Holiday Happenings at Moraine Park!

The end of semester is always a busy time for students as they are working hard to finish up their end of semester projects and prepare for final exams. In spite of all this, Moraine Park students still found time to give back to their communities this holiday season.

Students in Moraine Park Technical College’s Electrical Power Distribution (EPD) Club rang bells for the Salvation Army at Racheck’s and Shopko in West Bend on Dec. 4, 2013. Pictured from left: Andy Luedtke, Tanner Holzhueter and Erik Hefner.

In Fond du Lac, Student Senate sponsored a diaper drive for the Fond du Lac Family Resource Center. The group also held a Bone Marrow Drive for Be the Match last month. During the drive students learned how to get involved in donating bone marrow through the Be The Match organization.  Many clubs around campus also held drives to collect hats, mittens and food that will all be donated to local organizations.

In West Bend, the Chiropractic Specialist Club, Cosmetology Apprentice Club, Electricity Club, Graphics/IMD Club, SAGA Club, Student Senate, SMARTS Club and the Student Nurses Association held a campus-wide food drive. The West Bend Student Senate and the Student Nurses Association collected items for the Kids2Kids Toy Drive. Kapco’s Kids2Kids toy drive collects over 20,000 toys for low-income children through Southeastern Wisconsin.

 

Winner of Mo-Vember at Mo-Raine Park, William Milbrot.

The Beaver Dam Student Senate found a creative way to raise funds and awareness for men’s health issues through a month-long event called Mo-Vember at Mo-Raine Park. Participants took before and after photos, one clean shaven at the beginning of the month and another at the end of the month and invited anyone to vote for their favorite Mo-Vember moustache for $1. The club also sold Kwik Trip gift cards with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Elks Christmas Baskets, which provides food baskets for families during the holidays. Between the two fundraisers over $700 was raised for the Elks Christmas Baskets. The Human Resources Club conducted a toy drive in conjunction with the Dodge County Toy Bank. The Electrical Power Distribution (EPD) Club rang bells for the Salvation Army. The Beaver Dam Student Nurses Association conducted a food drive for St. Vincent de Paul.

Students in the Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac chapters of the Multicultural Club collected school supplies and other donations this winter to support the Blue Mountain Project. The Blue Mountain Project is an organization committed to improving the health, education and economy in rural Jamaican communities. Some club members and other Moraine Park students will be bringing the items to Jamaica this January during their study abroad trip through Moraine Park’s International Education program!

I am so proud of the effort Moraine Park students have put into giving back to our communities. Their actions are so inspiring.  If you’ve been giving back this year, please be sure and share efforts in the comment section below!  

Moraine Park honored with American flag

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a special dedication ceremony for a flag given to Moraine Park by Nathan Huenink, son of Moraine Park Dean of Basic Education, Sandra Huenink. Nathan flew the flag at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan during one of his tours of duty as thanks for the care packages he received from the Moraine Park Supports Our Troops effort.

Staff members Sue Wiese and Kathy Hass put together and send the packages to troops. They sent Nathan packages through his three tours of duty, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. In total, they have sent out 90 packages to 17 different service members. I know I say this often, but I am so incredibly impressed by the generosity and hard work of the staff at Moraine Park. These sorts of activities are not things that appear in someone’s job description, instead they are done out of pure kindness to support our staff and their family members. Thank you to Kathy and Sue for your time and effort put into this!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our students and staff who are veterans. We currently have about 150 student veterans enrolled at Moraine Park. We are always looking for opportunities to provide the best resources possible for our students. In fact, just last year Moraine Park started a Student Veterans Club that was recently recognized as an official chapter by the Student Veterans of America.

I highly encourage everyone to take a look at the new flag located in the hallway outside of the Student Services Office. It is truly an honor to receive such a special gift and to be a part of honoring our veterans. Please feel free to leave me a comment below; I would love to hear from you!

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving! As we begin to celebrate the holiday season and you gather with family and friends for the Thanksgiving holiday I hope you take the time to reflect on what you are thankful for. Reflecting on things I am thankful for is a tradition I have celebrated with my family regardless of which home I may be enjoying the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries and we can’t forget the pumpkin pie with a spoonful, or two of real whip cream.  This Thanksgiving I am thankful for continued good health and the support from family and friends.  I’m blessed to have my mother who is 93 years old and still with us. Although she is no longer preparing the traditional Thanksgiving meal, those traditions have been passed on to her children. I hope you all enjoy the break from classes to celebrate the holiday with friends and family.  Wishing you all a safe and very special Thanksgiving.

