Abstract
Cory Levy is a remarkable young man whose talents help develop the next generation of engineers required to address the Grand Challenges. His skills in forging social connectedness, community, and building Social Capital, have helped scores of young students develop their creativity, enhance their networks, and unleash their entrepreneurial energies. For the past two years, with uncommon generosity and a dedication to service, he has been enthusiastically helping peers nationally, and especially at UIUC and Duke. A HS senior, he has already led classes and delivered inspirational talks on multiple occasions at Duke University and at iFoundry in the Engineering college at Illinois, teaching college students how to find mentors, how to turn internships into full time opportunities, and how build their Social Capital networks by taking on the attitude of service. I deliver lectures to my students at Duke on Servant Leadership; Cory enters the classroom and shows them how to live that attitude. As just one testament to the importance of Cory's message, dozens of students, at both Illinois and Duke, quote Cory in their classroom work, and acknowledge his impact on their thinking. Cory convinced Stanford to co-sponsor his Fall 09 NextGen Conference. He attracted over 100 college entrepreneurs to this day long event where he brought his special knowledge on building Social Capital to attendees, and convinced nearly 20 entrepreneurs and VCs to speak and share their wisdom with the kids. Cory's service attitude exemplifies the best qualities of this generation of outstanding young adults.
