Dave Cummings, DigitalGlobe Chief Product Owner – Enterprise IT, was named a finalist for the APEX Talent Champion of the Year Award, which recognizes someone who actively leads, supports and strengthens the technology talent pipeline in Colorado. Dave has taken the initiative to integrate DigitalGlobe into Erie High School’s (EHS) Academy of Engineering & Aerospace curriculum. The Academy opened for the 2015-2016 school year with an Introduction to Engineering Design class. Dave taught the students about DigitalGlobe’s satellites, the company and how its work helps us to see a better world. Then he set up a special treat: a personal satellite image. 
Dave planned for the WorldView-2 satellite to fly over Erie High School. He lined the students up outside, creating the shape of WorldView-2 while holding a large DigitalGlobe banner at the exact time that the satellite took their photo. That image now proudly hangs in the school’s lobby, engineering classroom and main office.
In December 2015, the entire staff of Erie High School had their annual meeting at DigitalGlobe and met with Dr. Walter Scott, the company’s founder and Chief Technical Officer, and Grover Wray, DigitalGlobe’s Chief Human Resource Officer. In January 2016, Dave arranged for the students to tour the company’s mission operations center (where the satellites are flown), production area (where imagery is processed for customers) and data center (where 80 petabytes of satellite imagery is stored). At the same time, they got a demonstration of Tomnod, DigitalGlobe’s satellite imagery crowdsourcing platform, used by 8 million volunteers around the world during the search for missing airliner MH370. Dave also connected DigitalGlobe’s developers with the computer coding club for mentoring during the year.
DigitalGlobe is proud of the work Kelsey Johnson Rasmussen put in to create Erie High School’s Academy of Engineering & Aerospace, so we nominated her for the APEX Educator of the Year Award. It recognizes someone who makes a measurable impact on Colorado students by teaching in innovative ways to foster a passion for technology. Kelsey has built the Academy and its curriculum from scratch over the past year and worked hard to integrate local aerospace companies, like DigitalGlobe, in order to inspire students to dream big for their own careers. In addition to learning about real world applications for engineering, Kelsey uses 30 computers to teach coding and CAD (computer-aided design) software. Kelsey used Android tablets to teach students how to create apps using MIT’s App Inventor program. iPads are being incorporated this year. Kelsey earned her Bachelor of Science from Penn State University. She attended the University of Michigan for a Masters of Geochemistry and the University of Pennsylvania for a Masters of Education. Kelsey is a Senior Teaching Fellow with the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.
The Academy continues to grow in its second year. EHS hired a second engineering teacher for the 2016-2017 school year and expanded the classes offered.
DigitalGlobe is honored to be a member of the Colorado Technology Association, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the technology industry and connecting its professionals and companies in Colorado.