Nicholas Winton’s early years were influenced by Jewish religion and were ordinary despite the life saving decisions that he would make later on.  Nicholas was born the oldest of three children in London, England, on May 19,1909.  His parents, Rudolph and Barbara Winton, were German jews, but they later converted to Christianity.  His father was a successful banker and owned enough money for his family to live in a 20 room mansion.  Winton attended Stowe school in Buckingham.  When he grew up, he decided to apprentice in banking like his father did.  Afterward, he decided to work in banks in London, Berlin, and Paris, but in 1931 he moved back to England to start a career as a stockbroker (Sir Nicholas Winton Biography).

Nicholas Winton saved the lives of many children with his courageous acts.  In 1938, Winton’s friend, Martin Blake, asked Winton to come visit him in Czechoslovakia where he was working as an associate for the British committee for refugees.  

As of high school Fox started long distance running despite knowing the challenges he would face in the near future. Before getting into running Fox enjoyed socer, basketball, and rugby as a young athlete. He later grew out of those sports and got into running. When Fox was 18 years he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his right knee. He later had to get his right leg amputated right above the knee and was given an artifical leg (Terry Fox). Dick Traum who also got his leg amputted biked the New York Marathon. Fox was inspired by him and started training to run from the east bound to the west bound of Canada (Terry Fox). 

At the age of 21 Fox was finally trained to start his journey across Canada. He started his run April 12, 1980 averaging 26 miles a day (Scholastic Go). At the start of his journey the press didn’t recongize him. Although it was difficult to get recognized the attention soon arouse, and the money collected began to skyrocket. Soon there were 100 people lined up in every city. Fox 

would stop in some cities to give speeches about why he was running. He told them that it wasn’t for his muscluar shape and endurance. It was to help raise awarness of cancer and fund money for cancer research (Explora). On September 1, 1980 Fox’s cancer had spread to his lungs and had to go back home to get proper care. He had run for 143 days and 3,339 miles. Fox died 10 months after the return trip home (Scholastic Go).

Fox’s Run was an inspiring and courageous act that left a huge mark in Canada’s history. Fox was a symbol to all.

During Oskar Schindler’s childhood, he had to live through World War 1. This didn’t stop him from being successful. Oskar Schindler was born into a wealthy German Catholic family on April 28, 1908 in the small town of Svitavy, Czechia (Gale). Through his school years, he attended trade schools and had many jobs at one time. Schindler had one sister, Elfriede Schindler, who is remarkably still living at the age of 104. When Oskar Schindler was 20 years old, he married a woman named Emilie Pelzl. 

Oskar Schindler was considered successful during WWII. He joined the Nazi party in 1939. The Nazi party was a German political party during WWII. When WWII started in 1939, Schindler bought a Jewish-owned manufacturing plant in Kraków, Poland called Emalia. Made coating for pots and pans for the German army. In the factory, Oskar Schindler hired many Jewish people. Many Jews worked in Emalia, but Schindler was not allowed to pay for them. He had to pay a group of guards in the ghettos and concentration camps called Schutzstaffel, or SS for short (Gale). In 1944, the SS started to send some of the Jews who worked at Emalia to concentration camps (World Book Student). Oskar Schindler became furious when this happened. 

Bethany Hamilton’s childhood was the same as most others, but she had no idea what an inspiration she would be to others. Bethany Hamilton was born February 8 1990 in lihue, Hawaii, on Kauai island. Her family already new how to surf, so they taught her at a very young age. Bethany Hamilton’s first major competition was in 1998 when she was only eight years old.(Parchmann) At this competition she won first place in the shortboard and longboard divisions. The following year Bethany received her first sponsors of Carroll Surfboards and Rip Curl. leaving more time to practice surfing bethany’s parents decided to homeschool her. 2002 was the year she had a very important win. At the National Scholastic Surfing Association Bethany took first place in the open women’s division. Following this win, in 2003 bethany also won second at another competition. Just as she was beginning to create a name for herself her life changed in a few seconds.

