DREAMS UNLIMITED

Moonjar moneyboxes were created as a tool for children and families to incorporate strong financial values and practices into their daily lives. Launched in 2001 by Eulalie M. Scandiuzzi, a Seattle native. Moonjar moneyboxes are used in homes and schools around the world.

Moonjar’s origination was sparked by Mrs. Scandiuzzi’s childhood exposure to the values of hard work, thoughtful decision making and strong financial ethics, paired with an anecdotal remembrance of the Rockefeller family. In his family kitchen, John D. Rockefeller kept three jars for his children’s allowances for saving, spending, and charitable giving. This model of managing money, paired with the legacy of her family’s financial management principles, moved Mrs. Scandiuzzi to create Moonjar.

The overwhelming response from Moonjar users; mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, grandparents, retailers, and financial institutions, has enforced the vital need for a fun, accessible, and affordable tool to help change how children develop a basic understanding of good money habits.

Renowned Economist, Entrepreneur, and Professor Paul Zane Pilzer

Paul Zane Pilzer is a world-renowned economist, a multimillionaire software entrepreneur, an adjunct professor, and the author of eight best-selling books and dozens of scholarly publications.

Pilzer completed Lehigh University in three years and received his MBA from Wharton in 15 months at age 22. He became Citibank’s youngest officer at age 22 and its youngest vice president at age 25. At age 24, he was appointed adjunct professor at New York University, where he taught for 21 consecutive years. Over the past 30 years, Pilzer has started and/or taken public, five companies in the areas of software, education and healthcare. He is the Founder of Zane Benefits, Inc. and Extend Health, Inc., the nation’s two leading suppliers of individualized health benefits to corporate America including Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club.

He was an appointed economic adviser in two presidential administrations and warned of the impending $200 billion savings and loan crisis years before official Washington was willing to listen—a story that he later shared in Other People’s Money (Simon & Schuster).

Pilzer’s Unlimited Wealth (Crown) explains how we live in a world of unlimited physical resources because of rapidly advancing technology. After reading Unlimited Wealth, the late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, said that he was “amazed at Pilzer’s business capacity” and his “ability to put

Robert Kiyosaki, best selling author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of books

I had two dads – a rich one and a poor one.

One dad was highly educated and intelligent; he had a Ph.D. and had completed four years of under-graduate work in less than two years. He then went to Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies. All on full, financial scholarships.

My other dad never finished the eighth grade. Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both earned substantial incomes.

Yet one dad struggled financially all his life and the other dad would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of millions of dollars to his family, charities, and his church. The other left a legacy of unpaid bills. Both men were strong, charismatic, and influential. Both men offered me advice, but they did not advise the same things.

Jumpstart Washington

Jump$tart Washington is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to promote the personal financial literacy of Washingtonians, with our primary emphasis on youth. We are a coalition, comprised of individuals, non-profit and governmental agencies and the corporate sector, who have joined together to improve the personal financial literacy of Washington youth.

Jump$tart’s purpose is to evaluate the financial literacy of young adults; develop, disseminate, and encourage the use of standards for grades K-12; and promote the teaching of personal finance. The Jump$tart Coalition believes that all young adults need to have the financial literacy necessary to make informed financial decisions.

First convened in December, 1995, the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy determined that the average student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs. Many are unable to balance a checkbook and most simply have no insight into the basic survival principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing.

Many young people fail in the management of their first consumer credit experience, establish bad financial management habits, and stumble through their lives learning by trial and error. The Coalition´s direct objective is to encourage curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience. The wheels of education do not need to be reinvented, they simply require balance.

The National Endowment for Financial Education

The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) is the only private, nonprofit, national foundation wholly dedicated to improving the financial well-being of all Americans.

