Toward the Light:

Alumni Changemakers Illuminate Impact

By Evan Nisenson '99, Director of Alumni Relations and Giving

In architecture, the archway represents a transition, a passage from one place to another, a crossing from what was into what will be. Every year, Newark Academy graduates walk through the arches on the facade of the building one last time, going out into the world to follow their passions and make a difference. Since its founding in 1774, Newark Academy has been guided by the motto Ad Lumen — toward the light — nurturing in its students a sense of social responsibility, intellectual curiosity and generosity of spirit. 

The alumni featured on the following pages have fully embraced this motto. They are changemakers — a word coined in 1980 by Bill Drayton, social entrepreneur and founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public — and they are leaders in their respective fields. From energy to education, they have emerged as trailblazers making change not just in the world at large but in their own local communities. What was striking to me during my discussions with these six alumni is that together they are, literally and figuratively, bringing energy and light to the world.