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Shaka Rawls took over as principal of Leo Catholic High School , a 90-year-old all-boys school on the city ’ s Far South Side , in August and immediately started making plans for a volunteer cleanup day . “ We ’ ve probably got 20-year-old dust in the school ,” he said . By the time the day arrived , Rawls had 150 volunteers from corporations and organizations around Chicago , plus money and cleaning products donated from Method , the Chicago Blackhawks and Nuance Solutions . “ Everyone is invested in the success of these young men ,” he told me after the event . “ They feel believed in .”
Caroline Boudreaux took a soul-searching trip around the globe and ended up leaving her corporate gig to launch a nonprofit that funds orphanages in India . “ The ramifications of not having your parents are so vast ,” she said . “ If you don ’ t have that basic thing , this world is just going to eat you up .” The Miracle Foundation provides room and board for Indian women to serve as housemothers and provides food , clean water , health care and scholarships for the orphans . “ If you take care of a mom ,” Boudreaux told me , “ you really do take care of the children .”
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Skyler Shrempp is the artistic director at the Viola Project , a nonprofit that brings together girls ages 10-16 and immerses them in Shakespeare as a way of teaching them to find and use their own voices . “ We work with girls at a time of their lives when they stop advocating for themselves ,” Shrempp said . As 13-year-old Sophie Harris told me the day I observed a class , “ It ’ s kind of saying , ‘ In your face , Shakespeare ’ because his plays were originally for all boys .”
Audrey Peterman is on a mission to make the nation ’ s public lands accessible — and accessed by — more people of colour . She and her husband , Frank , wrote “ Legacy on the Land : A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care ” ( Earthwise Productions ), and they tour the country speaking about their travels . “ We can ’ t save the world ,” she told me . “ The world saves us .”
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Eric Witherspoon hopped on the morning announcements at Evanston Township High School the morning after Donald Trump was elected and read a message that became a nationwide balm . “ You attend a school where we not only respect differences , we embrace our diversity ,” he told the 3,300-student school , where he serves as superintendent . His several-minute address was emailed and texted to schools and parents around the country . “ This transcends politics ,” he told me . “ All of us , as Americans , know that ’ s who we really are , and it ’ s so important that we don ’ t lose sight of it .”
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