Mission

The mission of the National Endowment for Financial Education is to help individual Americans acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to take control of their financial destiny. NEFE’s mission is grounded in the belief that regardless of background or income level, financially informed individuals are better able to:

• Take control of their circumstances,
• Improve their quality of life, and
• Ensure a stable future for themselves and their families.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling

With over 100 member agencies and more than 900 local offices throughout the country, the NFCC is the national voice for its members, which are nonprofit, mission driven, community-based agencies

Many NFCC members are known as Consumer Credit Counseling Service ® (“CCCS”). An increasing number of agencies operate under other names, but all members can be identified by the NFCC member seal. This seal represents accredited agencies with high standards, ethical practices, certified counselors, and policies and practices which help consumers achieve financial stability.

What We Do
Each year, more than one million people receive counseling and educational services from NFCC member agencies. More than one-third of all consumers who come to an NFCC agency for counseling are able to manage their debt on their own after receiving financial education and counseling.

NFCC member agencies provide a variety of services, including:

• Budget counseling and education
• Debt management plans
• Counseling referral services
• Financial literacy courses
• Housing counseling

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy

The 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Web site offers general information for managing personal finances and does not recommend specific financial actions. For financial advice tailored to your situation, please contact an expert such as a CPA or a personal financial advisor.

www.wesabe.com: save money, spend wisely, and reach your goals

Wesabe is an online community of real people just like you, with real financial goals and concerns.

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Professional Speakers:

Jim Sorenson

Dan Sullivan

Erik Wahl

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Books:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey

While Stephen Covey wasn’t the first to write a book on becoming a better, more effective person, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People marked the beginning of a revitalized interest in personal development. With a 15th anniversary edition released in 2004 and more than 15 million copies sold, this book has helped millions change their perspective and their lives.

Unlike many authors of books in this genre, Covey doesn’t promise a simple, quick fix for creating a better life. In fact, mastering the seven habits he outlines could take a lifetime. But as with many personal-development efforts, it’s what you learn as you work toward becoming a truly effective person that matters.

The habits are divided into three sections: Private Victory, Public Victory and Renewal. Private Victory focuses on the individual’s view of himself. The first three habits are: becoming proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first. These habits will challenge you to take responsibility for your thoughts, beliefs and actions. The Public Victory section focuses on creating meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships. And because being effective requires energy and focus, the seventh habit, “Sharpening the Saw,” encourages you to engage in activities that promote mental and physical renewal.

Covey says that when our behavior contradicts our beliefs or when our relationships consistently fail, any successes we achieve feel hollow. This book takes a total approach to success and encourages growth and maturity beginning with self, which leads to stronger relationships and greater success at home and at work.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill, inspired by business legend Andrew Carnegie, spent 20 years of his life studying the lives of some of history’s most successful people. The culmination of his research was the in-depth series, The Laws of Success. In 1937, Hill published another book, Think and Grow Rich, founded on the same philosophies of success. This book condensed the wealth of knowledge he’s accumulated into 13 principles for successful living.

Shorter and perhaps easier to get through than its multivolume predecessor, Think and Grow Rich is as applicable today as it was when it was first released. The title’s principles are founded on Hill’s belief in the power of the mind, and his famous quotes, such as, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” have changed the way millions of people view their lives. When read in its entirety and its principles put into action, Think and Grow Rich not only helps people change their views on life, but also the way they behave and, ultimately, their reality.

More than 30 million copies of Think and Grow Rich have been bought by business students, entrepreneurs and goal-setters around the world. When it was re-released in 2004, it rocketed once again to the top, holding a place on BusinessWeek’s Best Seller list for paperback business books for more than 20 months.

Think and Grow Rich is a timeless classic that should be read by everyone interested in improving their lives and reaching their goals.

Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell

Opportunities for success, wealth and happiness often lie under foot and yet go unnoticed. This little book, originally a speech by Russell Conwell, serves as a reminder not to overlook the abundance right on our doorstep.

This timeless work is freely available online, in both written and audio formats, and addresses the myth that fame and fortune are waiting somewhere “out there.” He also dispels the notion that men and women of integrity shouldn’t desire money or wealth. “Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it. You ought because you can do more good with it than you could without it,” Conwell said. And to that end, he advises readers to begin searching for the diamonds in their lives… at home.

