Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Civic Engagement at Moraine Park and Beyond

I recently attended a Civic Engagement Institute on the UW-Madison campus, joined by Moraine Park Dean of General Education Caron Daugherty and Communications Instructor Amy Edwards Patterson. It was a great opportunity to learn about other higher education institutions and ways to educate students on civic and social responsibilities within our communities.
During my drive back to Fond du Lac, I reflected on our Moraine Park students involved in Student Government and Student Senate. These organizations are one example of how Moraine Park students demonstrate civic engagement. Students in these groups work with each other, act as liaisons amongst the student body and interact with faculty and the administration in the promotion of student rights. The decisions our students make affect both the college and community; and the skills they develop last a lifetime.
To these students, thank you for the important work you do in your organizations that allow you to become engaged with our communities. Are you involved with Student Government or Student Senate? Please leave a note below sharing some of your civic engagement experiences!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Honoring those in Career and Technical Education

As the month of February came to an end, we honored those who have made an impact in Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Moraine Park with the annual Moraine Park Association of Career and Technical Education Awards Banquet. The following individuals were honored with awards: Stephanie Lueck of Campbellsport for Outstanding Support Professional; Kathy Vandemark of Kewaskum for Outstanding CTE Leader; Terri Wilkens of Mayville for Outstanding Instructor; Amy Patterson of Beaver Dam for New Instructor and Bonnie Baerwald of Fond du Lac for Community Involvement. The Business Award of Merit went to Kondex Corporation of Lomira for supporting Moraine Park. I want to congratulate these individuals and thank Kondex for their support of CTE and Moraine Park. 


March brought an exciting cultural event to the Fond du Lac campus – Mandala Sand Painting. Tibetan Buddhist Monks were on campus March 11-15 constructing a sand painting, which uses millions of colored sand grains to form an image of a mandala, or circle. It was wonderful seeing so many people from our college community and from throughout the entire Moraine Park District gather together for this event, learning about a unique ancient spiritual art. Thank you to our Fond du Lac Student Senate for sponsoring this event.




As we just finished welcoming a new culture to campus, a few of our students will be preparing to experience a new culture. Moraine Park students left for London and Paris over Spring Break. We also have several of our nursing students along with their instructor, Mary Krieger, traveling to the East Coast over Spring Break to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. We’ll be hearing more about both of these experiences when they return.
We have a busy spring ahead of us and I’m looking forward to keeping you updated with my blog! If you have any questions or comments for me, please leave a post below.