 

What are you most thankful for this year? Please share below!

Moraine Park celebrates International Education Week!

Students and staff were exposed to a variety of cultural experiences this week and last week in celebration of International Education Week! Moraine Park is participating in the nationwide effort to celebrate the benefits of international education.  This year the activities at our College centered around two trips, one to Jamaica and one to Morocco, being offered this spring through Moraine Park’s International Education program.  

Last week students and staff got to taste Jamaican cuisine and listen to Jamaican music at the Taste of Jamaica events held at all three campuses. Students from the Multicultural Club were also available to share information about the upcoming trip to study abroad trip to Jamaica. During the trip students will be participating in service learning in healthcare, education, sustainable construction and renewable energy aiming to provide hands-on learning. Students will also be collecting school supplies to take with them to support the Blue Mountain Project in rural Jamaica. Make sure to drop any extra supplies you have in the boxes at the Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac campuses!

 

 

There was also a Moroccan cooking demonstration earlier this week where students, staff and community members got to sample Moroccan cuisine and learn more about the study abroad trip to Morocco this spring. If you or anyone you know is interested in the trip make sure to visit morainepark.edu/morocco or contact Tom Endejan at tendjan@morainepark.edu.

 

In addition to the activities around campus, our International Education program recently ran a Travel Photo Contest! Make sure to check out the winning photos on International Education’s Facebook Page.

I hope you all got a chance to enjoy the festivities! Thank you again for tuning into my blog. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below.

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!

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.

Moraine Park celebrates Career and Technical Education

During the month of February, Career and Technical Education (CTE) is celebrated throughout the state and nation. Even though February is the shortest month of the year, Moraine Park is incorporating many activities over the next few weeks to recognize the importance of CTE.

Moraine Park kicked off CTE month by hosting Discover Moraine Park on each campus. This annual event is for anyone wanting to get a jump start on the admissions process and learn more about the different programs at Moraine Park. We are hosting many events for the public to attend throughout the month. For event details, visit morainepark.edu and check out the Events Calendar.

On February 19, I will join some of our students at the State Capitol to demonstrate the impact technical education has on our State. This Celebration of Student Engagement event is something Wisconsin’s 16 Technical Colleges participate in annually and I’m looking forward to getting involved again this year.

CTE month will wrap up with the Moraine Park Association of Career and Technical Education (MPACTE) annual awards banquet on February 21. I’m excited to help MPACTE recognize individuals for their dedication to and excellence in career and technical education.

Why do you think Career and Technical Education is important? Please share any comments below as I always enjoying hearing from you! Also, check out this video on exploring your options in the many emerging and in-demand career fields!

Welcome back to a new semester!

Welcome to the spring semester! I hope everyone had a nice winter break and that the new semester gets off to a great start. There are many services available at Moraine Park to ensure new and current students have great success during their time at the College. If you are new to campus or just need a reminder of some of the services available at Moraine Park, check out this new video. Maximus wants to meet you! Also, be sure and keep an eye out for Moraine Park staff wearing a “Just Ask” button. These staff members can help answer your questions!

Though things are a bit quieter around Moraine Park during the Holiday Break, there were many exciting things happening behind the scenes during this time. The first CNC Machinist Skills Academies class under the Workforce Partnership Grant from the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation graduated on Friday, Jan. 11. These 12 graduates are now either employed, pursuing entry-level CNC machinist positions, or furthering their education. We look forward to continuing these CNC and Welding Skills Academies over the next three years, helping to address the skills gap in our region.

CNC Machinist graduates with Wisconsin DWD Secretary Reggie Newson.

On Jan. 16, the Moraine Park District Board approved leasing a new facility in Jackson to help Moraine Park meet the demands of regional manufacturers by providing training in Welding and Computer Numerical Control (CNC). The facility will offer a CNC lab, welding lab, two classrooms, and equipment.

Finally, I want to send a big “thank you” to all of the student organizations who took time during the holiday season to coordinate, or donate to, the many service projects happening on and off our three campuses to help the less fortunate. Again, thank you!

Whether you are a first-time reader of my blog, or a regular, I hope you will continue to follow along with my blog to receive College updates, ask questions or to share how your semester is going. Have a great semester!