Innovation Celebration 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Sprint Winter Garden
Sponsorship Pledge Form 2013
We are proud to announce that our keynote speaker will be Mr. Robb Heineman. Heineman is the CEO of Sporting Club, the parent organization of Sporting Kansas City, and one of the club’s five principal owners. He was selected to the Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40 list and won The Stadium Business Awards Executive of the Year in 2012.
Congratulations to this year’s Student Innovator of the Year Finalists:
Business, Technology and Media
Trey Fletcher. Technology Solutions
Cade Rutledge, Interactive Design
Engineering
Alex Koch, Aerospace
Ashton Love, Robotics
Bioscience
Muriel Eaton, Bioscience Research
Dylan Geick, Bioscience Research
Human Services
Paige Sims, Sports Medicine
Danielle Stoops, Teacher Education-Ed Tech & Gaming
Innovate
Gaby Lobo
Alex Simmons
Event History
Samantha Weiner Hammontree, President of Sterling, Inc. known in the industry as "One Great Source" for holiday decorations and accessories, created a unique opportunity for a team of CAPS Global Business students to benefit the CAPS program. Hammontree’s family foundation, Lawrence and Joan Weiner Foundation made a $25,000 donation to CAPS in connection with a fundraising event. Last year, a team of Global Business students were given the opportunity to create, develop and host a CAPS charity event.
Hammontree is an alumni and resident of Blue Valley and is very impressed by the opportunities the CAPS program offers junior and senior high school students. She is interested in developing young leaders and entrepreneurs and thought this event would be a meaningful opportunity to give students a leadership role and donate to the program.
“My first job out of school was in event planning and marketing and having students plan an event from beginning to end is like running a business that includes budgeting, planning and marketing,” said Hammontree. “My hope is that this year’s CAPS fundraising event is the inaugural year and that this event becomes an annual community event.”
And CAPS is pleased to announce that the 2nd annual Innovation Celebration will be hosted by a team of CAPS Global Business Associates and underwritten by the Lawrence and Joan Weiner Foundation.
CAPS Innovation Celebration 2012
The inaugural CAPS Innovation Celebration 2012 was presented by CAPS associates and underwritten by the Lawrence and Joan Weiner Foundation. The event was hosted at the Sprint Winter Gardens in April. The proceeds from this event will help support the new CAPS Accelerator for our young entrepreneurs and twenty percent of the proceeds were donated to the Down Syndrome Guild. Sponsors included:
Underwriting Sponsor
The Lawrence and Joan Weiner Foundation
Presenting Sponsor
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Investing Sponsors
ADM
Bayer CropScience
Cerner
College Rehab Medicine
CPS Foundation, Inc.
Garmin
Paramount Farms
Regnier Family Foundation
Ken & Cassandra Savage
TVH Inc.
UMB Bank
Vistage
Mr. Thomas M. Bloch, former H&R Block CEO and University and Academy teacher and school founder was the keynote speaker. In 1976, Tom Bloch joined H&R Block, the world's largest tax services provider, where his father was CEO. Bloch was promoted to President of the corporation in 1989 and CEO in 1992.
Bloch co-founded the University Academy, a public charter school in Kansas City. The Academy has grown from 200 students in grades seven through nine in its first year to over 1,000 students in kindergarten through grade twelve. The school moved into a new, $40 million facility in 2005, and it became the first school in Missouri to receive a ten-year extension of its charter. Over the last five years, all but two graduates of the Academy have gone on to attend college, an almost unheard-of success rate for an urban school. Bloch is the author of Stand for the Best, a memoir about his journey from CEO to inner city teacher and school founder.
Eight CAPS student finalists were nominated by CAPS instructors to be recognized as the CAPS Student Innovator of the Year. The finalists included:
Bioscience Strand
Gavin Mohar
Graham Wehmeyer
Business, Technology and Media Strand
Chris DiNitto
MaKenzi Stoy
Engineering Strand
Hunter Browning
Davis Foderberg
Human Services Strand
Courtney Hansen
McKinzey Manes
Hunter Browning was voted the CAPS Student Innovator of the Year 2012.
“During my time at CAPS I have developed a new science for the efficient removal of hydrogen from water and an apparatus to implement this system into an automobile. I have formed a company, BLIS Resonance, around this technology. After starting this company I started a second called SCOPE Innovation which is designed to help other innovative students in the classes to come experience the opportunities I have be able to enjoy with taking inventions and business to the real world. Recently I am getting ready to start up a third company which utilizes my hydrogen technology in cooking applications because hydrogen is a gourmet cooking fuel due to the zero pollutant burn. Lastly, I am in the process of writing a book for young entrepreneurs from the perspective of someone in their shoes. This book is designed to be shorter than most entrepreneurial books so it can act as cliff-notes to the entrepreneurial lifestyle,” said Browning.
Joe Bisogno, President and CEO of Goodcents Franchise Systems, Inc. presented Browning with a $1,000 scholarship.