Bethany hamilton woke up on October 31 having no clue that this day would change her life forever. Bethany woke up on the 31 and was at the beach like normal. She was on her surfboard with her arm dangling off when she started to feel a rough tug. She looked down to see what had just pulled on her and the water was red. Her arm was bitten by a 14 foot tiger shark. Bethany was rushed to the hospital where her dad was having a knee surgery. Three weeks after Bethany was already trying to surf again. Her balance was now off and harder to work with because she could use both of her arms to keep herself up. However after her second try when he read suggested the idea to keep one hand one the surfboard she was able to surf back to shore. Bethany’s dad later created a handle so she could keep her grip while surfing.

Margaret Brown had an average childhood and a big heart even at a young age. She was born on  She was always putting others needs before her own and had always been caring towards others that were less fortunate than herself. Margaret Brown had her heart set on marrying a wealthy man, but in the end love won and she ended up marrying a miner named Joseph Brown. After they were married, he coincidentally became rich after finding a new way to prevent mine cave ins. Her husband’s sudden wealth helped her pursue charitable causes that were important to her.(An Unsinkable Hero) Margaret Brown was a women’s rights activist and always helped people whenever she got the chance. She was also very outspoken and could do anything when she put her mind to it.

Margaret was already a very kind person, but her kindness was proven the night of the 

Titanic disaster. When the Titanic sank almost everyone pushed and shoved trying to get into a lifeboat, except Margaret. Instead, she helped others onto the lifeboats up until she herself was forced into one by a crew member, but her courageousness doesn’t stop there. When the Titanic had fully sank, she convinced the other women and children with her in lifeboat 6 to go and pick up some of the remaining passengers drowning in the freezing water. She did this even though she knew that going back around the spot of the Titanic’s decent to the ocean floor could put her and everyone else in the lifeboat in great danger. Either way her decision was already made even if it meant getting sucked down into the ocean or getting capsized she would do whatever it took to save those dying people. After that night everyone in her lifeboat was rescued by the Californian. Once they were all on board Margaret immediately started tending to the others that were hurt, cold, or scared. She even started sewing clothes for those who had only the ones on their backs.(Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown) After that whole disaster was over, Margaret was given the name “Unsinkable Molly” and her path to fame started.

      Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. She was very intelligent and learned how to talk simple words at six months and how to walk at age one. Helen had one younger sister and two older step brothers. Her family earned all their money from a cotton plantation (Helen Keller). 

       In January, 1882, at 18 months, Helen Keller lost both her sight and hearing. Historians believe it was due to some mysterious sickness called “brain fever”, something similar to scarlet fever. Helen was out of her mind, mainly because she could not see nor hear. She was very wild and unruly. She would uncontrollably giggle when she was happy and would uncontrollably kick and scream when she was angry (Helen Keller Biography). Keller states in one of her books, “The need of some means of communication became so urgent that these outbursts occurred daily, sometimes hourly.” (NWHM).  Her mother couldn’t handle Helen. Finally, in 1886, Helen’s Mother came across a travelogue by Charles Dickens, American Notes. She read about another child, Laura Bridgman, who -like Helen- was both deaf and blind. Laura had a very successful education, so her mother sent Helen and her father all the way to Baltimore, Maryland to see Dr. J. Julian Chisolm. Chisolm recommended to see Alexander Graham Bell -the inventor of the telephone- who was working with the deaf at that time. He recommended Michael Anaganos, who later on recommended Anne Sullivan. Anne would later become Helen’s life-long teacher (Helen Keller Biography).

