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Noteworthy Graduates

Noteworthy Graduate: Jeff Waxman, movie producer

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.

Noteworthy Graduate: Emmy Jo Favilla, BuzzFeed editor

Emmy Jo Favilla started reading at 3½ years old. “I asked my mom to confirm,” says BuzzFeed’s senior manager for brand voice and its style guru. Favilla grew up loving books, reading and writing.

Noteworthy graduate: Nickemil Concepcion, ballet dancer

Nickemil Concepcion attended public schools on Staten Island and Manhattan's New School of Ballet, which would become Ballet Tech, the NYC Public School for Dance. The programs and his teachers nurtured Concepcion's natural talent, and his photo hangs in the hallway at Ballet Tech, celebrating a career that began on Broadway in “Cinderella” when he was 11 and has continued to this day in dance companies performing throughout the country and around the world.

Noteworthy graduates: Lourdes Ventura, Civil Court judge

Lourdes Ventura was sworn in as a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York on Dec. 18 at Queens Borough Hall, the same venue where, as a child, she accompanied her mother to translate at a housing court proceeding. The eldest of three children, Ventura was born in Queens to immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She was educated in public schools in Corona and Elmhurst.

Noteworthy graduates: James Gaffigan, orchestra conductor

James Gaffigan, the music director and chief conductor of Switzerland’s Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, attended public schooling on Staten Island. “If I didn’t go to public schools, I never would be where I am today,” says Gaffigan. “It’s an extraordinary gift to have a great teacher because that’s what gets kids excited about something. I remember so many of them and their passion.”

Noteworthy graduate: Lawrence Mohr, physician to two presidents

Lawrence Mohr is a doctor, an educator and a much-decorated Vietnam veteran, who served as the White House physician for two presidents. He is also a graduate of New York City public schools.