Seventeen student innovators became award recipients for their accomplishments ranging from a complex Wheel Chariot invention, to a program offering comfort to victims of child abuse.

Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group hosted a record crowd at the 7th Annual Dreammakers and Risktakers Award Luncheon at the Palm Event Center in the Vineyards on October 5, 2017. With words of encouragement, Assemblymember Catharine Baker and County Supervisor Scott Haggerty presented the awards.

Student creators of the Wheel Chariot from Livermore’s Christensen Middle School designed a modified wheel chair complete with a communications device that allows nonverbal, wheelchair bound students to participate in physical activities alongside their able-bodied peers. Students Ashley Horch, Manvitha Nandamuri, Katelyn Silva and Emma Rose Weidemeier accepted the award.

Dublin High School Student, Allyson Loo, founded PATCH which stands for Plushies Aimed to Comfort Hearts.  Her non-profit organization was inspired by her own personal story and inspires other students to come forward and offer comfort to other victims of child abuse.

The Hangar is a vocational skills classroom located on the Village High School campus in Pleasanton. The Hangar is staffed by students with special needs who are learning job skills while they also provide clothing to Pleasanton families in need.

Eleven of the students who run The Hangar were honored and include Megan Brown, Antonin Dagron, Austin Fitzgerald, Conner Gowey, Kerry Howlett, Kaitlyn Kegel Martinez, Joshua Layman, Alexander Mataban, Cailan Newey, Nicholas Pereira, Brennan Sweeney.

Using social media and ingenuity, Paulina Gurevich created a campaign to rally broad community support for Operation Backpack, donating school supplies and backpacks to homeless students statewide.

We are grateful to our many event generous sponsors including Chevron, Wells Fargo, Chabot Las Positas Community College District, PG&E, Lucile Packard Children’s Health Stanford, San Francisco Business Times, Ogden Costa Creative Group, Amos Productions, and the Palm Event Center in the Vineyard.

Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership pays tribute to the leaders of our regional education institutions who joined us as hosts and partners in this event: Dublin Unified School District, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, Pleasanton Unified School District, and Chabot Las Positas Community College District.