HuffPost's Game Changers series celebrates 100 innovators, visionaries, and leaders in 12 categories who, whether working in the spotlight or under the radar, are changing how we look at the world and the way we live in it. We salute them for their willingness to take risks and question the status quo.
Below, check out the nominees for HuffPost's 2011 Game Changers in Impact and Education.
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Impact/Ed Game Changers (use)
Conor Grennan (01 of10)
Changed the game by: Reconnecting trafficked children to their families. In 2004 -- after eight years at the EastWest Institute (EWI), working on peace and reconciliation in the Balkans and anti-trafficking policy -- Conor Grennan embarked on a year-long international adventure. His first stop was war-torn Nepal, where he volunteered at the Little Princes Children's home, where he learned that the children there were victims of human trafficking. "These weren't orphans, they were kids who had been lost to their parents for years." Soon after, he moved to Kathmandu, Nepal, and started Next Generation Nepal, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reuniting trafficked children with their families. He published his story this year in Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal.He said it: "The trafficking is not as bad as it was during the war, but it continues today. There are different excuses now - that there is no education in the village, or that the children need to have a future outside the village. There is nothing wrong with migration to the city, but these children and parents are taken advantage of, exploited. That's why we are still working so hard to prevent it."Must-click:Next Generation Nepal(Photo Credit: Keoki Flagg)
Mark Connell (02 of10)
Changed the game by: His dedication to improving education in the murder capital of New York. The city of Newburgh, N.Y. is just 90 minutes north of Manhattan, situated along the idyllic Hudson river. Few might guess that the small city is one of the most dangerous areas in the Northeast. Terrorized by gang activity, it is the murder capital of New York state. In a Senate hearing last year, Chuck Schumer spoke of the violence in Newburgh, saying, "There are reports of shootouts in the town streets, strings of robberies, and gang assaults with machetes." In an attempt to improve the odds for young men susceptible to gang recruitment and a staggering high school dropout rate, Father Mark Connell -- longtime resident of the town and professor at Mount St. Mary College -- started a San Miguel Academy of Newburgh, a tuition-free Catholic middle school for boys. It's become an oasis for kids from grades 5th through 8th -- vital years -- where they can get an education and hopefully break through the cycle of violence that surrounds them.Connell, on HuffPost Game Changer Christian Lopez, who spoke to the students in Newburgh: "We sell a message to these boys every day, it's character education, it's making the right choices and he put into action what we preach...They live in a city that is a difficult place to be raised. And he has the youth and he has the credibility to be a role model for the boys and...there's not a lot of positive role models out there for kids these days." Must-click:San Miguel Academy of Newburgh (Photo Credit: Courtesy Photo)
Josette Sheeran (03 of10)
Changed the game by: Using technology to eradicate hunger Josette Sheeran, the Director of the UN World Food Programme, has ushered in a new tech-savvy era for the organization, which recently launched a social networking site. The site connects the developing world with more accessible ways to get involved in global crises. According to the site, "It's easy. You choose your favorite food, put it into the Feedback Calculator along with the estimated cost, and then calculate how many hungry children this would feed." Then, viewers can donate that amount, or multiples of it, with their credit card. Just a few weeks into the launch they raised enough money to feed more than 100,000 children. She said it: "We now live in a world where even humanitarian disasters such as hunger can be globalized -- riding in to remote villages on high prices, or now, with the global economic slowdown, riding in to remote villages on the loss of income from remittances, or sharply decreased exports or a drying up of foreign direct investment. To the bottom billion it is a double whammy -- food prices are already out of reach, and then their meager income takes a hit.Must-click:WeFeedback(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Paul Rieckhoff (04 of10)
Changed the game by: Fighting to keep veterans issues in the news and on Capitol Hill."Parades, yellow ribbon bumper stickers and speeches from the White House are nice, but they're not enough," wrote Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, in The Atlantic's May issue. Under Rieckhoff's leadership, IAVA has been a major force in bringing awareness to the most pressing issues facing veterans and moreover, pressuring political leadership to make change. Recently, the organization is focused on helping veterans transition from combat to career, helping pass critical veteran's job legislation in May, partnering with the Chamber of Commerce to host Smart Job Fairs, and connecting employers to veterans nationwide. He said it: "This Memorial Day is a time to honor all those who gave their lives in defense of our nation. One way we can honor their legacy is to invest in their brothers and sisters in arms who served alongside them. Hire one. Hiring a veteran is good for America, and it's good for business. Remember that tremendous feeling of pride we all felt when we heard the bin Laden news and carry it over into something practical and lasting. You won't regret it."Must-click: IAVA.org(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Bob Cunningham (05 of10)
Changed the game by:Taking a unique approach to teaching students with learning disabilities. Founded in 1964 with an enrollment of only three students, The Gateway Schools in New York City now serve lower and middle school students ages 5 to 12 who have learning disabilities and their families. With Headmaster Bob Cunningham leading the way, The Gateway Schools take a unique approach to education to help students with learning differences develop into young adults who are "independent and responsible learners." Their curriculum incorporates cognitive, language, perceptual, sensory-motor, and social emotional development. Cunningham has overseen the buildling of the school's new home on the Upper West Side, which opened this fall as the first LEED-certified school in Maahattan, where he hopes to cultivate a "healthier learning environment." He said it: "It doesn't make sense to focus on what is most difficult and frustrating. That is not the way to create lifelong learners. What you create are frustrated and angry people...It is still a common perception that special education kids need things to be done slower. Not so--they need things to be done differently. The idea is to teach them on that line--that mid-ground between challenge and frustration. And you can see great results."Must-click:The Gateway Schools(Photo Credit: Patrick McMullan)
Elaine Wynn(06 of10)
