Stephanie Swearington is the project director for Insight, a program through Porter-Starke Services designed to identify and treat individuals who have experienced a first episode of psychosis. She was born and raised here in the Region and went...
It’s not everyday that you get to sit down with a cancer survivor, a military veteran, a change-maker in the community, or a thriving high school student and get a look into what it’s like to live in their shoes. By sitting down with the members...
Stephanie Anderson is the chief human resources officer at Opportunity Enterprises (OE), a non-profit with a mission to provide inclusivity to people of all abilities. It’s situated in Valparaiso, which is where Anderson moved to from Chesterton...
For 15 years, Joel Davis has been self-employed as a steel broker, making him one of the original work-from-home people. Before he even started out in the working world, he spent his childhood and teenage years in north Hammond. He attended high...
Ellyse Polhemus has kept herself engaged throughout her young life in incredible ways. In high school, she did Unified, which is a program that further develops and builds inclusive learning and social environments for all students. She’s now a...
Traci Brubaker came up in the Region; she went to Portage High School. For a few months now she has been working as a recruiter for Zeigler Automotive Group in her old stomping grounds. She’s no stranger to the world of cars, either, having...
Lilly Branham attends Valparaiso High School. Besides playing on the soccer team there and keeping herself busy through her involvement in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, she may seem like a regular student. That isn’t quite the case, though,...
Dr. Mohamed Farhat is a rarity. He works as both a hematologist and an oncologist. Using simpler terms, he treats all kinds of cancer. It goes beyond that, however. Everything ailing the community is his concern, including blood disorders. His...
Lisa Hughes spent the earliest part of her life growing up in Dyer, Indiana. She attended Protsman Elementary School when she was a little girl but moved when she came into third grade, as her parents made the move out to Liberty Township in Porter...
Teresa Bals-Elsholz has been working at Valparaiso University (VU) for 23 years as a professor of meteorology and the chair of the school’s Geography and Meteorology Department. She has a tremendous love for teaching all her students, valuing...