       Anne Sullivan came as fast as possible, her first lesson was on March 3, 1887. She said that Helen was not able to have any distractions (due to the fact of her outbursts), so Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller moved together into one of the family’s quaint cottages (Johnson). There, with difficulties, Sullivan taught Helen how to read. She did this by fingerspelling words onto Helen’s hands. At first, Helen had no idea what Anne was doing and she did not corporate. Until one day, she had a realization when Helen dunked her hand under cold water, when she brought her hand out of the water, Anne fingerspelled “w-a-t-e-r” onto her hand. (Helen Keller History) Helen made connections and finally realized what she was doing. Helen writes, “Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.” (NWHM). Helen loved to play the “finger game” she would touch everything that she could and Anne spelled.them on her hand. Historians believe that her love of words came from Sullivan’s teachings. Sullivan and Keller had a teacher-pupil relationship for the next 49 years!

       Keller’s success arose from that point on. In 1890 Helen attended speech classes at Horace Mann, although it did take her 25 years to master her speech she did accomplish one of her largest goals with rigor and courage. Later on, in 1894 to 1896, Helen attended Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City, there she would learn regular academics (NWHM).

      Keller was determined to attend college, so off she went. In 1896 she attended Cambridge School for Young Ladies, a preparatory school for women. By this time, her story became more known and popular. Keller met Mark Twain and they became very good friends. He was impressed by her work and wanted to help her grow academically, even more. He contacted Henry H. Rogers. Rogers was very impressed by her work and talent so he offered to pay for Helen to attend Radcliffe College. Sullivan continued to work with Helen as she went through her studies at college and they would forever be friends (Helen Keller Biography)

      In 1904 at age 24, Helen wrote her first book, The Story of my Life. Like the title, she wrote about the transformation throughout her life from a child to the adult she is. Her book got well known and inspired many other people with her condition and without her condition that if you have courage and determination you can conquer anything. She worked with other deaf-blind people and gave speeches about her experience to large crowds. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Keller tackled social and political issues, including women's suffrage, pacifism and birth control. She testified before Congress, encouraging them to improve the welfare of blind people. In 1915, she co-founded Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. In 1920, she co founded the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). She also raised awareness,donated and volunteered for the blind-deaf (Helen Keller).

     In 1936, her everlasting teacher, Anne Sullivan died. Polly Thomson helped support Helen and became her new companion. In 1946, Keller was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind. Between 1946 and 1957, she traveled to 35 countries on five continents. In 1955, at age 75, Keller embarked on the longest trip of her life. She went on a 40,000-mile, five-month trek across Asia. Through her speeches she shared her story and spread awareness to millions along the way.

      In 1957 her book, The Story of My Life, was used to make The Miracle Worker, a television show and later on a Broadway play. Helen retired due to old age, and due to many strokes. But, during that time period she did earn many rewards, including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and election to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965. She also received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Additionally, she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland (Helen Keller History).

      On June 1st, 1968 at age 87 (her 88th birthday was only in a couple of weeks), Helen Keller died in her sleep (Helen Keller Biography). During her life she showed many courageous actions and determination. She showed the world that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Helen Keller, a blind and deaf person, grew to be a respected and world-renowned activist, whose goal was to show and bring change to our world, and the society.

Juliane Koepcke had an ordinary childhood in Peru. She was born on October 10, 1954, in Peru. Both of her parents were zoologists and taught her a lot about nature and the jungle. She was an incredible young woman who amazed the world about her dramatic experience and lived to tell it( Latimer).

Juliane and her mother boarded a 60 minute flight on the LANSA Airlines from Lima to Pucallpa where she and her parents who were both zoologists lived. They were approximately 25 minutes in on their flight to Pucallpa when they headed straight towards a ferocious storm. Juliane and her mother were holding each other in panic and were very worried. The last thing Juliane heard her mother say was, “This is the end, it’s all over” (BBC News). Shortly after, the plane became weak and vulnerable and eventually cracked in half resulting in a 10,000 ft freefall descending to Earth. Juliane was still strapped to her seat as she descended.The only thing she could hear was the wind zipping by her ear like it was faster than the speed of light. She didn’t remember anything since. Juliane was the sole survivor of the 92 passengers on the flight. (BBC News)

She woke up on the ground in the middle of a jungle and pondered about how she survived. The only conclusion that she and researchers could come across was that the thick jungle trees broke her fall just enough that a human could withstand. She had a broken ribcage, 

