December 28, 2016
Through our Innovation Station Fund, we had another successful year fostering innovative education that will inspire students to become entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Similar to last year, employees focused on raising money to help schools build Innovation Stations, or unique spaces where students use hands-on learning materials to invent, explore and create. These spaces are designed to provide encouraging environments where students learn to be successful through experimentation and not being afraid to fail fast and fail forward.
This unique fund is made possible by our generous Otter Products and Blue Ocean Enterprises employees. This year, our employees raised over $100,000 through an annual employee fundraising campaign, the Get It, Grow It, Give It (G3) Challenge. The OtterCares Foundation matched the first $100,000, making over $200,000 available for our 2016 Innovation Station Fund!
Overall, we received 50 applications from schools and nonprofits in Northern Colorado and San Diego. Each application outlined incredible ideas for unique Innovation Stations where students explore, design and create – fostering innovation, helping students see their ideas come to life, and teaching students how to fail and overcome obstacles. Each grant application was reviewed based on pre-established criteria by the OtterCares grant review committee. At the end of the extremely competitive review process, 19 schools and nonprofits were identified as this year’s Innovation Station grant recipients!
To help surprise the schools and nonprofits with their grants, we scheduled “meetings” with staff and various personnel to discuss topics around innovation. Little did they know, a large group of Otters were armed with novelty checks, waiting to give them a huge surprise! And at the end of the day, we were able to surprise both administrators and teachers alike with the gift of education!
Each school and nonprofit that received an Innovation Station grant communicated genuine appreciation and surprise and provided our employees with an overview of their vision for how the grant dollars will be used to create Innovation Stations. The most common statement among all recipients was, “You have no idea what this is going to do for our school and for our students.”
This year, we surprised each school by scheduling a “meeting” to discuss various topics around innovation. Little did they know, a large group of Otters were armed with novelty checks, waiting to give them a huge surprise! We were able to surprise both administrators and teachers alike with the gift of education! Each school and nonprofit communicated genuine appreciation and surprise for receiving their grant and provided our employees with an overview of what they envision the grant dollars doing to create their Innovation Stations. The most common thing that was said was, “You have no idea what this is going to do for our school and for our students.”
We would like to congratulate the following recipients of the Innovation Station Fund!
- Lopez Elementary, Fort Collins, CO
- Rivendell School, Fort Collins, CO
- Irish Elementary, Fort Collins, CO
- Lincoln Middle School, Fort Collins, CO
- Shepardson Elementary, Fort Collins, CO
- Brentwood Middle School, Greeley, CO
- Tavelli Elementary School, Fort Collins, CO
- Olander Elementary, Fort Collins, CO
- Stansberry Makers Club, Fort Collins, CO
- Ridgeview Classical, Fort Collins, CO
- Turner Middle School, Berthoud, CO
- Eaton School District, Eaton, CO
- Severance Middle School, Severance, CO
- Livermore Elementary, Livermore, CO
- Centennial Elementary, Fredrick, CO
- Loveland Creator Space, Loveland, CO
- Pete Mirich Elementary School, LaSalle, CO
- Sycamore Canyon Elementary, San Diego, CA
- High Tech Explorer Elementary, San Diego, CA
The OtterCares Foundation would like to thank all Otter Products and Blue Ocean Enterprises employees for their enthusiasm during this year’s G3 Challenge! Without their support, these Innovation Stations would not be possible!
To see pictures of the grant recipients, check out our Facebook page!