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...

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...

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...

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.

Judge Tingling, who halted Bloomberg’s ban on oversized sugary drinks, went to school in Harlem in the 1960s. “My 3rd-grade teacher Ms. Commack recently reached out to me; my teachers say they are proud of me. But not more than I am of them,” he says...