It’s difficult to become a coach in the National Football League; there are only 32 teams. Lou Anarumo, the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, followed an arduous road to get there. And on Feb. 13, that road, which began at Susan Wagner HS on Staten Island, took Anarumo all the way to the Super Bowl.

Jeff Orlowski, who attended PS 42 and IS 7 on  Staten Island, is a filmmaker who specializes in movies about existential threats such as climate change and social media. As a senior at Stuyvesant HS in Manhattan, he was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper on 9/11. Covering that act of terrorism started him on a journey to tackle important issues on a worldwide scale.

Nelson Figueroa Jr. was 5 feet, 10 inches and just 125 pounds when he played baseball at Lincoln HS in Brooklyn but, buoyed by the leadership skills and life lessons instilled in him by his teachers and coaches, he impressed enough people to pitch in college and eventually be signed by his favorite team, his hometown New York Mets. 

Dr. Sara Guevara built on the mentoring and support she received in Brooklyn public schools to become a family medicine physician who is working in underserved communities in New York City.

Carla Boutin-Foster is a world away from the 5-year-old who spoke only Creole when her parents — sights firmly set on the American dream — brought her to Brooklyn from Haiti. 

Hollywood movie producer Jeff Waxman credits a well-rounded education in Queens public schools and "the size of the schools" with preparing him to be a filmmaking jack-of-all-trades.