On September 9, 2020, the UK College of Engineering held its third annual Wildcat Cage Competition for Student Organizations. The event enabled 22 student organizations from the college to pitch their initiatives for funding. Beam Suntory, CSI, Dynetics, GE Appliances, Johnson Controls, Lexmark, Preload, the UK College of Engineering and alumnus and Hall of Distinction member L. Stanley Pigman and his wife, Karen, served as the Wildcat investors. Collectively, investors committed $48,561 by the end of the competition—over $10,000 more than the previous year.
Timmy Stahel, president of Engineers Without Borders-UKY (EWB-UKY), pitched EBW-UKY’s current international project in Lagunas Cuaches, Guatemala. The initiative is a cooperative effort with the Philadelphia Professional Chapter to provide clean, reliable water to 647 households.
“The Wildcat Cage event is important to our organization as a major fundraising tool and a means of making industry connections,” said Stahel. “We are always proud of our corporate and individual sponsors' commitment to our cause as they continuously show us the importance of being an engineer with a purpose. We also appreciate the incredible support from the College of Engineering as they show their support for our work.”
Investors communicated they saw great value in their participation.
"Preload recognizes that fresh generations of engineers are important lifeblood for our industry,” said Phuong Bacon, lead structural engineer at Preload. “Our participation in the Wildcat Cage program allows us to directly invest in these new engineers’ ideas and encourage student development that directly translates into new, talented engineers entering the workforce. Plus, the passion and ingenuity displayed by the students in their presentations is impressive and allows us an opportunity to build relationships with these students and the college.