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Meet the extraordinary Withelma Ortiz Walker Pettigrew, or "T" as she is more popularly known. A children and women's rights activist most known for her courageous retelling of her teenage life when she was sexually exploited as well as her fight against child and women sex trafficking. "I am still endeavoring to TRULY understand that I am not a slave, and neither man nor money validates my worth." To read more about Withelma Ortiz Walker Pettigrew visit www.thextraordinary.org/withelma-t-ortiz-walker-pettigrew

Meet the extraordinary founder and editor in chief of China Digital Times and an internet activist who promotes the freedom of information, Xiao Qiang. An international Chinese news website that publishes more than one hundred articles and posts including those that are being suppressed and blocked by the digital censors in China's cyberspace. "That ultimate spirit of freedom will last longer than the strength of tanks and machine guns". To read more about Xiao Qiang visit www.thextraordinary.org

Meet the extraordinary Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the largest Christian community in Israel, Elias Michael Chacour. Most famous for his work in uniting Israelites and Arabs. He is also the founder of the Mar Elias High School. "We want to live in the present time doing our task and preparing a future, not alone - but, rather, Jews and Palestinians together". To read more about Elias Chacour visit www.thextraordinary.org

We have this persisting opinion of lawyers being dishonest and all for the money. Mahesh Chander Mehta, also known as M.C. Mehta, disproves generalizations. He is an environmental lawyer based in India, his home country, where bureaucracy is not for the faint hearted. M.C. won cases to protect the Taj Mahal, Ganges River, and other historical sites. He upholds Indian's Right to Life, Polluters Must Pay, the Precautionary Principle, and the Public Trust Principle. He wins cases through sheer hard work and impeccable integrity. He does not earn much but the respect he has won is priceless. To read more about Mahesh Chander Mehta visit www.thextraordinary.org

Chad Pregracke is definitely not shying away from getting his hands dirty in the name of water conservation. Since he was 17 years old, Chad has been cleaning up trash in the Mississippi River-which happens to be his backyard-singlehandedly at first when no one seemed to care. He is living proof of the adage "leading by example." A teenager on a mission to clean up the second longest river in the United States sure makes Chad different-in a good way. After founding Living Lands & Waters Foundation, Chad has never slowed down his barge. To read more about Chad Pregracke visit www.thextraordinary.org

Not many people would have the audacity to leave the comforts of their office and relegate themselves to doing field work so an endangered species does not go extinct. Dyan deNapoli is driven by so much love for penguins that she christened herself The Penguin Lady. She founded her educational business after leaving the New England Aquarium. As its Senior Penguin Aquarist for over 7 years, Dyan's experience equipped her with impeccable know-how on how to care and help penguins thrive. Her book "The Great Penguin Rescue" has earned the accolades of award-giving bodies. What saving 40,000 penguins could do! To read more about Dyan deNapoli visit www.thextraordinary.org

Fabien Cousteau is an aquanaut, just like his grandfather and father. But more than just exploring the oceans to unlock its mystery, Fabien dove the extra mile by launching his Plant A Fish organization. It aims to educate the youth about the importance of protecting our waters and as its name suggests, inspire them to do their share of creating a sustainable habitat for fishing. To honor his late grandfather's 100th birthday, he directs Mission 31. He and his research team will stay under the Florida Keys for 31 days to thoroughly study the current state of our waters. To read more about Fabien Cousteau visit www.thextraordinary.org.

Mike Archer is a paleontologist most known for his involvement in the Riversleigh fossil site in Queensland where over 40,000 specimens of 300 species were derived. Needless to say, it provided a big chunk of the puzzle of Australian fauna history. Apart from his active participation in fossil exploration, Mike is also the lead scientist of the Lazarus Project and has headed an experiment to bring back the extinct Thylacine, or what we now know as the Tasmanian Tiger. His finds have given him numerous accolades including Fellowship in prestigious organizations and becoming a Member of the Order of Australia. To read more about Mike Archer visit www.thextraordinary.org

Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya is faced with a daunting task-he needs to make sure that Qatar is able to become self-sufficient by 2030, the year Qatar's National Vision would be realized. It's daunting since his country, the richest among all other countries because of their gas revenue, only has 74mm of precipitation of rain annually. It is one of the Earth's driest spots. So, they survive by importing 93% of their food and desalinating almost 100% of their water. As chairman of the National Food Security Programme, he is tasked to make their desert of a country a garden. To read more about Fahad Al-Attiya visit www.thextraordinary.org

James Beshara has always believed in the power of doing things together, and this is evidenced by his two most popular creations - dvelo.org and crowdtilt.com. And if you think that these two websites are like fundraiser sites such as eventbrite.org and paypal.com, then the main difference is instead of having a single person charge everyone so that they could achieve a goal, crowdtilt.com enables everyone to pool in their resources to achieve a common goal, no matter how big or small it may be. To read more about James Beshara visit www.thextraordinary.org

Rabia Siddique is the author of "Equal Justice," a memoir of her stint in the British Army where she fought for and against the system. As a British Army lawyer, an attractive one at that, Rabia's life has been a paradox. While she's been commissioned to become the system's face for equal opportunities in the army, she's been a victim of politicking. But Rabia wouldn't have any of that. She stood up and fought the battle against the very institution she has faithfully served. The British Army settled and her role in the rescue of the two soldiers was acknowledged.

