Days after the Freeman High School shooting, Barb Wharton sat in a circle with about 15 teachers who had locked down their classrooms that day to keep the gunman out.

For the past three decades, Lynn Everson has greeted society’s outcasts with a cookie, a clean needle and a welcome ear.

As a former model and long-time owner of downtown Spokane’s The Makeup Studio, Julie Farley knows a thing or two about putting your best face forward. But it’s not just about looking good, she says. It’s about growing confidence and protecting pride.

Karen Mobley isn’t that well known to the general public, even though she was a longtime city department head. Her work remains on display all over town, even if it isn’t her work. As the city’s arts director, she helped bring numerous public art pieces to town, including the many murals brightening the city’s many underpasses, and the collection of sculptures in the city core.

As entrepreneur program manager for StartUp Spokane, Megan Hulsey helps people turn their business ideas into reality.

Gowdy didn’t think volunteering project would catch on. But in the past year, he’s won accolades for his work and spoken at dozens of local schools. He still tries to do an act of service every day, even when he’s swamped with homework. “I’ve never regretted it after I’ve done it,” he said. “It’s like exercising.”

It probably won’t be a bestseller, but Mark Anderson and Rick Romero just wrote the book on local intergovernmental cooperation.

About 17,000 acres has been preserved as open spaces through the efforts of the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy – most of it under Chris DeForest’s leadership.