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Ruben Rodriguez-Santos

Ruben Rodriguez-Santos, 31, lives for family. He beams when talking about his 3-year-old son, Ruben Alexander. Hopping up from the booth near the front door, which allows a constant stream of customers in and out, Rodriguez-Santos goes to retrieve his uncle, Alex Sivira, from the back.

Margie Thompson

Margie Thompson's second-grade classroom blooms. Dancing bears proclaim the longness and shortness of vowels. Colors swirl, and pep-talk art tells children that they can excel in math, in literature, in social studies. This space at McWillie Elementary School is all about learning and is one of the reasons Thompson was selected Jackson Public Schools' Teacher of the Year for 2004.

Gretchen Cook

Gretchen Cook was something of a child prodigy, spending her days reading instead of going to the beach near her home in Pensacola, Fla.

Jerome Gentry

When 49-year-old Jerome Gentry talks about his high-school football days, his smile and hand gestures become big and animated. In 1975, the Callaway High School Chargers finished 12-0the first prep team in Mississippi to do soand brought home the state title.

Melissa Adkinson

Melissa Adkinson, 36, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, relates easily to the majority of clients she helps. She works as a case manager at the Good Samaritan Center, a non-profit organization. She has lived in Jackson for the past two and half years.

Ed Blount

Ed "The Prezs" Blount, 38, wants to form a new type of neighborhood association. Working as a bartender at the Upper Level by night, and driving a Head Start school bus by day, Blount recognizes the need for direction and unity in neighborhoods. To jumpstart his community movement, he and the Dalton/Deerpark Neighborhood Association are holding the first Neighborhood Homecoming.

Alisa Ross

At first glance, Alisa Ross appears to be a shy 17-year-old senior at Callaway High School. But catch her on the basketball court, and she lights up with a fire in her eyes and a million-dollar smile after making a shot.

Hill Denson

On a foggy morning in early March, Coach Hill Denson gazes across the outfield of Smith-Wills Stadium and notes the new additions to the field.

Jeff Good

Jeff Good, 41, came to Jackson from Salt Lake City his senior year in high school, graduated from Murrah in 1981 and Millsaps in 1986, then sold computer systems for the old National Cash Register company. In the early '90s, frustrated after the company changed hands, Good was on the phone with his best friend from high school, then a chef in San Francisco. They decided to go into business together.

Jake Greer

When some people think of Jackson, they conjure a place full of crime, drug houses, bumpy streets and rundown buildings, but not Crystal Springs native Jake Greer.

Oleta Fitzgerald

Oleta Fitzgerald, 58, is a tiny woman with a big office. Perfectly coiffed in a tweed business suit, she arises from her desk when I arrive and gracefully extends her hand to meet mine. Fitzgerald's soft and feminine exterior suggests her warmhearted and nurturing interior. But when it comes to executing her duties as the head of the Southern Regional Office of the Children's Defense Fund, Fitzgerald is a determined, almost unstoppable woman.

Jessica Catchings

Jessica Catchings blazes a trail across Jackson accomplishing multiple tasks at once and creating more in the process. The 22-year-old history student plans to graduate from Jackson State University in August, and then dive headfirst into law school.

Dolphus Weary

Dr. Dolphus Weary, 58, has devoted his life to "Christian community development" in Mississippi. He began serving as the executive director of Mission Mississippi in 1998 and was named president in 2005. Having already earned a bachelor's degree in biology, a master's degree in Christian education, an additional master's in Christian education administration, Weary recently decided to earn his doctorate at Reformed Theological Seminary. Weary, a native of Mendenhall, says his current job is "totally outside the character of what I wanted to do" as a young man.

George Frank

At 78, age has not stopped George Frank from learning new things. Last week, he became the oldest student to graduate from Jackson State University's Department of Mathematics.

Caroline Hobbs

Caroline Hobbs fell into her unconventional vocation as a bail bondswoman "through a bad boyfriend."

Charles Hooker

Charles Hollingsworth Hooker Jr., 58, holds dear his faith, family, furniture—mid-century modern business furniture, that is—and jazz. After growing up in his father's downtown business, the Mississippi Stationery Company, the Jackson native now owns and operates its present incarnation—OffiSource on Old Square Road. A product of Jackson Public Schools, Hooker said he's pleased with the 36 years since he graduated with a business degree from State.

Stan Leflore

When defining his role in the renaissance of downtown Jackson, Stan Leflore, 56, feels he is as much a pioneer as his great, great, great-grandfather, Louis LeFleur, the French-Canadian explorer who discovered the bluff that would later become Jackson.

Miss Keke

Growing up gospel—that's Miss KeKe, aka the Queen of Mississippi's "Fokus." This 25-year-old Jackson native says her faith in God and hard work brought her to where she is today. She is a promoter in the music industry, helping local artists launch their careers.

Ted Duckworth

Native Jacksonian Ted Duckworth, 39, is dedicated to changing the face of downtown Jackson. A married father of four, Duckworth graduated from Mississippi State in 1988 with a bachelor's in real estate and mortgage finance. The following year, he started his own company, Duckworth Realty, with exclusive listings in LeFleur's Gallery Shopping Center and The Market at Grant's Ferry Shopping Center.

Ramsey Wise

"It's sort of like a dumpling," Ramsey Wise explains with hand motions.

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