Students are big winners thanks to generous auction donors in 2015

Students are integral to ensuring the future protection of lakes in our region. Since 2004, WALPA has supported students through our scholarship program, helping fund more than 30 student research projects and providing support for attending WALPA conferences. Thanks to the introduction of a raffle and auction fundraiser in 2013, WALPA has been able to grow the program to offer larger scholarships. And in 2015 student scholarships have an even brighter future as more than $10,000 was raised – thanks mostly to generous donors OTT Hydromet, In-Situ, and YSI.

Snohomish County staff with TJ Sisson of OTT Hydromet (L to R: Gene Williams, Jen Oden, TJ Sisson, Marisa Burghdoff)

OTT Hydromet has been a long-time conference gold sponsor and also the student scholarship’s biggest supporter by providing a full multi-parameter sonde to our auction each of the last three years. In 2015, they donated their next generation multi-parameter sonde – the Hydrolab HL4, fully fitted with all the necessary sensors, and valued at $10,125! While the bidding was intense, Snohomish County ultimately took this prize home, raising $6,500 for WALPA.

Jim Gawel with InSitu sales rep Bill Mann (in black)

In Situ, a frequent WALPA sponsor, also joined the fundraising auction this year in a big way by donating a fully featured smarTroll multi-parameter probe that was ready to start collecting data using the winner’s Android device – and valued at $3,500. The students at the University of Tacoma will benefit from the use of this handy device as professor Jim Gawel had the winning bid of $2,000.

Jeremy Jenkins of Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District with YSI representative Dylan Bedortha (in white shirt)

The last big auction item was provided by another veteran conference sponsor, YSI – a Xylem Brand. For the last three years, YSI has donated their extremely popular ProODO optical dissolved oxygen meter valued at $1,450. The folks at Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District are the proud owners of this new meter, with a winning bid of $600.

In addition to these large donations, WALPA members and businesses across Washington State provided the largest array of raffle and silent auction donations ever. The biggest winner of the event was David Kluttz of Lakeland Restoration Services who could barely track his winnings with a mountain of raffle tickets. Beyond the auction events, several WALPA members made generous donations when registering, and many bought T-shirts. In total, the raffle, silent auction, T-shirts, and donations raised another $1,250 for the scholarship fund.

A big thanks goes out to all of the donors (listed below) and bidders. Thanks also to the WALPA Board members, including Ellen Preece and Isabel Ragland, who organized the raffle, and Joan Hardy and Susanne Martin who obtained many of the donations. The WALPA student scholarship committee will be working to make sure that these funds provide an effective scholarship program for the next generation of lake professionals.

Thank You to Our 2015 WALPA Donors