As a young boy growing up in Shanghai, China, Raphael “Ray” Tsu would look skyward wondering about the universe beyond the clouds. “I asked my mother, ‘What is behind the clouds?’” recalled Tsu. “She told me, ‘The sun.’ I’d then ask, ‘What is behind the sun?’ and she told me, ‘The stars.’ When I finally asked, ‘What is behind the stars?’ she told me, ‘Only God knows.’ I knew then at 10 years old there was so much we didn’t know. This is what drives me as a scientist, to learn about what we don’t know.”

Telling others’ stories is a privilege documentary filmmaker Beverley Penninger undertakes with the utmost respect and sense of responsibility. “I never start a project with any preconceived ideas,” said Penninger. “My goal is to honor the subject and share the journey of discovery with the viewer.”

Sonia Handelman Meyer’s passion for photography grew from a chance encounter she had in 1942 while working as a civilian for the U.S. Army Signal Corp at Ft. Buchanan in Puerto Rico. “I met a young man working for the National Youth Administration taking pictures of the conditions,” recalled Meyer. “His photographs were beautiful and exposed things that needed to be changed. I knew immediately this was something I wanted to do.”

Tyrone Jefferson likes to quote civil rights activist Marcus M. Garvey who said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” The quest for ancestral knowledge is not only Jefferson’s lifelong passion, but part of the mission of A Sign of The Times, the nonprofit community service organization he founded in 2006.

When Tom Hanchett arrived in Charlotte in the early ‘80s to work for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission his job was to study neighborhoods many saw as old and run down.

For Julie McConnell, AP biology teacher and science department chair at Hough High School, teaching students to “think like a scientist” is a way to equip them with problem solving skills they’ll need in their studies and throughout their lives.

Ann Jacob views challenging students as a way for children to achieve possibilities beyond what they imagine for themselves. A future filled with possibility and opportunity is what awaits Jacob’s students as their classroom is transformed daily into a dream factory where no challenge is too great and no possibility out of reach. For more than 30 years Jacob’s enthusiasm for instruction and opening up pathways for students to excel has translated into success.

Alexander Graham Middle School Band Director Windy Fullagar got hooked on making music in the eighth grade. She made a decision then that her career would always revolve around the band room. After 21 years teaching and serving the community, she’s still in the band room having the time of her life.

Elizabeth (Libby) Withrow has been the Science Department Chair at South Mecklenburg High School since 2011. But in her previous 35 years teaching earth science in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, she taught at low-performing schools – McClintock Junior High, Smith Middle School and E.E. Waddell High School until it was closed.

Andrew West was born in North Wilkesboro, but he is Charlotte-bred – or more specifically, Myers Park High School-bred. MPHS is where he went to school, and it was there that he realized he wanted to be a high school history teacher. “I had many good teachers there who inspired me.”