need is the greatest.

“There’s so many young people that are out there and just need support, just need direction, just need somebody that can believe in them.”

In addition to his work with at-risk students, Garton and his wife opened the Garton Family Charity in 2016.

Garton specifically acknowledged his late mother, Christine Garton, as an inspiration to help the community, and following her passing from multiple sclerosis, the charity renamed its annual softball event in her honor.

“She was absolutely one of (my) inspirations … of helping people,” he said. “She was a very good softball player back in her time.

“She was a heck of a shortstop. She taught me how to play ball when I was younger. It felt fitting to rename it in her honor when she did pass.”

With its goal of uplifting the Northeast Ohio community, the Garton Family Charity foundation hopes to make a positive impact however it can, Garton said.

“Since we launched in 2016, we’ve raised over $34,000, for either our own service projects, or for helping out other service projects in our community,” he said. “We’ve done anything from Wounded Warrior Project, to Akron Children’s Hospital, to Donate Life Ohio.”

Calling the Gallery of Success honor “tremendous,” Garton said he was thrilled to find out that the Student Council chose him for this year’s induction.

“I think they just looked at my career in education, and probably even more so the nonprofit that my wife and I started back in 2016,” he said. “It’s a really humbling experience.

“We don’t do it for any accolades or anything like that; we just want to help people.”

Those looking to help the Garton Family Charity can find a donation link at gartoncharity.org.

The 2023 annual Christine Garton Memorial Softball Tournament will take place Aug. 12.

The charity also will accept donations and family nominations for its annual Holiday Cheer project Oct. 1.