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, making his childhood a tough beginning. Douglass was born in February, 1817 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. In 1825 he was transported to Baltimore where he served the Auld family. Hugh Auld, the husband in the family, trained Douglass the precepts of slavery. The wife taught him how to read, which Frederick thought of as a passageway to freedom (Gale). He also read stories in The Columbian Orator in private during slavery (Gale). He later escaped slavery in 1838. After he escaped slavery he started becoming more well known. In 1841 he was at an anti slavery meeting where he made his first speech. The audience thought it was great, so he was invented to join the Massachusetts Anti slavery Society which he happily accepted.

Ashe lived a mostly normal life. Ashe was born on July 10th, 1943 at Richmond, Virginia, and died 50 years later in New York City due to AIDS. His dad was the caretaker the Brook Field Park, so he could always go there. Unfortunately, his mom died when he was at the age of five due to heart disease.

Susan Brownell Anthony was a strong lead force in the Women’s Suffrage movement in the eighteen hundreds. She was a strong willed, determined person who stopped at nothing to get the rights that women deserve. Because of her courageous activism in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Susan B. Anthony helped the world see women and men as equals, and she is remembered as a hero to people all over the world for her daring acts of challenging the ways of America.

Susan B. Anthony was always determined ever since her childhood, she always wanted to be seen as equal. Susan B. Anthony or Susan Brownell Anthony was born in a New England farmhouse on February 15, 1820. Her father Daniel Anthony was a cotton-mill owner and a Quaker. Anthony’s mother, Lucy Read Anthony was mother of six and grudgingly accepted the role of being a housewife. Her parents instilled in her abolition, temperance and the impact work can have.(GALE Group) Susan had a passion to fight for what is right since a young age, thanks to her parents ideas and way of life.

At a young age Anthony took charge and decided that it is once again time for change in America. It might have been one small gesture but it would change the world. At the age of seventeen Miss Anthony finished school and taught for fifteen years. She found out that she made one fifth of what her male co-worker was making and became furious. Anthony protested the wage gap only to get fired. Her sad misfortune led to her becoming the principle at Girls' Department of the Canajoharie Academy in Rochester, New York. In 1849 she left her educator for children and began to educate the world (GALE Group).

Even though Jim Abbott had quite a regular childhood he had one thing not going for him, he had no right hand. Abbott was born September 19, 1967 in  Flint, Michigan. His right arm ended halfway between his elbow and wrist. His parents Mike and Kathy encouraged him to play sports at a young age. (Newsmakers) Even though it seemed strange, Abbott fell in love with the sport of baseball. He decided to play the position of pitcher. Abbott developed a method in which he could throw and very quickly put his glove back on; this method was called the Abbott switch.  He continued his baseball career and ended up in the major leagues. Although many see Jim Abbott as a pitcher with one hand he actually had a very strong career. Abbott’s career stats check out at around eighty seven wins and one hundred eleven losses. Even though those numbers don’t seem that superior they are actually quite good seeing that he was not surrounded by a good team for many of those losses. His career earned runs average is 4.25. (Gale)

Throughout Jim Abbott’s long career he experienced many people who doubted his ability, whom he overcame through the courage to play in front of thousands and succeed. Even at a young age Abbott had to overcome his doubters through courage. He got his first start pitching in a little league game when the starting pitcher got sick, he then pitched a no hitter.(Gale)  As he grew throughout his career so did the amount of doubters he had. Many opposing teams would bunt expecting him to not switch his glove fast enough and he would throw them out at first.(Newsmakers) When he was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by the Angels, thousands of analysts believed that the only reason he got picked was because it would be a good publicity stunt to have a one handed pitcher and he would rarely pitch.(Gale) They were wrong. Abbott turned out to be the star pitcher for the Angels in his first year. Even though Abbott had no right hand he never really felt like he had a disadvantage to the other players. He also had an incredibly good attitude for having one hand, often stating things such as “I didn't have to overcome anything. I don't remember ever waking up and saying to myself, 'Today, I'm going to go out and play baseball with only one hand.' I just went out to play baseball. Abbott’s good attitude and courage to overcome his doubters proves just how courageous he was.