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Published in 1902, “This little volume” as James Allen refers to it, has been a source of inspiration for millions and has influenced the work of many respected personal-development leaders. And with statements such as, “The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears,” Allen paved the way for many contemporary philosophers.

At its core is the belief that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Allen uses eloquent period language to bring readers to the realization that thoughts and character are inseparably intertwined. Equally as important is the lesson of personal responsibility taking precedence over thoughts and actions. He prescribes focused time to reflect and discover yourself and your dreams, and to put forth energy and time to make those dreams reality. This book, now in the public domain and freely accessible on the Internet, should be in every achiever’s library.

Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy

As suggested by this book’s subtitle, “Strategies and skills that will unlock your hidden powers to succeed,” it’s likely you already possess what’s required to create success in your life. Those who apply these strategies provided by Brian Tracy can make changes that quickly produce results.

Learn how to create success that encompasses every area of life-health, personal and professional happiness, relationships and wealth. Whether you’re already on the road to success or just getting started on your success journey, the principles outlined in the book will help you realize your true potential. Build the life you want and attain the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that you control your destiny.

See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar

There’s room for you at the top! Zig Ziglar’s message has inspired millions to change their lives by helping them do, be and have more than they dared dream possible.

Ziglar offers a nuts-and-bolts approach to developing the self-image, attitudes and habits that make people successful. Learn how to set and achieve goals, how to create momentum that propels you forward in life and why being focused on others is a critical aspect of success. This step-by-step guide will help you excel in every area of life.

Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Within each person is a sleeping giant of greatness. With this book, motivational coach Anthony Robbins seeks to help you “take immediate control of mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny.”

Not one to do things in a small way, Robbins found huge success, lost it all and then, using the techniques outlined in this book, took control of his life and his success. This personal-development classic delves into the specifics of goal-setting, achieving success in relationships, talking to yourself and discovering your true potential.

Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell

Developing the Leader Within You makes the theories of leadership personal. For those struggling to take the next step in their careers or who doubt their leadership abilities, the book offers practical methods for developing leadership skills.

Recognizing that some people have innate leadership-personality traits, the book provides direction for becoming more effective. But John Maxwell’s book debunks the myth that only an exclusive few are born to be leaders. Instead, he suggests that everyone benefits from learning self-discipline, seeking mentors and adding to their skills through training.

Maxwell defines leadership as influence and points out that a management title isn’t a prerequisite. Regardless of your career, position or personality, learn how to become an effective leader.

The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchart

Apply the principals taught in The One Minute Manager and watch your team’s productivity and job satisfaction grow. This allegorical tale pulls together the wisdom gained through experience, allowing readers to prosper without making their predecessors’ mistakes.

The One Minute management style allows leaders to be efficient and effective with their time. The short chapters in this easy read focus on interaction between managers and their teams. By setting goals that encourage, redirecting, reprimanding and praising appropriately, leaders can get more from their teams while earning their respect.

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

Start Late Finish Rich by David Back

Who wouldn’t want to become a millionaire automatically? The truths related in this book, as in Bach’s Finish Rich series, are that nothing great is accomplished without forethought. But with a little planning and by putting many aspects of your finances on autopilot, you can be on the road to wealth.

The automatic aspect plan allows readers to save time while saving money. And though many of the principles aren’t new, Bach’s easy-to-understand approach helps the reader understand them in a new way. Some of the highlights include principles such as paying yourself first, and advice about why and how to save for retirement-even if you’re hard-pressed to make ends meet now. Bach also provides advice for accomplishing short-term savings goals and explains that giving is an important part of wealth.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

The paradigm shift related to work, employment and entrepreneurship has been a long time coming. In one of his most-read books, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki reveals the value of taking control of your financial destiny through entrepreneurship and investing.

