Monthly Archives: August 2017

Internships, partnerships, schools help fill health-care worker gap

health care workers

Kenosha News: In addition to offering internships, Aurora has formed a partnership with the Kenosha Unified School District as well as Gateway Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to introduce students to the health care field.

Another large employer, UnitedHealthcare, has taken it a step further. The UnitedHealthcare Foundation has created a $2.3 million matching grant program with Milwaukee Area Technical College to double the size of its registered nursing program over the next three years.

School officials expect to double enrollment by this fall, hire 16 new nursing program instructors, support the recruitment of low-income students and assist with placement services once students graduate.

Some colleges have also expanded their curricula to accommodate more students looking to health-care professions.

Carthage College recently established a four-year nursing program, a first for the school. Frank Hicks, director of the nursing department, said the curriculum would fill a critical need for more nurses.

Gateway has expanded its nursing program to include simulation laboratories and classroom space.

“We’re doing what we can to prepare people for the workforce,” said Gateway’s Anne Wilkinson, interim dean of nursing. “We have a very robust student support system.”

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Shorewood High School senior’s creative writing program has global reach

Shorewood

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “I am juicy, gooey, hot, cheesy and heaven in your mouth. What am I?” the teacher asked.

Hands shot in the air and 10 children bounced up and down in their seats. “Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!” they squealed.

The children, ages 8 to 12, were practicing giving their teacher descriptive words about their favorite food item without saying its name. 

It’s just one small piece of a curriculum created by 17-year-old Katie Eder.

Four years ago, Eder’s sister started tutoring kids in math, and she wanted to follow in her big sister’s footsteps. There was one problem — Katie is bad at math.

But the thing she is good at is writing, and Eder couldn’t find anywhere that offered tutoring for children, so she approached Milwaukee’s COA Youth and Family Center to allow her to teach creative writing.

They took a chance on the 13-year-old and agreed — and the result was Kids Tales, a program to empower children, often in low-income areas or in juvenile detention centers, to use creative writing to discover their voice and share their story.

Teenagers, and only teenagers, volunteer to teach children for a week and guide them as they write their own short story, working on brainstorming and plot and character development. Once the stories are completed, they are put into a book, making each child a published author.

Tom Schneider, COA’s executive director, said there was plenty of skepticism during Eder’s first summer, but the results spoke for themselves.

“We’ve (COA) got nothing but admiration and applause for the work that she’s (Eder) done and the impact of the kids that she’s worked with,” Schneider said.

The Shorewood High School senior said it isn’t uncommon for participants to tell her it felt like the first time their stories could be heard and that their voices mattered.

 “I didn’t have an understanding exactly about the impacts that it would have,” Eder said. “I thought, OK this is something I could just keep for myself …  but it’s also something that has a real impact and can make a difference.”

Marshfield Tigers “Pride Pump” to benefit Schools

Marshfield

WSAU.com: In Marshfield, fueling up your vehicle can now help support local schools.

That’s according to Marshfield School Board member Mark Konrardy, who says the owner of the Baltus Oil Company will make a small donatation to the school district for every gallon of gas purchased from a specially marked Marshfield Tigers Pride Pump.

“John Baltus, with Baltus gas stations, made a proposal,” Konrardy said.  “He would like to put in a ‘Pride Pump’ and we thought it was a very good idea, and very good for the school district.”

“He’ll pick one of his gas stations, pick one of the pumps, and he’ll put the Marshfield School District logo on it,” Konrardy explained.  “And a certain amount of those proceeds will then go to the school district.”

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Murals Spark Creativity at MPS

MPS

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: It was the photo of the three kids on a tractor that struck Milwaukee artist Ken Brown.

The combination of youthful joy and mechanical practicality summed up the spirit and aims of Harold S. Vincent High School on Milwaukee’s northwest side.

So, Brown used that photo, and others like it, as inspiration for six panels that were unveiled Friday.

“The students are in these murals,” Brown said of his painted artwork that focuses on six disciplines at the school, from culinary art to animal science.

Brown’s artistic vision is that the murals “empower the students to embrace their career paths.”

The murals helped kick off Arts @ Large programs at Milwaukee Public Schools. Since 2001, the group has helped integrate arts into the classrooms at MPS.

U.S. Bank and the Brewers Community Foundation also participated in the mural effort as MPS launched what it called “The Year of the Arts.”

