GWATA Announces 2018 Innovator Awards

GWATA hosted the 18th Annual Innovator Awards Luncheon at the Wenatchee Convention Center on September 26, 2018.  The Innovator Awards Luncheon celebrates the drive, passion, and spirit of innovators in North Central Washington while inspiring those whose who are just starting their journey. Over 350 attendees came out to celebrate and recognize the nominees, finalists, and hear the live announcement of the winner for GWATA’s five regional awards:

• Entrepreneur of the Year
• Innovative Technology Business of the Year
• STEM Educator of the Year
• Problem Solving Innovator (College Student)
• Future Technology Leader (K12 Student)

The 2018 Innovator Award Winners were among 33 individuals/organizations who were nominated by the community for their innovation and accomplishments in entrepreneurship, technology, or education.

Peoples Bank presented the Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Kevin Cox and Kyle Cox of Coaxsher. Coaxsher manufacturers PPE and gear for firefighters and other emergency management agencies. Kevin Cox and Kyle Cox (brothers), along with their team are improving the lives of those who use their products through innovative designs and safety features. Since 2001, Kevin and Kyle have grown their company to 25 employees, creating local jobs and products that are distributed worldwide. Coaxsher is located in Chelan Falls, WA. For more information visit www.coaxsher.com.

Stemilt Growers presented the Innovative Technology Business of the Year Award to iSpyFire. iSpyFire was founded in 2013 for a local volunteer fire department in order to help first responders act quickly and efficiently. The iSpyFire web and mobile app brings first responders live streaming call information including new incidents, mapping, planning, and more. iSpyFire was founded by Cy Sousley and Matt Sousley (brothers) and is located in Cashmere, WA. For more information visit www.ispyfire.com.

Microsoft presented the STEM Educator of the Year Award to Brigitte Wiegand of Foothills Middle School in Wenatchee. Brigitte encourages students to engage with robotics in order to learn life-long skills such as collaboration, time management, and problem solving. With a mission to create an inclusive program, she has enabled more female students and underrepresented students to participate. In the past three years, the program has seen 6x as many female students participate. Brigitte has helped lead multiple teams to the VEX IQ World Championship and in early 2018 she also received the VEX Mentor of the Year award.

eqpd presented the Problem Solving Innovator of the Year Award to Porter Lumpkins, Michael Olmstead, and Bernardo Farias of Wenatchee Valley College. This student team built a pneumatic powered gen-set, a generator that creates electricity powered by air pressure. They used two single piston weed eaters, motion sensors, and a timing chain. The three students demonstrated knowledge of power generation, an understanding of gears and drives, as well as electrical sensors and circuitry.

Giga Watt presented the Future Technology Leader Award to Team FBI (Female Bot Intelligence). The five person student team includes: Annaliese Gordon, Asanatou Ceesay, Lucia Musacchi, Miranda Nayak, and Taylor Reyes from Foothills Middle School. Team FBI dedicated hours to building a robot and completing a STEM project. The team also researched the ethical dilemmas associated with the development of a robotic heart pump being designed by Harvard and the Boston Medical Center. Their work qualified them for Washington State’s VEX Championship where they were honored with the Excellence Award, and qualified them to participate in the VEX World Championship where they competed again with 400 other teams from 32 countries.