Herman Badillo

By in Leadership, Political Leaders

By: Amanda Perez, Wagner College ‘16 “Herman Badillo is a true leader who doesn’t flinch from expressing difficult truths. His own amazing story provides inspiration and the moral authority that allows him to advocate hard choices for American Hispanics. He has provided an important blueprint for incorporating the nation’s largest ethnic community into the mainstream of this great nation,” says Linda Chavez, a former Reagan White House official and author of Out of the Barrio: and Towards a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation.(1) Controversial Views: Herman Badillo’s book, One Nation, One Standard: An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Cam Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups, is “a memoir of Herman Badillo’s early life and political career intertwined with his reflections on increasing upward mobility of Hispanics in the United States.”(2) He states in his book, “Hispanics,...

Wangari Maathai

By in Environmental Leaders, Leadership

“Trees are living symbols of peace and hope.  A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky.  It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded, and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance.  It is a reminder to all of us who have had success that we cannot forget where we came from.” -Wangari Maathai By Veronica Rao Wangari Maathai challenged the social norms of Kenya, being a woman in a leadership position, while she peacefully fought to better the economic and environmental state of the country. She was born in Kenya in on April 1st, 1940. As she explains it, “I was born as an old world was passing away.” At this time Africa was being colonized by European countries. A lot of the settlers were tradesmen and businessmen looking to make a profit off of Africa’s abundance of natural resources. Africa faded from a land...

MALCOLM X

By in Leadership

BY: ERICA CURRY Thesis: A leader during the end of the Civil Rights Movement who found his calling while in prison and had a couple significant accomplishments during his life time. Accomplishments: -Accomplishing his goal to learn more about his faith, Black Muslim, through reading every book available in the Charlestown Prison library. -After his split from the Nation of Islam Malcolm founded the Muslim Mosque Inc. a great organization created for Malcolm’s followers to easily continue to follow his beliefs. -He also founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. This organization was put into motion in order to fight for the rights of Africans and promote the cooperation between Africans and African Americans. LEADERSHIP: Tough empathy, he was not afraid to be different. He went against the views of Martin Luther King Jr. and had no problem in doing so. He saw his approach as the...

Michael Collins

By in Leadership, Military Leaders

Michael Collins is a name that bears a great deal of pride with it in Ireland. In his short 31 years, this man accomplished so much for a country with but one goal, true independence. In the battle for Irish independence from the British Commonwealth, Michael Collins was always at the forefront. He began as just a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a strong Irish nationalist group, but throughout his years he quickly progressed and became not only a strong military leader but also an important part of treaty negotiations.   Collins’ first testament to his devotion to the cause of Irish independence was the Easter Rising of 1916. In 1916, Collins had just returned from London where he had attended King’s College and had joined the IRB. Shortly after his return home, he was involved in the Easter Rising in Dublin during Easter Week 1916. This rising was ultimately a...

Mark Zuckerberg

By in Leadership, Technology Leaders

“Mark Zuckerberg: Changing the Lives of Today” By: Michael Migliorisi, Wagner College ’16           “Move fast, take risks. It’s okay to try big things. You’re better off trying something and having it not work and learning from that than having not done anything at all.” Taking risks is the only way for someone to succeed. Without a risk, there is no success to achieve. Mark Zuckerberg took one of the biggest risks he could possibly take, dropping out of college in 2004. He was a sophomore at Harvard University at the time and majoring in computer science and psychology. He decided that he would drop out of college in order to complete a project he was working on. Today we know this project as Facebook. Zuckerberg is the founder of the most popular social networking site. In the past, many people would become successful without even...