In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki contrasts the differences between what the rich and the poor or middle classes teach their children. As a young man, Kiyosaki was taught by his “poor dad” to follow the path of least resistance: Get an education, get a job and work hard. His “rich dad,” his friend’s dad, mentored him to do the opposite. The book acknowledges education is important but it isn’t always best received in a formal learning environment. Lessons include the value of self-employment, how to be self-employed without limiting yourself to the constraints of an employee, and how to create and take advantage of residual-income opportunities. Instead of working hard for money, use the principles in this book to make money work for you.

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

Ten ancient scrolls hold the key to wealth and happiness in this classic parable. A young camel boy wishing to improve his station in life takes his master’s words to heart: “No other trade or profession has more opportunity for one to rise from poverty to great wealth than that of a salesman.” Desiring success and wealth, the young man sets out to become the greatest salesman in the world.

This pocket-sized book can be read easily in an hour, but it’s packed with wisdom for those pursuing a career in sales. Far more than a how-to book on closing the sale, the story encourages the reader to contribute to society and to grow in peace of mind and in heart. Those who apply the principles in the scrolls will learn how to overcome the challenges of sales, how to persist through trials and, ultimately, how to succeed.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Series by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

Need inspiration? The phenomenal success of Chicken Soup for the Soul offers inspiration on many levels. From the tenacity it took to get the first Chicken Soup for the Soul published (Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected by 140 publishers and their book agent before finding a publisher willing to take a chance on their idea) to the thousands of touching and thought-provoking stories, these books will warm your heart and may help you view life from a new perspective.

The original Chicken Soup for the Soul went to the top of the best-seller list in less than a year. Today, one or more of the Chicken Soup books is consistently listed on the New York Times and other major best-sellers lists.

As an entrepreneur, parent or business leader, staying at the top or your game requires regular jolts of passion and healthy doses of laughter. Find both by picking up a copy on a topic that interests you. With more than 170 titles in the series, you’re sure to find one that inspires you.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnagie

First published in 1937, How to Win Friends and Influence People was an overnight success with staying power. Today, this book is regarded as one of the all-time best for its lessons on dealing with people.

The chapter titles seem, at first, a little manipulative: “Six ways to make people like you,” “12 ways to win people to your way of thinking.” But the reality of Carnegie’s teachings is that none will work if the intent is manipulation. The word “genuine” appears repeatedly throughout the book. Only with authenticity and honesty will Carnegie’s methods work consistently.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is packed with anecdotes from historical leaders and lessons learned or taught by some of history’s greatest businessmen, making the read as interesting as it is enlightening. And the methods-calling a person by his or her name or looking at the situation from the other’s point of view-work in business and in personal life with family and friends.

Carnegie’s book is a classic. Though he credits many people for inspiring his ideas, his methods are the foundation for many of today’s personal-development and business-management books.

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Mind Power into the 21st Century by John Kehoe

In Mind Power Into the 21st Century, John Kehoe has articulated a set of life-changing principles for charting a course to success and happiness. More than that, however, Mind Power Into the 21st Century presents a remarkably specific and practical guide. Entertaining and informative, Mind Power Into the 21st Century includes inspiring anecdotes featuring such celebrtifies as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hillary Clinton, Larry King, and Bill Gates, and is quite simply a must read for anyone who truly wants to live life to the fullest.

The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer

Intention is generally viewed as a pit-bull kind of determination propelling one to succeed at all costs by never giving up on an inner picture. In this view, an attitude that combines hard work with an indefatigable drive toward excellence is the way to succeed. However, intention is viewed very differently in this book. Dr. Wayne Dyer has researched intention as a force in the universe that allows the act of creation to take place. This book explores intention—not as something you do—but as an energy you’re a part of. We’re all intended here through the invisible power of intention. This is the first book to look at intention as a field of energy that you can access to begin co-creating your life with the power of intention. Part I deals with the principles of intention, offering true stories and examples on ways to make the connection. Dr. Dyer identifies the attributes of the all-creating universal mind of intention as creative, kind, loving, beautiful, expanding, endlessly abundant, and receptive, explaining the importance of emulating this source of creativity. In Part II, Dr. Dyer offers an intention guide with specific ways to apply the co-creating principles in daily life. Part III is an exhilarating description of Dr. Dyer’s vision of a world in harmony with the universal mind of intention.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

