Our Impact: Mission Spotlights
Our Mission,
In Action.
Inspiring kids to be makers, doers, and givers is a big job - and we can't do it alone. Explore the stories of the students, educators, schools, and partners turning our mission into real-world change.
Browse Spotlights
Behind every spotlight is a student who discovered they could change the world. Browse the stories - and see which fund helped spark each one.
Surprise! Meet Our 2025 Grant Recipients
Watch the moment twelve schools and nonprofits learned they'd received 2025 Innovation Station grants to build hands-on learning spaces where young makers, doers, and innovators thrive.
Big Hearts, Bright Futures — Dunn Elementary Gifted & Talented Program
Gifted and Talented students in grades 3–5 chose three different causes, pitched to nonprofits, earned grants, and executed their own student-led service projects.
Project Hort: Where Giving Meets Growing — Gardens on Spring Creek
Middle and high schoolers at Gardens on Spring Creek combine environmental stewardship with philanthropy, creating community projects through the Project Hort summer program.
Taste Buds Catering: Culinary Skills Meet Entrepreneurship — Fossil Ridge High School
What started as freeze-dried candy has grown into a full student-run catering business. In this unified class, students of all ability levels gain real-world kitchen and business experience.
Design Thinking Takes the Stage — Debut Theatre Company
Debut's student troupes use the design thinking process — and new Innovation Station tools — to design and build the sets and props that bring classic stories to life.
Prototyping Big Ideas in Industrial Arts — Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering
Teacher Jessi Ruby asks 6th and 7th graders to imagine a product or service, prototype it with simple materials, and build the business behind it.
Tiny Philanthropists, Mighty Impact — Carrie Martin Elementary
Ms. Elliott's 3rd graders in Loveland raised over $1,500 for International Hearing Dog through an entrepreneurial fair and an OtterCares Illumination Fund grant.
A Legacy of Innovation: Teaching the Teachers — Skyview School of STEM
One of our very first Innovation Station grantees in 2015, media specialist Teri used her 2023 grant to train fellow teachers, building a legacy of hands-on learning that will outlast her retirement.
The Windsor Wizard Workshop: A Student-Run School Store — Windsor High School
Windsor High students pitched, built, and now run every department of the Wizard Workshop school store — from floral arrangements to Adirondack chairs.