We wanted to take a moment and thank all of our volunteers who took time out of their busy schedules and made our third annual Innovations Gala a true success. The night was filled with games, laughter, great food and more enduring connections. We were thrilled to be surrounded by our students from around the world and here in Bellevue, our alumni, new and old friends, board members and partners.

We invite you to look at images from the Gala by going to our *new* Flickr feed here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityuofseattle/.

Some  highlights of the night included:

• Hearing from the two Innovations Award Recipients – Dr. Kathy Johanson and Jessie Woolley-Wilson, who was receiving this award on behalf of DreamBox – discuss the power and importance of innovation within education in their acceptance remarks. In Dr. Johanson’s case her innovation of starting a wine company, O Wines, to fund scholarships, empowers students to go to college. In the case of DreamBox, they daily equip kids with the tools necessary to improve math scores through adaptive learning technology.

• Listening to one of our Albright School of Education alumni members, Israel Vela, regarding his road to becoming an Executive Director of Student and Family Services in the Kent School District.

• Hearing from one of our Bachelor of Science in Accounting students, Debby Garret, who said upon CityU accepting her admissions and scholarship applications she, “found new hope for (her) dream.” Debby’s dream or career goal is to become a forensic accountant for the government or an accounting firm. Her story received a standing ovation and focused the night where it needed to be – the student and fulfilling our mission. To see that we have enabled another person to change their life through education is awe-inspiring. We are delighted that events like these assist people like Debby get the education they need to fulfill their long-term goals.

Thanks again everyone for joining us and assisting CityU in furthering access to our education and celebrating innovation.