David Schenck, Educator & Founder of the Schenck School
In 1959, David Schenck set out to help children overcome their dyslexia, and recover their lost self-esteem, with the core belief that “Schools should not frighten children.” Schenck, the man who founded the school for dyslexics in Atlanta, Georgia, and took the visionary approach of teaching a classroom of children with dyslexia using Orton-Gillingham (originally developed for one-on-one instruction), only learned about his own dyslexia during a fateful career change in the 1950’s.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Ph.D., Space Scientist & Science Communicator
When Maggie Aderin-Pocock was a very young girl, she loved looking up at the stars in the sky, and she loved a British television stop-animation series about mousy-looking beings from another planet called The Clangers. It’s debatable as to which inspired her dream of becoming a space scientist more, but one thing is sure: the passion Maggie had for space ignited a career and helped her overcome her dyslexia.
David Schoenbrod, Professor of Law at New York’s Law School
David Schoenbrod is an attorney, professor, and author who is nationally recognized for his contributions to environmental law and scholarship.
Bonnie Patten, Attorney & Executive Director of Truth in Advertising
Litigation attorney Bonnie Patten has successfully defended physicians and health care providers in complex and unique medical claims. Her expertise in health care litigation is so well respected that she has been asked to present at conferences on the subject.
Rafael Galvan, Attorney with Orrick’s Energy and Infrastructure Group
A lawyer and partner at the New York office of international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, Rafael Galvan has worked on or led a number of deals that were honored with Deal of the Year Awards. While attending University of Pennsylvania Law School, Galvan sat on two law journals—one of which he founded with another student. After Law Review, it is the most sought-after journal at the school.
Gavin Newsom, Governor of California
As mayor of San Francisco from 2003-2011, the youngest elected to the position in a century, Newsom implemented the Health Choices Plan, providing universal health care for poor and uninsured city residents, and signed one of the country’s first menu-labeling laws, making chain restaurants prominently display nutritional information on their menus. In 2009, Newsom received the Leadership for Healthy Communities Award, along with New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for making healthy-food and physical-activity options more accessible to children and families. In 2013, Newsom published Citizenville, a book about ordinary citizens using technological tools to reshape the government into a modern, digital-based democracy, which reflects his ideas about the necessity of a modernized, innovative government structure.
Dan Malloy, Governor of Connecticut
As mayor of Stamford for fourteen years, Dan Malloy instituted an energy-conservation plan resulting in the first solar-based system installed by a municipality under the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, as well as a facility to convert wastewater sludge into energy without carbon emissions.
Anne M. Burke, Illinois Supreme Court Justice
Anne Burke grew up on the South Side of Chicago, the youngest of four children and a self-described C student who struggled with reading, writing, and mathematics throughout grammar and high school.
Jack Horner, Paleontologist
Jack Horner turned a childhood passion for fossil hunting into a career as a world-renowned paleontologist. During the mid-1970s, Horner and a colleague discovered in Montana the first dinosaur eggs and embryos ever found in the Western Hemisphere.
Ann Bancroft, Polar Explorer
Ann Bancroft’s life is distinguished by the number of firsts she has achieved. In 1986, she became the first woman in history to cross the ice to the North Pole, traveling 1,000 miles by dogsled from Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Patrick Whaley, Founder & CEO of TITIN
At only 27, Patrick Whaley is sitting on an enterprise of his own invention—gel-weighted, contoured clothing for athletes looking to build strength—an invention that he believes is about to explode. Whaley appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank on November 3, 2014, fishing for a large cash infusion to grow his business venture. The Shark Tank reality show is as intimidating as it sounds.
Charles Schwab, Founder of The Charles Schwab Corporation
In 1971, Schwab started his first brokerage office with the belief that the stock market should be open to everyone (which at the time, it wasn’t). Yes, it was quite the alternative concept; but then again, it was exactly the kind of thing that an out-of-the-box thinker like Schwab would dream up.