Welcome back, students!

What an exciting first week back for our students! It was so nice seeing the faces of new and returning students on our Beaver Dam, West Bend, and Fond du Lac campuses, ready to kick off a new semester. Welcome lunches were held throughout the week on each campus for students and staff along with entertainment. I attended the welcome lunch on the Fond du Lac campus and enjoyed entertainment from a Forrest Gump impersonator and professional speaker. Steve Weber used the persona, wit and wisdom of Forrest Gump to deliver an interactive and motivational program. There were some wonderful inspirational messages for students and staff to carry with them throughout the new semester.

Lunch and comedic entertainment also took place on the Beaver Dam and West Bend campuses this week. I hope that students were able to enjoy these events and take advantage of meeting and mingling with new friends, old friends, and fellow classmates in attendance.

Since I’ve been at Moraine Park (it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year), one of my favorite new semester duties is volunteering as a semester greeter. Today, I was stationed at a table and helped students who were looking for a new class, free breakfast, or had general questions about the College. I always enjoy meeting new students and greeting 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!

Celebrating 100 years of innovation

After a year of anticipation, Moraine Park’s 100-year centennial celebration arrived on Thursday, August 16. I was thrilled to welcome to our Fond du Lac Campus, Jane Oates, Assistant Secretary of Employment and Training Administration for the Department of Labor.  She made the trip from D.C. to MPTC to facilitate our hallmark summit on connecting communities for a sustainable workforce. The summit was a wonderful way for District legislators, educators, and business and industry partners to come together for a discussion on creating a sustainable and prosperous future for Moraine Park.

After the summit, I headed over to the time capsule opening and dedication ceremony. I had the important task of opening the 1987 time capsule and sharing its contents with Moraine Park students, community members and staff. Students from the class of 1987 included items like buttons, a hat, books and literature from their classes, photos, and even a special poem written by 1987 barber-cosmetology students! Larry Lamont, an instructor who helped build the time capsule, was present for its opening, which made the event even more special. Larry taught mechanical design and civil-structural engineering at Moraine Park from 1969-2000 and came back to see the items that students included 25 years ago.

Making the time capsule opening and dedication ceremony a little sweeter was Culver’s! They supplied samples of Moraine Park’s winning custom custard flavor, Wolf Pack Choc Attack. What a wonderful opportunity for Moraine Park students, staff and community members to participate in selecting their favorite flavor, and then come together for some sampling. I’m very grateful to Culver’s for supporting Moraine Park’s centennial through their generous donation of delicious custard!

The day of festivities and collaboration came to an end with a very special centennial dinner. Past Moraine Park presidents spoke about highlights during their tenure at the College during each dinner course. It was wonderful to hear comments from Dr. Robert Sorensen, Dr. John Shanahan, and Dr. Gayle Hytrek. They guided Moraine Park through many changes, charting a path for the College to move forward.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate 100 years of innovation, from participating in the summit, to spinning the prize wheel at the time capsule opening and dedication ceremony, we all have played a role in honoring Moraine Park’s past, present and exciting future.

A Year in Review

It’s been over one year since my adventure as Moraine Park President began. It was an exciting start with meeting students on our Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac and West Bend campuses during the welcome lunches and mascot reveal. I attended Student Senate meetings to see what our student leaders had planned for the semester ahead and welcomed new students, and learned my way around a bit better,  as a semester greeter. As the fall semester continued, one of my main focuses was on business and industry partnerships. I visited organizations around our district, learning what skills are needed for our graduates to be hired, how we can strengthen our programs to meet business and industry needs, and other ways to improve the pipeline between Moraine Park and our business partners.

My first year was also the kickoff to Moraine Park’s Centennial Celebration, and it has been great fun taking part in the many Centennial activities that have taken place.  It has also been interesting looking back at historical documents and photos and learning about the roots of our College and how it has grown into the educational leader it is today. While so much has changed over the past 100 years, it’s wonderful to see that our focus on student success and hands-on, applicable learning still remain a key focus for our staff and faculty.

Attending my first Student Awards Banquet, Moraine Park Commencement ceremony, and GED graduation was especially an honor. Addressing the class of 2012 and their family and friends on that special day was a wonderful experience. I was so proud of their accomplishments and look forward to learning where their Moraine Park education takes them.

This summer, Moraine Park received exciting news that we were one of just five recipients of the Wisconsin Workforce Partnership Grant from the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation Inc. Governor Scott Walker visited our Fond du Lac Campus to share the news with our staff and industry partners. The grant will help establish Manufacturing Skills Academies for both machine operation and welding training in a 15-week boot camp format.

As Moraine Park’s centennial year, and my first year, come to an end, I look forward to the year ahead. We have so much to be proud of here at MPTC and we will continue to instill in our students “if you believe it you can achieve it!”  We have  new programs getting underway, facilities upgrades taking place and continued conversations about ways to prepare our students with relevant training for today’s workforce. Thank you for staying connected over the past year by keeping up with my blog. I look forward to sharing with you the new adventures for 2012-13!