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| Bob Craves | Mac Bledsoe |
For their efforts, Craves and Bledsoe have each received the 2009 Advocate for Education Award bestowed by Washington State University’s College of Education.
“Both men have demonstrated a commitment to improving access to education, as well as creating an environment of expectation in families and communities,” Interim Dean Phyllis Erdman said at the college’s Oct. 10 Scholarship and Excellence event. “Most of all, they believe in today’s children as the leaders of tomorrow.”
Craves is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of the College Success Foundation, a public/private partnership committed to providing college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students. So far, $6 million of those scholarships have gone to WSU students, 385 of them currently enrolled and 121 who have graduated.
In 1983 Craves was one of the founding officers of the Costco Wholesale Corp., for which he served as a senior vice president until 2000. From 1997 through 2005, he chaired the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board. Craves’ Education Advocate award was presented by Gay Selby, a former board member and a clinical associate professor of education at WSU.
“It’s a social justice thing with me,” Craves said of the foundation. “That’s why I left Costco to do it.”
Bledsoe, a career schoolteacher and coach, is president of Parenting with Dignity, one of America’s most effective and highly acclaimed parent education programs. It grew out of the disillusionment that he and his wife, Barbara, felt regarding the culture in their classrooms and the increasing numbers of students who seemed to be morally and ethically rudderless.
Bledsoe accepted the award from his son, Drew Bledsoe, a WSU football player who later played quarterback for the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys. Parenting with Dignity was created in 1996 and has benefitted from financial support through Drew’s private foundation.
Parenting with Dignity urges parents to give their children a continual message of love, Bledsoe said. “Let them know they are loved, and they’ll make great decisions.”
While on the WSU Pullman campus, both Craves, who lives in Redmond, Wash., and Bledsoe, who lives in Kalispell, Mont., gave seminars open to the public. For a report on their comments, see https://education.wsu.edu/news/releases/advocateawards09/
