Introducing Community Connections Newsletter

I am pleased to announce that Moraine Park has released the first edition of Community Connections, a MorainePark Technical College Newsletter.

The biannual newsletter is intended to keep business leaders and community members informed of the many happenings at the College. In our first issue you will find information about projects Moraine Park faculty and staff have been working on including the grand opening of our new Jackson Regional Center, lab updates and several new initiatives implemented by departments within the College. For questions or feedback on the newsletter, please contact jurben@morainepark.edu.

Students help build a Habitat home in West Bend

On September 9, I attended a very special groundbreaking for a new Habitat for Humanity home being built in West Bend. The groundbreaking was not only a wonderful celebration for the families getting a new home but it was also the start to an extraordinary learning experience for Moraine Park students in the Building Trades Construction Worker and Electricity programs.

 

Students will work alongside Habitat crews throughout the 2013-14 school year to help build the duplex for the families. They will be framing, roofing and wiring the house in preparation for the families to move in next year. Since the groundbreaking I have visited the site and the crews are already making a great deal of progress. In just two short weeks, they are already beginning to lay the foundation for the home.



Photo taken at the Habitat groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Sept. 24.

  

Just two weeks later students and Habitat crew are already making progress.

 

I can’t express enough how proud I am of the students and instructors involved in this project.  This is an excellent opportunity for students to learn their trades but more importantly they are also learning what it means to truly help people in need. This is exactly what Moraine Park is trying to achieve through our Service-Learning projects.  Thank you to the students and staff for your dedication to this project!  Make sure to stay tuned into my blog for more updates and photos throughout this project.

Welcome back!

I hope everyone is having a great start to their semester! It is wonderful to see so many new and returning students excited to kick off a new semester. Throughout the week there were many events to celebrate the start of Fall Semester including Welcome Back lunches featuring Mission IMPROVable. Students, staff and faculty shared many laughs as this improv team performed their comedic routine and even brought in audience members into the performance. I hope you were able to enjoy these events and take advantage of the opportunity to meet and socialize with new friends, old friends, and fellow classmates. Below are some of my favorite photos from the event!

 

 

Another week-one highlight for me was serving as a semester greeter. This is still one of my favorite new semester duties. Throughout the week, I was stationed at a table to help students who were looking for a new class or had general questions about the College. I always love the opportunity to meet new students and catch up with returning students. If you ever see me in the hall, please introduce yourself and say hi. I hope this is a wonderful semester for all of our students. We are so happy you chose to attend or return to Moraine Park!



Summer Event Recap

The month of August has been filled with many exciting events to get us all back in the swing of things before the start of the fall semester.

The first thing I want to share with you are a few highlights from Tech Knowledge College (TKC). This annual summer workshop gives students entering sixth through eighth grade the opportunity to explore career options offered at Moraine Park. This year we had nearly 200 students participate in 20 different sessions. The sessions ranged from culinary creations to welding projects. Below are just a few of my favorite photos from the event!

In the intro to party planning class, students hosted Mexican and Italian-themed parties with food and decoration to match. They even sported festive mustaches for the occasion.

 

Welding students learned the art of welding from Moraine Park Instructor Larry Clark. During the three-day event students worked to weld pieces of metal together to create a lawn sculpture.

Another one of my favorite August events is Summer Welcome Day because it means students are coming back soon! This year’s event featured a new twist with an Amazing Race theme. To help new and returning students learn more about the College we hosted our very first Amazing Moraine Park Race.

Like the popular TV show, The Amazing Race, students had to work together with their teams using clues to find locations and complete challenges around their campus. The challenges helped students meet new people while they learned about the College and resources available to them once school starts.

 

 

Although the race activities were very exciting, my favorite part of the event was getting the chance to walk around each table to meet new students. Thank you to all the students who participated in the event! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I look forward to seeing you all in a few short weeks!

New labs to greet students for fall

Even though most students are off this summer, big changes are happening for the Fond du Lac and West Bend campuses. Staff and faculty have been working hard to move two programs, Building Trades Construction Worker and Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Technology (HVAC/R) to the West Bend campus and set up for the new paramedic lab in Fond du Lac.

Bringing the two programs to join the Electricity program at West Bend will allow students in the three programs to work together as if they were on an actual jobsite. In addition to the new labs, construction crews have been working all summer to complete the new practice home that will be used as a lab for all three programs now available in West Bend. The new practice home will be completed in October.

In the new West Bend electricity lab each student get their own station to practice wiring techniques.

I am very excited about the opportunities these new additions will bring for our students. The new practice home will give students the chance to practice on-the-job skills with the guidance of their instructors.

Crews have been working hard all summer to complete the new practice home set to open this October. The new practice home will give students from all three programs hands on experience in their specific areas and teach them to work together on a jobsite.

If you’re wondering what will become of some of vacated program space at the Fond du Lac campus -- it will be converted to a state-of-the-art paramedic lab. Moraine Park will be the first school in the Fox Valley to have an indoor paramedic’s lab equipped with an ambulance. This will give paramedic students the rare opportunity to practice the high-stress tasks they must perform on a daily basis.

If you or anyone you know is interested in these programs, there are still openings available for fall. Classes begin Monday, August 26, I encourage you to come in and get signed up as soon as possible!

It is safe to say that there is never a dull moment here—even in the summer. Thank you again for tuning into my blog. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I would love to hear from you!

Congratulations Class of 2013 Graduates!

The end of Moraine Park’s spring semester was filled with many events—some of the most exciting being graduation ceremonies! This year at commencement more than 300 students walked across the stage to receive their degrees and become new Moraine Park alumni. It was great to see students’ friends, families and Moraine Park staff there to celebrate this exciting, culminating event. Each of the nearly 900 students that completed their degrees should be proud of their great accomplishment.

It was an honor to introduce this year’s commencement speaker, Jim Wessing, president and co-founder of Kondex Corp. Jim’s optimistic speech gave students great advice for their future careers. During his speech Jim spoke about the strong demand for technical skills and how now is a wonderful time to be graduating. I couldn’t agree with him more. 

Commencement 2013

Commencement wasn’t the only ceremony I had the pleasure of attending. On May 31, on our Beaver Dam Campus, I had the opportunity to present diplomas to eleven future welders.  These students were part of the new welding skills academy, or boot camps. To be accepted into the program students had to go through a rigorous testing and interview process with both Moraine Park staff and with employers, in order to obtain a welding internship with one of the boot camp business partners.  This is the fourth boot camp graduation since January, it is the second group of Welding Boot Camp graduates, and it is the first group of students who completed the program as part of the U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant.  I know that all Moraine Park faculty and staff are very proud of these students and we thank them for their commitment to the program.

Welding Boot Camp Graduation

I also had the privilege of attending the General Education Development (GED) and High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) graduation on June 13 at our Fond du Lac Campus. This year, Moraine Park faculty and staff worked with more than  300 students to help them achieve their goal of earning  their HSED/ GED certificates, and nearly 60 of those students participated in the ceremony.  Listening to the student speakers share their stories was very inspiring.  I wish each of the GED/HSED graduates the best as they pursue new opportunities.

Moraine Park’s 13^th Annual GED/HSED Graduation Ceremony

Congratulations again to all the Moraine Park graduates. If you were a part of any of these events and would like to share your experience, please send me a note. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a safe and relaxing summer! 

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!