More than 15 printings later and with more than one quarter of a million copies sold worldwide, Influence has clearly established itself as the most important book on persuasion ever published. In his new revised, updated, and expanded edition, Dr. Robert Cialdini explores the weapons of influence at work in today’s marketplace. If you have ever attempted to sell a product, to persuade a client, to influence another’s decision; if you have ever entered a department store or thought about buying life insurance or wondered whether to vote for a presidential candidate – in short, all of us, persuaders and persuaded a dozen times a day- you will be enlightened and delighted by what can be learned from this indispensable book.

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

An indictment of the Bush-led radical Right’s disdain for the principles of reasoned decision-making, and a reckoning with the degradation of the public sphere that facilitates their rule of unreason.

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Movies:

Its a Wonderful Life

The quintessential feel good movie of all time, It’s a Wonderful Life celebrates the ordinary man’s extraordinary life and the impact each of us has on those around us. It reminds us of what is important, that wealth comes not from what you own but what you give and that each man is truly rich if he has friends. For anyone who has ever questioned their own worth or the purpose of his life, Capra’s magical journey into what if, puts all doubts aside and captures the spirit of the holidays year around.

Gandhi

Winner of 9 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor -

Mohandas K. Gandhi, introduced the doctrine of nonviolent resistance to the colonized people of India. This was a radical idea and one difficult to follow, especially in the face of constant oppression, dehumanization and murder. Ultimately the Indian’s gained their independence. The philosophies of Gandhi carried into American Society supporting and galvanizing American Civil Rights Movement.

In today’s violent world encompassing the Occupied Territories of the Middle East, Chechnya and Africa, a man of Gandhi’s caliber is even more remarkable and increasingly needed. This film reminds us that it is not force that delivers freedom. It is perseverance, a respect for human dignity and quiet disobedience in the face of tyranny that becomes the deliver of the oppressed. Like all stories of good and evil, Gandhi reminds each viewer of the story that even in the face of excruciating oppression, holders of the truth with respect for their fellow man always in the end prevail. This is a great movie to watch when you become so frustrated with current affairs, hope for eventual peace seems an impossible dream. Gandhi will restore your faith.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Through the eyes of “Scout,” a feisty six-year-old tomboy, To Kill A Mockingbird carries us on an odyssey through the fires of prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama. Presenting her tale first as a sweetly lulling reminiscence of events from her childhood, the narrator draws us near with stories of daring neighborhood exploits by she, her brother “Jem,” and their friend “Dill.” Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, Maycomb (“a tired and sleepy town”) finds itself the venue of the trial of Tom Robinson, a young black man falsely accused of raping an ignorant white woman. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem’s widowed father and a deeply principled man, is appointed to defend Tom for whom a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion. Juxtaposed against the story of the trial is the children’s hit and run relationship with Boo Radley, a shut-in who the children and Dill’s Aunt Rachel suspect of insanity and who no one has seen in recent history. Cigar-box treasures, found in the knot hole of a tree near the ramshackle Radley house, temper the children’s judgment of Boo. “You never know someone,” Atticus tells Scout, “until you step inside their skin and walk around a little.” But fear keeps them at a distance until one night, in streetlight and shadows, the children confront an evil born of ignorance and blind hatred and must somehow find their way home.

Stand and Deliver

Edward James Olmos portrays the real-life Jaime Escalante, a no-nonsense mathematic teacher in a tough East LA high school. Handed a classroom full of “losers” and “unteachables,” Escalante is determined to turn his young charges’ lives around. Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Escalante forms a bond with his largely Hispanic student body, evoking the names of famous Spaniards and Latin Americans whose great accomplishments were predicated on their ability to learn. The students gradually come to realize that the only way they’ll escape their own poverty-stricken barrio is to improve themselves intellectually. As a result, the class’ academic achievements soar dramatically — too dramatically for the Educational Testing Service, which is convinced that the class’ high test scores are the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante’s students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion.