Although Emmeline Pankhurst did extraordinary things in her lifetime, her childhood was nothing out of the ordinary. She was born on July 14, 1858 in Manchester, England, into a family of 11 children, her being the third oldest. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom and her father owned a small calico-printing and bleach works company. Emmeline developed an interest in politics at an early age, and would even wear the colors of the Liberal Party. She went to school in Manchester until 1872, when she moved to France and attended a private school in Paris. When she returned from Paris, she met Richard Pankhurst, who’d been campaigning for  women’s rights since 1867. When she married Richard Pankhurst in 1879, she almost instantly became a member of the Women’s Suffragist Committee. (Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.)

Candy Lightner had a normal childhood, but when she reached adulthood her worst nightmare struck. Lightner was born on May 30, 1946, in Pasadena, California which is also where she grew up. She had a father who served in the US air force, and a mother who was part of the military (Candy Lightner Biography). After she attended American River College in Sacramento she married Steve Lightner. They had three children together, two girls Cari and Sereana, and a boy named Travis. Soon after they had their third child they divorced. Lightner had full custody on her kids and she settled in Fair Oaks, California (Candy Lightner Biography). After she settled in Fair Oaks she became a real estate agent. Then disaster struck. On May 3, 1990 Candy’s daughter Cari was walking to a church festival with her friend when a drunk driver came flying down the road and hit her. The impact from the car flew her 125 feet and she died shortly after of traumatic injuries. Lightner was devastated, four days after the incident she couldn’t handle it anymore and she started fighting against drunk driving (MADD Our Story).

Candy Lightner did not want other mothers to feel the pain she had felt when her daughter perished, so she started fighting against it. After her daughter’s death, she started an organization to make stiffer penalties for drunk driving. This organization was called Mothers Against Drunk Driving also referred to as MADD. Lightner had quit her job to put money towards this organization (MADD Our Story).  

Louis started his running career in high school he set the fastest mile out of all the US high schools this record lasted for 19 years. He also set the NCAA mile record. He almost set the world mile record wich at the time it was 4 minutes his time was 4 minutes and 8 seconds but then world war 2 started and he fought in it(Louie Zamperini By: Laura Hellenbrand).

Sally Ride’s early years were all about tennis and physics giving a hint she might work in the field of science, but no one ever thought it would be for NASA. Sally Kristen Ride was born on May 26, 1951 and she grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles (UXL Biographies.). Sally Ride was the oldest from two daughters. Her dad was a political scientist, and her mother was a counselor.  Sally Ride  was very interested in tennis while she was growing up, she was very sporty as a child (scholastic). Sally Ride studied physics in Swarthmore College. During sophomore year Sally Ride decided she wanted to focus on tennis, so she got a scholarship to Stanford University (Slezak). Sally had always wanted to work in the field of science and physics. Sally Ride’s parents were very encouraging to let her explore the careers path that was right for her (UXL Biographies.). It was during this period when she saw that NASA was hiring women for the first time. Sally Ride knew that this was something she wanted to do and so she said she was interested in joining NASA. she was 1 out of 8,000 women who applied for the job (Slezak).

Sally Ride had lot of courage and was very motivated to start a career with a premier science and technology institute like NASA. She was a finalist out of 208 people (UXL Biographies). After about a few weeks the shortened the group of women to about 35 and Sally Ride had made the cut to join NASA (WBO). Sally Ride was promoted to work on the mission Challenger (UXL Biographies). Only six other women were on this mission. Her job on this mission was to create a robotic arm that would help astronauts put satellites in space (NASA). Before Sally Ride could go into space she had to go through year long harsh training which included simulations of the take off, water survival, learning to adapt to different gravitational pulls, and was trained how to jump out the rocket with a parachute (UXL Biographies).