We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Andrew Imber

College was the perfect outlet for me to work on my craft. As an aspiring broadcaster, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to announce every sport at a D1 school (Florida Atlantic). The experiences that I gained in college were instrumental in helping me figure out what I wanted to do, and also gave me the practical experience that carried over into real world application. I highly encourage everyone to use school to get as much opportunity as possible. Read more>>

Patrick T Cooper

The School of Hard Knocks has allowed me to matriculate in more ways than one. However I would change on slip, blip or bump along my entrepreneurial journey. The ride has been fantastically phenomenal. However, my most important gem gathered in my studies in graduate school at DePaul University was the concept of, SOARING WITH YOUR STRENGTHS WHLIE MAINTAINING YOUR WEAKNESSES! Read more>>

Rolanda Macharia

Life started off challenging, from childhood to adult hood, it was riddled with domestic violence from my abusive father who raised me at the time, who was an alcoholic, this resulted in my dropping out of high school in the 8th grade. I then was a homeless teenager, sleeping on the bus benches and in abandoned buildings in Hollywood, California. By age 15, I was pregnant and had my first child at age 16. I later married at 18, and had 4 more children. Read more>>