Tag Archives: Region 8

Algoma is nationally recognized with health and wellness award

Algoma

WBAY.com: The City of Algoma is one of eight communities across the country to receive a national award for their efforts in health and wellness.

“Algoma was selected from over 200 applicants across the nation for this prize. So it’s a real honor and achievement,” says Julie Willems Van Dijk, Director, County Health Rankings Program, University of Wisconsin Population of Health Institute.

Algoma is one of the smallest communities in the country to have won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Culture of Health Prize.”

“Often times people think that to build a culture of health, to make health possible in their community, it’s not easy to do, or it’s not even possible,” says Matt Trujillo, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “But I think Algoma is a great example of what you can do when you really put health at the center of what you’re doing.”

It’s all thanks to the “Live Algoma” program, which works to promote health and fitness to all members of the community.

“One of the biggest assets of our community is our Community Wellness Center. Our biggest drive for the Community Wellness Center is really to be a hub of our community where young and old alike can really have that cross-generation relationship,” says Teal VanLanen, Community Activator Improvement Coordinator, Algoma School District. “We really just bring people together that have different aspects of our community and perspectives, so that, you know, we can have a shared vision.”

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Freedom High School students restore truck to be featured in Las Vegas convention

WBAY.com:  A truck at Freedom High School is getting a lot of attention.

Student working on truck in shop class
A student works on a truck in Freedom High School’s automotive class on October 12, 2017 (WBAY photo)

It’s been completely refurbished by a group of students and will soon go on display at a Las Vegas convention.

It’s a project that’s been underway for about six months.

Students at Freedom High School say the changes have been dramatic to a 1985 Toyota 4Runner after the vehicle was donated to the school last spring as part of a project to raise money for the school’s automotive program.

Freedom High School automotive instructor Jay Abitz said, “It’s a complete transformation from a rusty stock to a four runner to something that’s completely custom built with a lift kit and a bunch of handcrafted metal fabrication and $20,000 in donated aftermarket parts. It’s a real rock crawler now.”

The vehicle was donated to the school by the Northeast Wisconsin Motorama in exchange for the students providing assistance at the show.

The project has provided the students with hands-on experience many are grateful for.

Automotive student Brian Vander Heiden said, “It is very nice. I’ve learned so many things, how to shape metal, how to paint correctly, and all these little tips and tricks I never knew before.”

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Valders High School band to march in National Independence Day Parade

Valders Marching band

Fox 11 News: They are called the Marching Vikes and they’re from Valders High School.

The school’s marching band is getting ready to perform in Washington, D.C.

Even with temperatures in the 40s, Drum Major Sydney Miller had the Marching Vikes ready to go early Monday morning.

“Making sure everybody stays in line, and everybody just works together. It’s very nerve-racking, but it gets a lot easier over time,” Miller said.

The 120-member band is rehearsing for its first appearance in the National Independence Day Parade. The official route runs down Constitution Avenue along the National Mall. On Monday in Valders, the band had to improvise.

“The parade in D.C. is about a mile. So we’re going to take a loop around the parking lot, and then we’ll kind of figure eight around the elementary school. And we’ll do that twice to get in everything,” said band director Michelle Hussey.

Hussey says the band has been practicing music for months.

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Sheboygan Falls High School’s Innovation Design Center is preparing students for the future

sheboygan_falls_design_center

Fox6Now.com: When you were in high school do you remember taking classes like home economics and shop? Well, the electives that high school students are exposed to today are quite different from what we experienced as teenagers. Sheboygan Falls High School recently turned what used to be an auto repair and storage maintenance room into a state of the art facility. And as Brian shows you, what’s being learned in the new space is preparing students for careers in their hometown.

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Sheboygan school tech centers promote manufacturing careers

Sheboygan Press: The potential skills students could learn from two new manufacturing centers at area high schools were symbolized Tuesday by a ribbon cutting featuring a plasma cutter.

Sparks flew as Sheboygan Area School District Superintendent Joseph Sheehan cut the metal ribbon to open the two new advanced technology centers at North and South high schools.