Lean on Me

Actor Morgan Freeman began his ascent to stardom with this, his first lead role in a major motion picture. Freeman is real-life high school principal Joe Clark, a tough, harsh educator and administrator who in 1987 is given a nearly impossible task by his old friend, school superintendent Dr. Frank Napier. Clark is asked to reform inner city Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ, a hotbed of delinquent kids and drug dealers. Considered the worst school in New Jersey, the state is threatening to take control of Eastside away from the local school board. If Clark can straighten out Eastside in time to get the school’s basic-skills test scores up, he can have the job permanently. Although Clark’s tyrannical approach and hard-line policies alienate many members of the staff and the community, his uncompromising campaign gets results and even makes him famous, much to the chagrin of his powerful enemies.

Freedom Writers

Assigned the thankless task of teaching freshman English at a gang-infested Long Beach, CA high school, a 23-year-old teacher resorts to unconventional means of breaking through to her hardened students in an adaptation of Erin Gruwell’s best-seller The Freedom Writer’s Diaries: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. Her students had been written off, and her chances of succeeding scoffed at, but Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) wasn’t about to go down without a fight. Long Beach is a place where a new war is waged with each passing day, and when the hardened students who walk those dangerous hallways sense an outsider attempting to understand their plight, their cynical resentment threatens to keep a deadly cycle in motion. Despite the initially hostile reaction she receives in the classroom, Gruwell uses the writings of  Anne Frank and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo to teach her students not only the basis of the English language, but compassion and tolerance as well. Later, when the time comes to tell their own tales in a project specially designed to explore the daily violence that the majority of students have grown numb to, the barriers that had once stood so strong gradually begin to crumble. When the only chance for survival is to befriend the person who was once your mortal enemy, the world is opened to a whole new realm of possibilities.

Dead Poet Society

Robin Williams toned down his usually manic comic approach in this successful period drama. In 1959, the Welton Academy is a staid but well-respected prep school where education is a pragmatic and rather dull affair. Several of the students, however, have their thoughts on the learning process (and life itself) changed when a new teacher comes to the school. John Keating (Williams) is an unconventional educator who tears chapters of his textbooks and asks his students to stand on their desks to see the world from a new angle. Keating introduces his students to poetry, and his free-thinking attitude and the liberating philosophies of the authors he introduces to his class have a profound effect on his students, especially Todd (Ethan Hawke), who would like to be a writer; Neil, who dreams of being an actor, despite the objections of his father; Knox, a hopeless romantic; Steven, an intellectual who learns to use his heart as well as his head; Charlie, who begins to lose his blasé attitude; unconventional Gerard; and practical Richard. Keating urges his students to seize the day and live their lives boldly; but when this philosophy leads to an unexpected tragedy, headmaster Mr. Nolan fires Keating, and his students leap to his defense. Dean Poets Society was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Williams; it won one, for Tom Schulman’s original screenplay.

The Ron Clark Story

The inspirational drama The Ron Clark Story tells the real-life tale of Clark played by Matthew Perry, a teacher from upstate New York who moves to Manhattan and re-instills courage and hope into the lives of many down-and-out students. Via highly innovative teaching strategies and rule sets, and an ongoing, strenuous effort, Clark manages to turn several lives around and raises students’ test scores to admirable levels. His star pupils include a young girl forced to both attend school and care for her siblings and a graffiti-prone young man who rechannels his energies into more traditional painting with Clark’s encouragement. In the end, even when pneumonia threatens to keep Clark down, he refuses to let it.

