Ygnacio Valley senior Ramzi Latreche wins first-ever Wisecarver Innovation Award
CONCORD, CA– Bishop-Wisecarver, an industrial automation company in Pittsburg, CA, has announced that Ramzi Latreche has won its first-ever Wisecarver Innovation Award. The senior from Concord attends Ygnacio Valley High School.
Through this student design contest, Bishop-Wisecarver challenged students in primary and secondary accredited educational facilities in their community to develop a design that could make their virtual learning experience due to COVID-19 easier.
Latreche’s winning design proposed an innovative way of using vibrations in a pillow to consistently get a good night’s sleep. This helps students perform better in an online learning environment.
Kicked off as part of Bishop-Wisecarver’s Virtual 2020 MFG Day event, this award is another example of Bishop-Wisecarver’s corporate commitment to support and promote programs that provide real-world learning experiences to help students succeed today, and well into their futures.
Future science and technology leaders
The company also supports the FIRST program. FIRST inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators. It fosters well-rounded life capabilities including self-reliance, communication and leadership. Ygnacio Valley High School is an avid participant in this program with its Project 212 (FIRST Team 7137), which is also sponsored by Bishop-Wisecarver.
“Providing real-world experience for today’s youth can provide the basis for their success, not only in academia, but also in their life-long careers,” said Joseph Alvarico, Engineering Pathway teacher and FIRST Robotics coach at Ygnacio Valley. “As one of the FIRST Robotics instructors, I have seen first-hand the significant difference a company such as Bishop-Wisecarver can make with these types of programs and sponsorships.
“As a Title I school, we rely on these commitments and partnerships to unleash a watershed of opportunities for our students, and the companies in the community who will one day employ them.” Alvarico added about Latreche, “As a freshman, he was in my Introduction to Engineering Design class. And now he is in my Engineering Essentials class. He plans to go to college and major in software engineering.”
Award winner Latreche said, “I enjoyed using skills learned in my engineering classes to think creatively and scientifically about an invention that could help all students be more successful with the online classroom learning environment. My submission focused on the importance of sleep to help us stay more alert and engaged so we can continue learning at our highest level. I’m glad the Bishop-Wisecarver judges saw the value in the concept and selected me as the design contest winner.”
Innovation Design Contest
The Wisecarver Innovation Award asked students “What would you design to make your learning experience easier?” These designs could include anything for their workstation, bedroom, desk, kitchen table. It might include something else to help them manage their experience. The goal was to design something that would enable them to make it easier to learn outside of the physical school building. Participants responded by providing a 60-second video with an overview of their idea and how it helps. The submission included any drawings, prototypes or concept designs.
The three key areas used to determine the winner were:
- Innovation—How does this idea represent an important tool to help learn virtually?
- Thinking outside the box—Originality of idea
- Broad appeal—Will a large number of students find it useful?
“Bishop-Wisecarver has always been strongly committed to giving back to our community by embracing and supporting programs that help all students learn and succeed,” said Pamela Kan, Bishop-Wisecarver president. “The design ideas generated from this contest were outstanding and clearly demonstrate the sheer talent and motivation of our diverse youth who will rise up one day and lead our companies and our world. Sometimes all they need is an opportunity and we are proud to be able to give that to so many students.”
About Bishop-Wisecarver
Bishop-Wisecarver’s proven mechatronic solutions are expertly designed and delivered to perform. This enables customers to solve their toughest industrial automation challenges. Leveraging 70 years of experience, the company has earned the reputation of providing unmatched quality, reliability, service and engineering support for every stage of a customer’s design cycle. Bishop-Wisecarver products combine long-lasting performance with ease of installation. They offer the lowest cost of ownership for a wide variety of applications ranging from Aerospace to Medical to X-Y-Z systems. No matter the application or extreme environmental conditions, Bishop-Wisecarver designs innovative solutions from concept to completion, from prototype to production, on time and on budget.