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Acadia’s student entrepreneurs soak up awards BY WENDY ELLIOTT   Kings County Advertiser/Register The Nicol Entrepreneurial Award of $5,000 recently went to third-year Acadia University business student David Paterson and graduating student Stu Grant for their nationally incorporated water equipment company. Paterson is dedicated to ending the sale and distribution of bottled water on campus, and his efforts helped him collect three awards in student competitions. Grant, who hails from Kelowna, B.C., called working with Paterson inspirational for a business student generally focused on financials. The two-man team was named the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Green Challenge Regional Champion by the national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship. Paterson and Grant move on to the national level of the competition in Calgary May 11. The Social Idea Award went to Paterson and two environmental science students: Alison Vervaeke and Bryne Sinclair-Waters, of Water Watch Acadia. The student group hosted a week of events last month celebrating World Water Day. They presented university administration with a Bottle Water Free pledge signed by 400 signatures. Four engineering students, along with Paterson, captured second place in the Challenge Innovation Idea Awards with their Back to the Tap design for a water fountain and refill station. The team of second-year engineering students came up with a practical water solution that will be installed in 34 places on the Acadia campus this summer.  Mo Jaafar, Myles Cornish, Wade Craswel and Andreas Snarby responded to a request from Paterson for an environmentally friendly alternative. “When Dave came to us,” said Jaafar, “we had many ideas about how to get the job done, but had to keep reminding ourselves of the most important criteria – easy to install and maintain, environmentally-friendly components and a design that could stand up to the rigor or student use.”  The resulting unit is made with a wooden frame, layers of fibreglass, environmentally-friendly tubing and taps and a filter that only needs replacing every five years.  “We also added a few unique features,” explained Snarby, “one that allows installment of advertising to help pay for the units and the other - a battery operated blue light - that gives the water stream a bit of glitz.” Two of the student engineers will be hired for the summer to manufacture the units that Acadia’s physical plant has agreed to help install and maintain. Innovacorp, annual sponsors of the Innovation Challenge, were pleased with the practicality of this project. “The students came up with a viable solution to a problem that exists within Acadia University. They have a prototype and have plans to enter the market,” said judge Shelley Hessian.

Acadia’s student entrepreneurs soak up awards

BY WENDY ELLIOTT  

Kings County Advertiser/Register

The Nicol Entrepreneurial Award of $5,000 recently went to third-year Acadia University business student David Paterson and graduating student Stu Grant for their nationally incorporated water equipment company.

Paterson is dedicated to ending the sale and distribution of bottled water on campus, and his efforts helped him collect three awards in student competitions.

Grant, who hails from Kelowna, B.C., called working with Paterson inspirational for a business student generally focused on financials.

The two-man team was named the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Green Challenge Regional Champion by the national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship. Paterson and Grant move on to the national level of the competition in Calgary May 11.

The Social Idea Award went to Paterson and two environmental science students: Alison Vervaeke and Bryne Sinclair-Waters, of Water Watch Acadia.

The student group hosted a week of events last month celebrating World Water Day. They presented university administration with a Bottle Water Free pledge signed by 400 signatures.

Four engineering students, along with Paterson, captured second place in the Challenge Innovation Idea Awards with their Back to the Tap design for a water fountain and refill station. The team of second-year engineering students came up with a practical water solution that will be installed in 34 places on the Acadia campus this summer.  Mo Jaafar, Myles Cornish, Wade Craswel and Andreas Snarby responded to a request from Paterson for an environmentally friendly alternative.

“When Dave came to us,” said Jaafar, “we had many ideas about how to get the job done, but had to keep reminding ourselves of the most important criteria – easy to install and maintain, environmentally-friendly components and a design that could stand up to the rigor or student use.” 

The resulting unit is made with a wooden frame, layers of fibreglass, environmentally-friendly tubing and taps and a filter that only needs replacing every five years. 

“We also added a few unique features,” explained Snarby, “one that allows installment of advertising to help pay for the units and the other - a battery operated blue light - that gives the water stream a bit of glitz.”

Two of the student engineers will be hired for the summer to manufacture the units that Acadia’s physical plant has agreed to help install and maintain.

Innovacorp, annual sponsors of the Innovation Challenge, were pleased with the practicality of this project.

“The students came up with a viable solution to a problem that exists within Acadia University. They have a prototype and have plans to enter the market,” said judge Shelley Hessian.


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