Changed the game by: Showing a spirited commitment to children's education. Director of Wynn resorts in Las Vegas, Elaine Wynn has emerged as an influential crusader for children's education and welfare, both locally and nationally. Her groundbreaking work includes serving as National Chair of Communities in Schools, whose mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Communities in Schools has a passionate network of 5,000 professionals in 25 states and the District of Columbia and serves the most vulnerable students in the most dropout-prone school districts, nearly 1.3 million young people in more than 3,400 schools. In 2010 she was appointed by then-Governor of Nevada Jim Gibbons as co-chair of the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force, which created education reform recommendations to the state legislature. Wynn claims that her proudest moment in her role as an education advocate was the dedication of the Elaine Wynn Elementary School in Las Vegas. This year, The National Child Labor Committee awarded Wynn with the Lewis Hine Award for Service to Children and Youth.Wynn, on the state of Nevada public schools: "In Nevada, it's clear we have abandoned this responsibility. By all measures, we have failed our children." the report stated. Wynn added to the audience that they were her words. "They reflect my sentiment and the history I've had as a Nevadan and as a business person. I'm not a dilettante when it comes to understanding education in this state. I have never seen it worse....If we want to gloss over it and put on a smiley face, we are giving comfort to the enemy...We are underfunded and have abandoned our responsibility. We are at the bottom of every list."Must-click: Elaine Wynn on education reform legislation(Photo Credit: Patrick McMullan)
Tim Shriver (07 of10)
Changed the game by: Transforming the Special Olympics into a global movement. Timothy P. Shriver became the Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics in 1996, and has since reshaped the organization and broadened its international scope. Shriver has established training programs in developing or war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina and Iraq, and worked to bring awareness and changes in disability policies around the world. He has worked with the leaders of China to initiate a thriving Special Olympics Program in their country, resulting in the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in Shanghai. Shriver has led the organization in the creation of new initiatives, like the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes -- the world's largest public health screening and education program for people with intellectual disabilities. He's brought a fresh voice to the organization, teaming up with of-the-moment celebrities, including the cast of Glee, on campaigns like their recent "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign against the "R-word." Last summer, Shriver oversaw the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens. Shriver, on his "R-word" campaign: "I don't want to be a cop I want to be a teacher. You're allowed to be humiliating, degrading and hurtful. I'm allowed to petition you to at least recognize what you say and be aware of the option you have to stop." Must-click: Photos from the Athens games(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Dan Savage (08 of10)
Changed the game by: Sparking a national movement against antigay bullying On September 21, 2010, author, editor, speaker and syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage posted a video with his husband, Terry Miller, in response to the suicide of gay teen. 15-year-old Billy Lucas hung himself in his Indiana home after enduring months of torment from his peers. In the video, Savage emphatically tells kids out there that "however bad it is now, it gets better" and urged others to post videos echoing the sentiment. A year later, the "It Gets Better Campaign" has become a massive movement, fueled by news coverage, and a huge outpouring with now over 25,000 user-created videos by people from President Barack Obama to Ke$ha to the Pixar Staff to a group of gay elders in Boston. On March 22, 2011, six months following the launch of the campaign, Savage released the book It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living.He said it: "When a gay teenager commits suicide, it's because he can't picture a life for himself that's filled with joy and family and pleasure and is worth sticking around for...So I felt it was really important that, as gay adults, we show them that our lives are good and happy and healthy and that there's a life worth sticking around for after high school." Must-click: Watch the videos (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Matt Damon (09 of10)
Changed the game by: Committing to the global water crisis. Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water; and 3 billion lack access to proper sanitation. Matt Damon returned from a trip to Zambia - organized by Bono's ONE campaign -- committed to reducing those startling statistic. In 2009, he cofounded Water.org with water expert Gary White, and the organization seeks to end the global water crisis through microeconomic development. Water.org helps communities build sustainable water and sanitation systems to create a long term solution to the lack of clean drinking water and end the transmission of waterborne diseases. This year, Damon has strategized new digital engagement tactics to bring the fight for water in the developing world closer to home and has pushed his organization to fundraise in more unique ways than conventional nonprofits. Matt's take on fundraising and celebrity gala events: "That seems very analog to me...Unless...you're doing what these Goldman guys do and get Lady Gaga to raise $47 million because they're drunk and they're trying to impress each other and they're calling out numbers from the tables....Of course, that is a kind of fundraiser we'd entertain for Water.org, but it's the exception, not the rule." Must-click:Water.org(Photo Credit: AP Images)
Ana Deutsch (10 of10)
Changed the game by: Helping torture victims heal themselves and rebuild their lives. Ana Deutsch, a psychologist, fled Argentina's "Dirty War" in 1977. The rest of her family arrived in the U.S. the following year, after enduring kidnapping and torture from the military junta. Settling in Los Angeles, Deutsch met Dr. Jose Quiroga, a physician from Chile who had been tortured during Pinochet's brutal dictatorship of the seventies. Together, they founded The Program for Torture Victims, an organization that rebuilds the lives of torture survivors from over 65 countries. Deutsch and Quiroga created a "bio-psycho-social" approach to help others rebuild their lives, offering medical and psychological treatment, paired with basic social services and healing groups. Today, Deutsch serves as the Clinical Director at the Program for Torture Victims, which has helped thousands of survivors through their outreach to vulnerable international communities and comprehensive rehabilitation approach.Deutsch, on her work: "What we want to do is alleviate the pain and the symptoms that the person carries with him or her. Many of them are strong people. They were able to stand up against human rights violations. I encourage other women to join us. There are so many opportunities to help."Must-click:The Program for Torture Victims(Photo Credit: YouTube)
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