What Makes a Hero?

William David “Dave” Sanders Dave Sanders, a computer/business teacher and basketball and softball coach at Columbine High School, is responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of high school students when two student gunmen opened fire outside Columbine. Upon hearing the gun shots, Sanders ran to the cafeteria and evacuated over 100 students from the building, saving all of their lives. The cafeteria was almost completely empty by the time the gunmen entered. Sanders left the cafeteria and ran to an upstairs hallway in an effort to lead several students to safety. He was shot from behind and suffered wounds to his torso, head, and neck. He managed, however, to get himself and his accompanying students into a science lab where he eventually bled to death before first responders were able to arrive.

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Odysseus was the ruler of Ithaca. On the day of his son’s birth, Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan war. Despite his reluctance in going, Odysseus served with great bravery. After a ten-year stalemate in the war, with great cunning and cleverness, Odysseus devised the idea of the Trojan horse—a tactic which helped the Greeks to finally defeat the Trojans. After the war, Odysseus spent 10 additional years fighting to get home to his beloved wife Penelope and their son Telemachus. Along the way, he encountered angry gods, violent storms, and many monsters. He fought them all and weathered every storm. He watched 720 of his men die on the journey home. After his 20 year absence from home, Odysseus returned to find his house in shambles, suitors courting his wife, and his servants being anything but kind to him. He rights the wrongs—by killing the disloyal servants and suitors—and is reunited with the family for whom he literally journeyed to hell and back.

Rick Rescorla Rescorla was the vice president of security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. He worked in the Twin Towers and regularly drilled employees on how to safely evacuate the World Trade Center. Pre 9-11, Rescorla was confident that the towers were vulnerable to attack. His predictions proved to ring true on that awful day on September 11, After the first hijacked plane slammed into the first tower, Rescorla did what he knew best. He grabbed a bullhorn, defied officials’ requests to stay in the office, and heralded company’s employees out of the building. Rescorla marched employees out of the building two by two. By the time the 2 nd plane hit, he had already helped most of his company’s employees to safety. However, he went back in the burning building despite first responders’ dire warnings not to re-enter. Rescorla was last seen on the 10 th floor of the burning tower. Some say he helped thousands to safety on that fateful day in American history.

Tim Tebow Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the New York Jets of the NFL. He played for the University of Florida, appearing in the National Championship on winning teams in the 2006 and 2008 seasons. He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore in After graduating, he was drafted by the Denver Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. In today’s society, Tebow is an improbable public figure; he is known for standing up for his convictions and beliefs. He is not afraid to express his religious views. Tebow has had to overcome naysayers and embraces the challenge to prove them wrong through hard work, commitment, and perseverance.

Trakr Trained as a police dog in Halifax, Nova Scotia — where he worked for six years, helping to find more than $1 million in contraband — Trakr had retired in May 2001 before he and his trainer, Canadian police officer James Symington, drove 15 hours to help recovery efforts in New York City following the Sept. 11 attacks. Trakr was credited with locating the last survivor found beneath the rubble. Two days after arriving and searching for survivors the entire time, Trakr collapsed from smoke inhalation, exhaustion and burns and was treated for his injuries before returning to Canada. Later in life Trakr suffered from a degenerative neurological disorder that experts say could have been caused by his work at Ground Zero. Before Trakr died in April 2009, his DNA was entered into a cloning contest by Symington and was later chosen for use. In June of that year, five cloned Trakrs were born.

Oprah Winfrey Media giant Oprah Winfrey was born in the poor rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, After a troubled adolescence in a small farming community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and friends of her mother, Vernita, she moved to Nashville to live with her father, Vernon, a barber and businessman. She entered Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville. Winfrey became a dedicated activist for children's rights; in 1994, President Clinton signed a bill into law that Winfrey had proposed to Congress, creating a nationwide database of convicted child abusers. She founded the Family for Better Lives foundation and also contributes to her alma mater, Tennessee State University. In September, 2002, Oprah was named the first recipient of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. According to Forbes magazine, Oprah was the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three years running. Life magazine hailed her as the most influential woman of her generation. In 2005, Business Week named her the greatest Black philanthropist in American history. Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $51,000,000 for charitable programs, including girls' education in South Africa and relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. By 2012, she had given away about $400 million to educational causes including over 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.