The human mind. The last frontier of man's journey to discover himself and the one thing that sets humans apart and makes them unique from all creatures on Earth. The mind is often referred to as a person's soul, containing the various aspects of thought, emotion and decision. And so, understanding the mind is a great necessity to help us address a lot of the problems that society is facing today, by working on ways that will help enhance the human mind, which will then result on the improvement of a person's life and thus enable him/her to become a more productive member of the community. To read more about Tan Le visit www.thextraordinary.org

The human mind. The last frontier of man's journey to discover himself and the one thing that sets humans apart and makes them unique from all creatures on Earth. The mind is often referred to as a person's soul, containing the various aspects of thought, emotion and decision. And so, understanding the mind is a great necessity to help us address a lot of the problems that society is facing today, by working on ways that will help enhance the human mind, which will then result on the improvement of a person's life and thus enable him/her to become a more productive member of the community. To read more about Tan Le visit www.thextraordinary.org

Julia "Butterfly" Hill endured 738 days atop Luna to stop loggers from cutting the 1,500-year-old redwood tree. Maxxam Corporation, the operator of Pacific Lumber, did their best to get her off Luna to no avail. Finally, after two years and eight days of residing 800 feet above the ground, Julia "Butterfly" Hill once again set foot on earth. Luna was saved and the bestselling "The Legacy of Luna" followed suit. Now, Luna remains to be a living tree and is yet to be made timber for houses or exotic sets of furniture.

Jane Fonda-who doesn't know her? Recipient of a Tony Award, two Academy Awards, an Emmy Award, and three Golden Globes, she's one of the greatest actresses of all time. Her 1980s exercise videos are still regarded as the bestselling workout videos of all time, selling about 17 million copies worldwide. She's been the target of controversies all along after her Hanoi Jane brouhaha, but even that catastrophic misstep did little to diminish her stardom. Jane remained one of the most respected stars then and now.

Mata Amritanandamayi is known all over the world as the "hugging saint." She is called by her disciples and followers as "Amma" or Mother in English. Since the beginning of her spiritual vocation, Mata is believed to have hugged a total of 37 million people coming from all walks of life. She is regarded as one of the most revered spiritual figures by Hindus and other denominations. Coming from a very poor family, her devotion to her faith enabled her to help the needy by inspiring organizations to put up hospitals and schools. Read more about Mata Amritanandamayi visit www.thextraordinary.org

Scholastic and Turtle Pond Interactive invite you and your class on a virtual field trip to an aquarium in Florida! This live event will introduce children worldwide to an extraordinary and inspiring bottlenose dolphin named Winter.

Saw this author at the National Book Festival...Would be great for elementary students!

"This post could be almost infinite: there is most certainly an extraordinary array of options for videos which expand educators' understandings and inspire advances in 21st century learning.  But curation is about choice and selection, and while I know I will leave out many, I thought I'd offer up a set of 15 of my favorites for your consideration for video screening at at back-to-school or beginning-of-the-year faculty meetings (and/or parent and board meetings). "

Heidi Kuhn founded Roots of Peace in 1997 to help remove landmines in war-torn nations. Her organization has taken out 100,000 landmines from countries, such as Palestine, Israel, Afghanistan, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovena, Angola, and Cambodia. They have also transformed the lives of landmine victims by giving them a decent source of living. In Afghanistan, Roots of Peace has helped 10,000 farmers who are now happily growing fruits on the once dreaded landmine zone.

Peter Sheahan is a successful author, speaker, thought leader, and entrepreneur. He introduced unorthodox business approaches and led business people to think outside of the box. He painstakingly tells people about his liberating business methods through his books-he's written six and two of them became bestsellers-and ChangeLabs, the company he founded when he was 19.

Joel Scott Osteen is a pastor, author and television host who leads America's largest Christian congregation, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Through his weekly broadcasts that reach more than ten million people in over one hundred nations across the world, Joel has become a very significant and inspirational part of the lives of the millions of viewers who eagerly wait to see his program every week.