Patch Adams

The fact-based story of an unconventional physician who attempted to heal patients with laughter, based on his own book and mixing equal doses of scatological humor and pathos. Robin Williams stars as Hunter Adams, a troubled young man who commits himself to a mental institution in the late 1960s. His experiences there convince Adams to become a doctor, and he enrolls in medical school, where he is appalled at the cold, clinical professionalism that alienates patients from their caregivers. Determined to provide emotional and spiritual relief as well as medicine, Adams clowns around for his patients, getting to know them personally. Although his efforts seem to work wonders and the hospital nursing staff is grateful for the levity Adams provides, his methods alienate his uptight roommate Mitch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as well as the staff and faculty of his school. Adams perseveres, however, even starting his own low-cost rural clinic called the Gesundheit Institute, and wooing a pretty fellow student, Carin. Tragedy strikes, and Adams’ career is put in jeopardy, forcing him to defend his style and philosophy before a board of jurists determined to bar him from practicing medicine. Patch Adams (1998) was produced by former M*A*S*H (1972-83) star, who met the real-life Adams when the offbeat doctor served as an advisor to the actor’s popular TV series.

Apollo 13

“Houston, we have a problem.” Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis, and the suspense, fear, and excitement of those days are captured in Ron Howard’s epic recreation of the 1970 crisis. When the commander of the original mission Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), bows out due to possible exposure to measles, astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA’s third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew’s oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth’s atmosphere. Even though the outcome, in which all three astronauts miraculously survived, is historical fact, the film derives suspense from the situation itself and from the actions of the heroic astronauts and the men on the ground. Howard’s taut direction, a solid ensemble of players, and eye-opening special effects all add to the overall impact of the film, which has been hailed as one of Hollywood’s best historical dramas. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: THe IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format.

Mr. Holland’s Opus

A teacher belatedly discovers just how important his job really is in this emotional drama. Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) is a man with a deep love of music and a desire to write at least one piece of lasting significance. However, playing piano in cocktail lounges while he works on his own compositions doesn’t pay the bills, so in 1965 he reluctantly accepts a job as a high school music teacher. Over the next 30 years, Holland is able to teach a great deal about both music and life to thousands of kids who pass through the various classes he leads and school bands he directs; however, he finds it easier to reach his students than his son Cole, who is deaf, which drives a wedge between Glenn and his wife Iris earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for Mr. Holland’s Opus

The Pursuit of Happyness

In this astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga, twenty-year-old Milwaukee native Chris Gardner arrives in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprises everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance.

Yet no sooner has he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm, than Gardner is entangled in incredibly challenging circumstances leaving him and his toddler son homeless on the mean streets of San Francisco, never guessing that he would one day become a crown prince of Wall Street.

Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.

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Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is based on the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce, who as a Member of Parliament, navigated the world of 18th Century backroom politics to end the slave trade in the British Empire. Albert Finney plays John Newton, a confidante of Wilberforce who inspires him to pursue a life of service to humanity. Benedict Cumberbatch is William Pitt the Younger, England’s youngest ever Prime Minister at the age of 24, who encourages his friend Wilberforce to take up the fight to outlaw slavery and supports him in his struggles in Parliament.

Elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21, and on his way to a successful political career, Wilberforce, over the course of two decades, took on the English establishment and persuaded those in power to end the inhumane trade of slavery.

An Inconvenient Truth

Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.

If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom — think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his “traveling global warming show,” Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media – funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our “planetary emergency” out to ordinary citizens before it’s too late.

With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching a tipping point – and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore’s personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective, to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life – convinced that there is still time to make a difference.

With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore’s persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue – rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.

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Quotations:

“Coincidence is Gods way of staying anonymous.” – Anonymous

“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.” – Galileo Galilei

“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those, which fail.” – Napoleon Hill

“People who consider themselves victims of their circumstance, will always remain victims unless they develop a greater vision for their lives.” – Stedman Graham

“Everyone’s life is under someone’s control – it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny.” - Harry Tucker

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” - Henry Ford

“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” – Augustine of Hippo

“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of the those pieces.” – Judith Viorst