“We are about preparing students for a future that is right here in our community,” Sheehan said.

Both schools are opening “Kohler – Johnsonville Advanced Technology Centers” as part of what is called the Red Raider initiative, which aims to put equipment in students’ hands to prepare them for college and future work.

The majority of funds for the roughly $5 million project came from donations from area business. The school district will contribute approximately $800,000, with more than $4.1 million in funding come from donations and pledges from businesses over the next five years.

“To think that we have state of the art technology centers at both North High and South High is a bit mind blowing,” South High School Principal Mike Trimberger said. “In total, this project encompasses 43 partners who have invested somehow in this project.”

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Manitowoc students run bank branch for youth apprenticeship

NBC26.com: Manitowoc School District and UnitedOne Credit Union are partnering to help educate students on money management. Lincoln High School students running a branch in the high school for students to learn about deposits, loans, and credit. It’s part of the district Youth Apprenticeship program that pairs students with real-life work experiences to explore careers. The Lincoln UnitedOne branch has been in operation since 2009, “There’s a lot of really important financial decision that high schoolers have to make. Do they know what a credit card is and how to respect? What do students loan actually look like,” said Brad Bartels with UnitedOne.

Through the program students are able to help their peers with most transactions. The students learning from each other about good and bad practices, “When someone comes in with an issues with their money, it’s nice to be able to help them,” said Lance Kettner, a Junior apprentice.

Since the program began 43 students have worked with UnitedOne, 13 still work for the Credit Union.

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Mishicot teachers going above and beyond

htrnews.com: School District of Mishicot teachers are going above and beyond the call of duty to make sure less fortunate students and their families have everything they need.

It started simply enough, with a pair of teachers getting together a few years ago to create a Snack Pack Club. The club’s goal was to gather healthy snacks to send home with economically disadvantaged elementary students over the weekend.

That goal remains, but the club has become much more.

“(4K teacher) Jenny Kraynik and myself started it like five or six years ago just in the elementary school,” said second grade teacher Zach Sand. “Now, it’s expanded to the middle school and the high school.”

The healthy snacks remain a focal point for the club, but are no longer its sole purpose.

“We did Christmas trees also this year,” Sand said. “We had 23 families that got a tree and a stand and lights and ornaments and presents and cookies. That was a really cool experience.”

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Sheboygan Falls students thrive at coffee bar

Sheboygan Press: The staff of Sheboygan Falls High School’s Falcon Java Roost, composed entirely of students from the school’s special education program, functions like a well-oiled machine.

At this school-based coffee bar, an abundance of pats on the back, high fives and praises are exchanged between the workers, as well as the occasional fit of giggles.

Trevor Teumer, one of the student workers, clasps his hands and leans over the counter, nodding in approval of his peers fulfilling drink orders at either side of him.

“Working here is a formula,” Teumer said. “It is definitely a formula.”

But, it is a science that the staff appears to have mastered. The team works together on almost every drink order, handing cups down the line with each student contributing in a different way to top off the brew.

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Growing Education in the Stockbridge School District

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peuav6kv0KY]

Stockbridge is growing education in a unique way. Since the start of this school year,  principal Chad Marx,  teachers and students have been  welcoming “Sprouter”, an Indoor Growing Machine designed by Alex Tyink, Head of Lettuce, for  the Goodwill Grows program. This program is designed to increase the availability and affordability of fresh food and promote Goodwill’s Indoor Farming System.

Sprouter, consists of eight stainless steel and PVC box panels linked together around grow lights to form an enclosed octagon. A box panel is 12 inches wide, 60 inches high and 2.5 inches deep and contains 33 growing slots.

Nutrient enriched water is pumped from a tank at Sprouter’s feet to the top of each box panel. The water then trickles down the inside of the panel and feeds the plant roots coming out the downside of the growing slots. Sprouter’s 264 nutrient enriched growing slots can produce a leafy lettuce crop each month; or approximately 900 lbs. of leafy produce a year – all within a twelve foot square area.