"Being a part of the Innovation Symposium is, to me, a great honor.   It is both humbling and invigorating to be a part of a small group with such a colossal vision.  The experience has already been one of effective collaboration within our class, as well as growth in the areas of creativity, self-knowledge, and clarity of my professional and personal aspirations.  The Innovation Symposium is the perfect opportunity to equip and launch me into the next chapter of my life, where I hope to make the most worthwhile contribution I can to many people’s lives."

Ed Costa, a Brazilian native, is a nursing student graduating in May 2009.  He has been an active member of the Innovation Symposium, using his fundraising skills, world insights, and general conviviality to provide us all with encouragement and delight.  In addition to his efforts in health care, he has also worked tirelessly for Ambassadors for Children, participating as the campus chapter’s president and making a journey to Guatemala for a service mission trip during Spring Break 2008.  Ed will be unable to join our 2009 group in England because he has been selected for a very special position—his dream job at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.  As we make our journey, we will all be thinking of Ed.  We will miss him. We wish him every success.

"My proper name is William Bradford DeBoard, but I just prefer to be called “Will.” I am a pretty easy going guy. I like to do simple things, such as hanging out with friends, reading books, collecting comic books, and playing videogames. I am from (what used to be) a small town in Virginia named Fredericksburg. It is exactly half way between Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, DC. It is also considered to be the most historic city in the country due to its being founded during the initial founding of this country. Fredericksburg was also a major focal point during both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. I grew up around history and knowledge my entire life, which explains why I am in college now. I have a thirst for knowledge and understanding about the world we live in, how it works, and what I can do to make it better.
This is why the Innovation Symposium is so important to me. I have always wanted to travel and see the world. This is not due to simply wanting to experience other places, but to try and “live” and understand other places. Knowledge is power, and power creates change in the world. I am hoping the innovation Symposium will help open my mind more and instill a greater drive and passion towards becoming an innovator. I believe that I am here for a reason. I believe I am meant to help usher in changes for the better for our planet. And I just hope that the Innovation Symposium will be another step towards finding my calling in the world."

"I will graduate on May 12th, 2009 with a bachelor of science in nursing.  I am honored to be a part of the Innovation Symposium.   It has been a dream of mine to one day travel to England; and that dream will soon be reality.  I am excited to be able to have this once in a lifetime experience.
As a soon to be registered nurse, I am very excited about what I can learn from the Innovation Symposium.  Healthcare is a service that is continually growing and is always in need of new innovations.  It is my hope that the Innovation Symposium will help me be an innovator in my profession.  I am interested in all 3 aspects of this course, environmental, philanthropic, and technological innovation, and how they relate to healthcare and to the world."

"I am a psychology major with a minor in Criminal Justice. I owe much of my academic  success to two professors here at IUK, Dr. Kathy Holcomb from the psychology department and Dr. Kelly Brown from the SPEA program. These two teachers have helped me to refine my skills as a student and a world thinker. To them I am forever grateful. I am a member of the Criminal Justice Association and would like to be more active within the Psychology Club. I attended Ball State University prior to Indiana University Kokomo. I love it here! This campus and its faculty provide the students with the necessary tools for success in the future along with sparking a desire to better our communities. The smaller, more personal class sizes allow for much one-on-one interaction with professors and other students. My interests are neuroscience, psychology, and the criminal justice system. My passions are research and statistics, and I hope to one day combine them with my interests to make improvements in the prevention of crime and the rehabilitation of law offenders. I also love all animals, big or small, and I am an avid supporter of Cass County's Cause for Paws. (If I could say one thing to all pet owners out there it would be, to please, spay or neuter your pets!)  In my free time, I enjoy music, literature, mostly fiction, movies, outdoor events, boating, cooking, traveling, entertaining, and experiencing new things. I have an extensive group of friends who are all very encouraging and inspirational.
I am married; my spouse is very supportive of my overseas learning experience. I am very excited to travel to England with this wonderful group of people, and Karla Stouse as our mentor. This class encourages us to think outside of the box and apply it to humanitarian issues. I can see subtle changes in each one of us since we began this voyage. It is awe-inspiring to know that with the progression of this class we are all becoming more aware of and more empathetic with our world and the people we share it with. Every time I meet with my travel group I learn new things and become more diverse. This is a once-in-a-life time opportunity, and every day I feel honored to be a part of it. I know that we will all return from this trip as changed individuals, for the better. One of my main goals within this class is to raise awareness on campus about this amazing program, to let students and faculty know why we are going, and what we hope to accomplish. I am very confident that we, as a group, will make this campus and our peers proud of our goals and successes."

"Hello! My name is Cameron Huffman. I'm an English major hoping to go to law school after I get my undergraduate degree. I'm excited about the Innovation Symposium because I've lived in Kokomo, Indiana my whole life. While I've traveled around the continental 48, I've never stepped foot off of American soil. I can't wait to experience an entirely new culture. I hope to soak it all up and learn as much as I can from all the diversity that can be found in London. I hope to gain a new perspective on some things and hopefully it will give me a fresh set of eyes with which to evaluate my own life and the direction in which I am headed. I want to look at how people live in a diverse environment, and their thoughts on being surrounded by so many different ethnicites and cultures. Living in the midwest, my exposure to other cultures is somewhat limited, and I hope to head overseas with an open mind and gain a new understanding of this global world we live in, and hopefully share some of that understanding once I return."

"Contributing positively to the world and being a good steward of the resources that we share is a vital concept for me. It is an abomination that we live in a world where a person dies every six seconds because of the lack of food and that thirty thousand people die every day because of poverty with preventable illnesses like diarrhea. The concept is simple: poverty does not belong in civilized society. My aspiration is to work in developing innovative programs that would move people out of poverty into self-sustainable livelihoods. Creativity and innovation are essential tools to creating viable solutions to the issue of poverty and sustainability—I consider the Innovation Symposium an opportunity to challenge and broaden my thinking to new and greater dimensions. The human mind is capable of boundless enterprises and I agree with Thomas Edison who said, “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” With our advances in technology and ability to transmit information instantaneously, we are on the threshold of greatly increasing our abilities to empower people and communities to live sustainable livelihoods and increasing our capabilities to eradicate poverty. Currently, I am pursuing my bachelor’s degree in General Studies at IU Kokomo. I live in northern Miami County with my two youngest children, a dog, two cats, a horse, and a small flock of chickens."

"Hello. My name is Austin Laughner. I am currently a senior studying Finance and Economics. I am extremely excited to be part of the Innovation Symposium for 2009. This opportunity will allow me to express my ideas and creations in a way that I never thought was possible.
Prior to the invitation for the Innovation Symposium, I had only heard a little about the group’s main focus. As I continue reading and learning about the group, I realize that this experience is nothing like I have had before. All the learning will be “hands on” and not simply applying theories and methods. This application process will allow me to enhance my educational experience and take my creativity to a whole new level.
My main interests for the class are global pollution and the current financial crisis. I am hoping that I will be able to create a project that will influence others that are affected by these two problems.
Overall, I am the only business major in the group. I am hoping that my experience, combined with the array of majors in the Innovation Symposium group, will provide different viewpoints on the controversial topics that will be discussed throughout the trip. Hopefully the combination of ideas will help one another when addressing each individual’s project."

"I am a Junior at IU Kokomo working on my B.A. in Secondary Education with a focus in English.  I’m very excited about this trip and the opportunities it will afford me to expand my critical thinking skills while exposing me to innovative concepts.  I hope to learn how to “think outside the box” better and to become more creative in my educational endeavors.  I’m very grateful to the faculty of IU Kokomo for giving me this opportunity."

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