The day's address was given by the founder of a non-profit group called "Landmines Blow!" and her story is an example of how awareness is the first step to combating some of the toughest global challenges.

Alison Bock said more than 70 countries are still littered with landmines left over from war. The problem is that today, the armies are gone, and it's the civilians who are left to navigate the mine fields.

Her idea has spawned the nonprofit, and global awareness about the issue of landmines. Bock didn't stop there though.

"When you put it all together," Bock said after her presentation, "landmine affected communities, those communities are kept from reaching safe water, and with no safe water, they're getting these diseases that are killing their children. It was like a no-brainer."

The group now works with communities in South East Asia to build wells that do not require a trip through a mine field.

The explosives are lodged in other countries, but their effects are still felt here at home.

"West Virginia has a higher per capita number of people who've served in the armed forces that other states," said Dr. Melanie Fisher, the director of WVU's global health program, "so we have a very vested interest, I think, in understanding and participating in this type of educational effort."

Bock told Monday's audience about her own shock learning about the on-going problem of landmines. The problem had the same effect on the students of St. Francis Central Catholic School. What started as an art project has become a student coalition supporting the global ban on landmines.

"What really bothered out students was the fact that there were children all over the world in places that could not go to school, could not walk to a place of service, or go to a market without the fear of landmines," said the group's adviser Nora Sheets, "and to them, that was just an outrage."

The students presented a check for $1,500 to Bock and Landmines Blow!. The students also showed the true meaning of the day's events.

"The message is the power of one," Bock said. "One person can make a difference. People look at a global problem and they say, 'What can I do? I'm so small' but at the end of the say, you can make a difference and I'm living proof of that."

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the international Landmine Ban Treaty. The United States has not signed the treaty, but for the first time, the state department will send a representative to this year's summit.