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ORU Team Takes Third
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The awards were announced at an April 20 ceremony at the Bricktown Events Center in Oklahoma City.
The contest is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and judged by venture capitalists.
Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma finished one-two. ORU, which was the only school with two teams in the finals, finished third with the Sentinel Safety Seat project.
Making it to the finals "reaffirmed our profound qualifications," said faculty advisor Charles Atkins. "We try to prepare students to do their best because they're not only representing themselves, but God too."
The Sentinel Safety Seat is a life-saving device for babies that features inputs from the baby seat, the driver's seat, and from a wireless alarm system. If a baby is left alone in a vehicle, an alarm will automatically sound after 12 seconds.
"Our goal was to make it to the finals," said team leader Andrew Marshall. "We put so much work into [the project], we weren't going to accept anything but the best."
In all, students from ten Oklahoma universities and colleges competed in the undergraduate and graduate divisions of the Governor's Cup.
ORU team leader Marshall and advisor Atkins received $5,000 and $1,000 awards, respectively. Prizes for making the finals were $1,000 for team leaders and $500 for the faculty advisor. As semifinalists, the two teams each received $1,000, plus $500 for the advisor.
The other ORU finalist, VaasTek, is a suite of computerized voice recognition services designed to improve productivity for United States Postal Service mail processing, retail businesses, and executives.
"This has been the most challenging thing we have ever done," shared VaasTek team leader Pete Clinton. "Everyone on the team made huge sacrifices to be a part of this project. We have spent countless hours going over every tiny detail involved in starting a company."
Serving on the Sentinel team were Elizabeth Fadare, John O'Hanlan, Amsa Mangga, Joy Ndackson, and Bradley Sheehan. The VaasTek team was composed of Jeremie Hamby, Peter Maddux, Jacquelyn Brydon, Andrew Walters, and Marcus Streater. Dr. Sophie Liu of ORU's engineering department was Sentinel's technical advisor.
"Now that the competition is over," said Atkins, "it is clear that the teams have constructed a firm foundation upon which to anchor the start of their business careers."
The successful student team leaders are reinvesting their prize winnings into next year's competitive projects, which are already in the works.
Click here and here to read previous Governor's Cup stories.
