Once a year I play the University of Dayton’s version of Candid Camera, and the moment is magical.
Just before Christmas an unsuspecting Johanna Matota stepped into my conference room. When she spotted her family, friends, and teachers, her hands flew to her mouth in surprise and joy. I had the privilege of telling her that she is the 2026 recipient of the prestigious W.S. McIntosh Memorial Leadership Award at the University of Dayton.
For nearly 40 years, UD and the city of Dayton have partnered to offer something truly remarkable to a graduating senior from a Dayton high school: a full scholarship, room and board, and a four-year paid internship with the city. It’s a flagship program that opens doors, launches careers, and literally changes lives.
Named for a prominent Dayton civil rights leader from the 1960s, the W.S. McIntosh Scholarship is close to my heart — and to the hearts of the graduates.
“It changed the entire trajectory of my career. It’s so meaningful to be able to have impact in the community you grew up in,” says LaShea (Smith) Lofton ‘91, Dayton’s deputy city manager and the first recipient of the scholarship. For the past two decades, Lofton also has managed the internship program for the city, helping shape the next generation of public servants.
Hope Smalls ‘10, magistrate in the Montgomery County Juvenile Court, echoes that sentiment: “It opened doors for me that I never knew existed. I’ve had the opportunity to be a voice and a champion for the underserved — to have a true heart of a public servant.”
Like LaShea and Hope, many McIntosh Scholars have gone on to build remarkable careers in their hometown. A quick look at their LinkedIn profiles tells a powerful story. Amber Washington ’07, who interned all four years with the city’s fire department, serves as vice president for operations at Miami Valley Hospital. Jessica Jenkins ‘06 directs Montgomery County’s human services planning and development department. Others are educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, executives — even a pastor.
The program’s impact reaches well beyond Dayton. Rashad Young ’98 ’04 has held three city manager roles, beginning right here in Dayton. Today, he serves as senior vice president for administration and chief administrative officer at Howard University, where fellow McIntosh Scholar Delisha Stewart ’96 is an associate professor of medicine.
The W.S. McIntosh Scholars gather regularly for reunions. They are a family. And sometimes, quite literally. Kevin Shipp ‘97, lead control systems engineer at GE Aviation, and Wednesday (Forest) Shipp ’02, senior director and associate general counsel at Procter & Gamble, met through the program and are now married.
Magistrate Smalls counts LaShea Lofton as one of her trusted mentors. “I would not be here today without the support and guidance of LaShea and Judge Dierdre Logan,” she says. “They allowed me to live out the UD mission of learn, lead, and serve. I was able to do that on a day-to-day basis as an intern every time I walked into the doors of city hall. It was this great responsibility, this great challenge, and this great excitement of knowing that as an 18-year-old kid, I was doing something greater than myself.”
The McIntosh Scholars have impressive stories, but none captures the power of the program more fully than LaShea’s experience. She began as a city intern, went on to work as an analyst in the office of management and budget, and then served in nearly every facet of Dayton city government — from community development and recreation to finance and auditing.
After 37 years, she finds herself where she started, working on the second floor of city hall, this time as deputy city manager.
For LaShea and generations of McIntosh Scholars, Dayton’s city hall is where a life of service begins to flourish.