Unsweetened Howard: Mr. Ian Kennedy

Upon investigation prior to the actual meeting with Mr. Ian Kennedy, I discovered what exactly Unsweetened Howard is. It is a campaign that was created by the Horizon Foundation to make it easier for parents to give their children the best types of food and drinks they can. Mr. Kennedy explained that Unsweetened Howard was created because obesity is affecting about ¼ of the children in Howard County. They are different than other programs aimed towards healthier eating because of their exclusive focus on sugary drinks. The number one driver of obesity is actually sugary drinks, which is why Unsweetened Howard created the “Better Beverage Finder.” The Better Beverage Finder provides 300 different options of healthier, alternative drinks. If a parent wanted to find a better alternative to their child’s favorite soda, which was Dr. Pepper, for example, they would type Dr. Pepper into the Better Beverage Finder and it would give alternatives based on if they wanted an alternative that tasted the same, or still had caffeine, etc.            

            This program was only started three months ago, but seems to have made major headway in my opinion. The campaign is partnered with The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. Unsweetened Howard gave a grant to the school system, and in return is collecting BMI date for every 6^th grader for the next 5 years. They are also purchasing sales data from local grocery stores/other retailers to look at soda consumption. To see if any difference is made, they have a “control county” in Pennsylvania that is very similar to Howard County, without a campaign such as Unsweetened Howard. The technical experts from the Rudd Center will look at all the data to see what sort of changes are being made over time, and compare it to the control county. To me, this is complete entrepreneurship and innovation at work. The Horizon Foundation saw a problem—obesity—and are trying to help make it easier for those who live and work in Howard County to live a healthier lifestyle. They saw a need, and are trying to fill it.

            After giving us a detailed background on the Horizon Foundation and Unsweetened Howard, Mr. Kennedy gave us insight to his life and his own perspective on innovation, and how he uses it in his own life.  After working as a newspaper reporter and then for the county executive for 5 years, Kennedy saw an opportunity for a job as the Communications Director at The Horizon Foundation that would allow for a little more creativity and freedom and the ability to pick his battles—something that is not so true of a politics/government based job. He really made it clear that he feels students shouldn’t stress out about their major—something I really appreciated hearing. With a bachelors degree from UMBC in interdisciplinary studies, environmental writing, Mr. Kennedy is a great real-life example of a major not specifically defining your future career.  As an early childhood education/special education major with an interest in entrepreneurship, innovation, social work and law, this was a relief for me to hear, and definitely one of the biggest lessons I took away from the meeting.

            When asked about his own understanding and perception of what innovation is, he said “To me, it is seeing how the pieces work. The pieces are out there—it’s just putting them together in a different way to make something better; Rearranging a few pieces, making different connections…that transforms how we do things. An innovative idea takes an idea that may seem obvious after it’s done.” To me, that was just a fantastic way to look at innovation. Not necessarily just the entrepreneurship aspect of it, but looking at something in a different way.

We left off by asking for any advice he had for us college students. He said success comes from opportunities. “I think a lot of people see barriers instead of opportunities,” he stated. He also explained that he felt “there is some value in being a kid and not over thinking things,” and I could not agree more. Especially at this time in my life, I over think and stress myself out. This really taught me that sometimes being innovative isn’t from sitting down and forcing yourself to brainstorm. Sometimes, just changing your routine can really make a difference. Mr. Kennedy, for example, claimed that he has to disconnect to come up with good ideas. He gave great advice throughout the entire meeting. What really resonated with me was his advice to just know yourself, and know how you work best, and try to maintain an optimistic attitude about things. Those are such simple things that many people, including myself, never actually tell themselves to do.

Overall, sitting down and meeting Mr. Kennedy and learning about the innovative Unsweetened Howard was just a great experience. It really showed innovation in a real-life example that even I had the chance to use myself through the Better Beverage Finder. After this meeting, I feel as if I can stop forcing myself to come up with innovative ideas, but rather just try and have an innovative mindset in general, and acknowledge all the opportunities that are always popping up around me to invest my innovative thoughts into real life experiences.