Tag Archives: Region 5

Wausau East & Wausau West DECA Raise Funds to Help Others

Stand Up for Public Ed,

Wausau East and Wausau West DECA chapters recently raised more than $2,100 to support the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s mission to free individuals — and the families who love them — from the harmful effects of muscle-debilitating diseases so they can live longer and grow stronger.

Additionally, 40 students from East High and West High DECA participated in the Special Olympics Wisconsin Polar Plunge and raised $9,500 to help persons with intellectual disabilities to participate in year-round sports training and competition.

D.C. Everest entrepreneurs swim with the sharks

Stand Up for Public Ed,

Wausau Daily Herald: Eighth-grader Zoë Anderson just got a $120 investment to take her babysitting enterprise to the next level. She plans to use the cash to buy a first-aid kit and take an experienced babysitting class through the Red Cross as she dives head-first into the world of entrepreneurialism.

Zoë is among 15 students who pitched their businesses to a “Shark Tank” of local investors Wednesday. Each business received a donation of between $50 and $230.

The “sharks” on the investor panel came from local businesses and the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce, and they divided $1,500 among the participating D.C. Everest Jr. High School students. The name references the ABC reality show “Shark Tank,” on which entrepreneurs present fledgling businesses to industry leaders. The funding for the D.C. Everest event came from outside donors, and the students don’t have to pay it back.

Zoë wants to expand her business, Z.A. Sitting, to include pet-sitting as well as child care. And she has her sights set much higher: the money she raises will go into a college fund and help her become a nurse, she told investors.

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Antigo business leaders enthusiastic with new school partnership

Stand Up for Public Ed,

Antigo Daily Journal: A business-school collaboration known as a Fab Lab drew an enthusiastic response from industry members attending an informational session Wednesday.

The Antigo school district hosted the meeting for representatives of local industries at Northcentral Technical College, another step in a fast-track process to bring the high-tech program into the school district.

It’s all about access to technology and more importantly, curriculum, Don Sidlowski, founder of Northwoods Broadband & Economic Development Coalition, said.

The meeting drew a mix of educators and local industrial representatives, key partners in what would become the seventh lab in northern Wisconsin.

Why not here? Sidlowski, whose enthusiasm for the project was evident, said. This thing is going to go viral.

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Northwoods school district hopes to open Fab Lab

Stand Up for Public Ed,

WJFW TV-12: The Unified School District of Antigo hopes to open a Fab Lab with the help of community businesses.

There are currently six Fab Labs in Wisconsin. Antigo could build the seventh.

The labs offer high-tech equipment to help students learn while completing different projects.

The lab in Antigo would help students interested in many different topics.

“It has some 3D printing capacity,” says Interim Superintendent Dr. Don Childs. “It also has some graphics and design capacity that they’ll be able to make use of—so this will be science, technology, arts and engineering and math. It won’t be limited to just the techy things.”

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DC Everest students develop engineering skills

Stand Up for Public Ed,

D.C. Everest Senior High School students enrolled in the Engineering Design course are working on four distinct projects that challenge them to develop and use their design, engineering, problem-solving and teamwork skills. The projects are model rocketry, a remote-control boat, Vex Robotics and construction of a Rube Goldberg device.

The model rocketry group is participating in the Team America Rocketry Challenge competition. The team must custom-design and create a rocket that contains two eggs — one must be placed within the rocket horizontally; the other must be placed vertically. The rocket must launch as close to 500 feet as possible and be recovered with both eggs intact. The students must launch and recover the rocket three times within a specified time frame.

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Wausau student wins SkillsUSA Welding Challenge

Stand Up for Public Ed,

Wausau West High School senior Clayton DeChamps took first place at the SkillsUSA Welding Challenge at the Advanced Welding Institute in Eagle River on October 3, 2015. The three-part challenge included a job interview, written test, and a welding exercise. Clayton’s first place finish yielded him a wire feed welder, welding kit, and a $1,000 scholarship to Advanced Welding Institute.