“We’re going to maximize what we already do and and show off the good things that we do,” said Deb Jolitz, manager of fine arts for MPS.

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Portage school supply drive highlights ‘caliber’ of community

Portage

Portage Daily Register: Whoever might need a reminder of the fast-approaching school year need only go to the front entrance of Walmart Thursday evenings to see those familiar purple shirts and the big, yellow bin.

“Stuff the Bus!” the sign there says.

The Portage Lions Club’s annual school supplies drive is underway; it kicked off last week.

“I think it’s also a reminder that some families can’t afford to buy their own school supplies,” Nancy Schaper said, this while acknowledging summer has once again gone by too fast.

“If you ask for something (in Portage), somebody is willing to give it or do it,” Schaper said. “We know that with Stuff the Bus, we’re very lucky for the people we have in Portage who are willing to go out of their way to support (drives).”

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Kenosha student business designs and manufactures new product

T-CUBE

Kenosha News: A manufacturing and marketing company made up of 19 middle school students will bring its product to Harbor Market the next two Saturdays. They hope to show off their business acumen — and make a return for their investors.

The summer program is a cooperative effort of Junior Achievement, Leeward Business Advisors and the Kenosha School of Technology Enhanced Curriculum, or KTEC. Like businesses in the real world, the students had to conceive of a product they could create themselves, raise capital, manufacture it and, come this weekend, bring it to market. Literally.

“The goal is to get youths of Kenosha exposed to what entrepreneurial spirit looks like,” said Michael Polzin, chief executive of Leeward Business Advisors. “And, to generate some understanding on what operating a business looks like. We want them to have that front of mind as they progress through their careers, so they know that they have that ability.”

“This is something that our teachers wouldn’t necessarily have the time or the expertise to teach,” said Kristen Krief, who works in media and community relations for Kenosha Unified School District. “Having Junior Achievement finance it, in partnership with companies like Leeward, gives a real world experience to the kids. And, it’s something we wouldn’t be able to provide on our own.”

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Eau Claire student athletes gear up for concussion testing before fall sports

Eau claire

WQOW.com: With Friday night lights right around the corner, young athletes are checking their cognitive abilities just in case they take a hard hit and end up with brain injuries.

Along with the grass stained shorts and green Gatorade bottles comes the importance of addressing health risks, especially concussions.

“It affects day to day life. They can have memory loss. They can have difficulty computing things. They get sensitivity to light and noise, and it affects their ability to learn,” said Lynn Reuss, the head athletic trainer at Eau Claire Memorial High School.

While not required by the WIAA, Mike Sinz, the head coach of Eau Claire Memorial Football, said he requires his athletes to take a baseline cognitive test before he blows the whistle at the first practice.

“Before we even get into anything physical, they have to watch a video; the athletes and their parents do. They have to take an imPACT test with our training staff,” Sinz said.

The imPACT test stands for “immediate post concussion assessment and cognitive testing” and is used to compare an athlete’s reaction and memory skills, pre and post concussion.

“It gives athletic trainers a better idea of where they are at for their heeling process with their concussion,” Reuss said.

Staff said concussions are no joke. Athletes and their parents should take the right steps if they do get concussed.

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Menomonie High School teachers prepare for mobile technology lab

mobile lab

The Dunn County News: For Ryan Sterry it was about like playing with a video game or a remote control toy. But the Menomonie High School technical education teacher had a lot more in mind than fun and games as he used a controller to manipulate a robotic arm inside the Chippewa Valley Technical College Mobile Manufacturing Lab Tuesday, July 24.

The lab is coming to Menomonie High School in November, and is staying through January, thanks to a National Science Foundation (NSF) Smart Manufacturing and Resources for Transforming the Future (SMART Future) grant announced in June. Through the grant, CVTC will partner with four rural high schools, including Menomonie, to incorporate industrial automation and networking principles into the high school curriculum.

Sterry has been at the CVTC Manufacturing Education Center recently for training that will help him make the best of the high-tech equipment in the mobile lab.

“The lab is going to allow us to teach concepts that would be difficult to teach otherwise,” Sterry said. “We don’t have access to this equipment.”

“We’re bringing in our electromechanical trainers and the PLC (programmable logic control) trainers,” said Andrew Kott, the CVTC instructor who will work directly with students in the mobile lab. “We’re also going to bring Fanuc Robotics Arms. They’re Certified Educational Robotics Training (CERT) units.”

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