Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Oconomowoc High School students are part of a national effort to establish a pollinator habitat.

“This is the real deal,” said Marge Waite, who has taught agricultural and plant science courses in Oconomowoc since the 1980s. “It’s a timely project that people are interested in.”

Thanks to grants from the Sand County Foundation, the Monarch Joint Venture and additional support in Wisconsin from the We Energies Foundation, Oconomowoc was one of 16 Wisconsin and Minnesota school districts that helped grow native prairie plants that sustain endangered insect pollinators and monarch caterpillars, according to a news release from the Sand County Foundation.

Insect pollinators and monarch butterflies are essential for crop pollination and ecological diversity. They are at risk partly due to loss of farmland habitat. The pilot project encourages schools with greenhouses to grow vegetation such as red milkweed, compass plants, rattlesnake master and purple coneflower, and transplant them in rural areas. Oconomowoc High School fit the bill with a commercial greenhouse and a 74-acre school farm.

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Journal Sentinel: Michael Krofta, a 26-year teacher at Oconomowoc High School, received one of the highest honors in music education for the state of Wisconsin recently.

Krofta, the conductor of the school’s wind symphony, concert band, Jazz Ensemble I and jazz combo, pep band and marching band, and who also teaches lessons at the school, earned the 2017 Wisconsin Phi Beta Mu Band Master of the Year Award, according to a Facebook post from the Oconomowoc Area School District’s Band Aids group.

“I am very humbled that my fellow band directors from the state of Wisconsin, who are all master educators, have selected me as the Phi Beta Mu, 2017 – Wisconsin State Bandmaster of the Year recipient,” Krofta said in an email to Lake Country Now. “I was inducted into Phi Beta Mu in 2003, and I believe this honor is a reflection of the tradition of excellence the Oconomowoc Area School District band program has had for many years. I have had the wonderful opportunity to have taught at Oconomowoc High School for going on 27 years! The students, parents, staff, administrators and community really make this an amazing place to work!! This is an awesome community!!”

Lake Country Now: The Oconomowoc High School Wind Symphony is one of just 18 high school groups from across the United States that have been selected to perform at the 2016 Music for All National Concert Festival next week in Indianapolis.

Headed by OHS Band Director Michael Krofta. the symphony will perform at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 11, at Clowes Concert Hall on the Butler University Campus. Josh Barker, student teacher from Carroll University, will join the group. The festival runs from Thursday, March 10, through Saturday, March 12.

The festival is the biggest gathering of high school bands. It is considered to be a great honor to be selected. With the launch of the festival in 1992, it has attempted to offer powerful experiences for young musicians.

“This is really huge for us, as we will be representing our school district, high school, music program, community and the state of Wisconsin,” Krofta said.

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