“I did all my service learning hours at the Community Blood Center. This was a great experience for me as I learned quite a bit on phlebotomy, taking temperatures, explaining paperwork, and talking to patients. I also learned about watching for reactions as I helped a patient get a snack and/or drink after giving blood. These will all help me with my practicum site in so many ways.”
This experience has given me tips on how to perform skills and get me out of my comfort zone when talking or explaining to someone about something. I am now more comfortable with taking temperatures and feel more confident as I learn venipuncture. Everyone in the blood drive was very nice and helpful when I needed assistance. This experience has also helped me get ready for practicum because I have to be patient with people and that sometimes I have to be up early to make it on time for the event! My goals for practicum are to be the best I can be by being myself and giving the best care possible. I feel better after having service learning hours because I am now more confident and ready for Medical Assistant practicum to start.” Allexis Wegner, MPTC Medical Assistant Student
“Your students have been wonderful, thank YOU!”
Heather Du Vall, MNM | Manager, Volunteer Program 4406 W. Spencer St. | Appleton, WI 54914 (800) 280-4102
“ASTOP has been an amazing organization to volunteer for my service learning project. They are very flexible and do not require a certain amount of hours. I really like that I am able to do the crisis line from home. My favorite part of this volunteer opportunity was the training. The training was about 9 hours in total. I learned so much about sexual assault. It was also really interesting learning about different kinds of grounding exercises. These are very important to use during a crisis call. Grounding exercises really help a person in crisis calm down.”
“Another area that I was trained in was patient advocacy. When learning about patient advocacy I learned a lot about what happens at the hospital for a sexual assault victim. I think this volunteer opportunity will greatly benefit me as a future medical assistant. It has taught me how to speak to assault victims. It has also taught me even more about confidentiality. ASTOPS confidentiality is actually even more strict than HIPAA, which I found very interesting. I now know a lot more about sexual abuse and how to talk to victims. I also now have a resource that I can offer to patients if they are a victim of sexual abuse. I plan to continue to volunteer for ASTOP for a very long time. I think they are an amazing organization and a great benefit to the FDL community.” Courtney Dickow, MPTC Medical Assistant Student
“Courtney, thank you for all that you do for ASTOP. We would not be able to maintain a 24-hour advocacy and crisis line response without volunteers like you. It’s reassuring to hear how your volunteer training has helped prepare you for your chosen career field. We appreciate you!” Nicole Krause, Executive Director, ASTOP, Inc.
It may not seem like it, but government and policy impacts how we live our lives each and every day. I strongly believe that voting is the cornerstone of a positive society and a strong democracy. If we choose not to vote, we’re putting our lives in the hands of people we may or may not support and the policies that they create. These exact people write policies that will affect every facet of our lives like healthcare, social security, climate change, housing, poverty, student debt, and many more.
So in order to create and uphold a strong democracy, we need to choose the right people to solve problems such as these. And students such as ourselves are the most important in the election process. Our Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes recently said that if every student in Wisconsin voted this November, we would make up the second largest city in our state! That makes a HUGE impact on our election process.
It has even been proven that the lowest turnout rates in past elections have been younger voters and students. According to the Campus Vote Project, “Young adults (ages 18-29) made up about 21% of the voting eligible population in 2014, but voter turnout for this demographic has reached record lows in recent years.” Community college and tech college students matter even more because we share a close relation to the communities in which we go to school, live and work. 7.1 million students go to tech or community colleges across the U.S. With such a large student representation, we can make our voices be heard this election and help politicians create policies that help us all directly – like federal financial aid, student debt forgiveness, more funding for our school programs, and more jobs within our communities.
So get out there on November 3rd and let your voice be heard! Let’s preserve our democracy for generations to come.
Moraine Park Technical College has presented Agnesian Healthcare with its 2020 Community Partnership Award. This award recognizes a community partner organization who has gone above and beyond in their role of working with Moraine Park students in student community impact opportunities.
Agnesian Healthcare is committed to helping, healing, and comforting, with a deep compassion for the community. Moraine Park health sciences students are important members of the Agnesian team! In 2020, despite Covid restrictions, MPTC volunteers served over 550 hours! Students served at Agnesian sites of: St. Agnes Hospital, Ripon Medical Center, Hospice Home of Hope, Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, and Waupun Memorial Hospital.
Some student words of reflection include:
“I had the opportunity to volunteer in the Emergency Department at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac. I absolutely loved my time there.”
“I went to the volunteer at Waupun Dialysis. The lady that trained me was very nice and helpful. While talking with a patient, we discovered that blindness was a big challenge. The Agnesian employee is also part of the Lions Club of Waupun. She found a machine that blows everything up and can make it brighter or duller depending on the patients eyes. The patient was able to receive the machine for free from the Lions. The patient was so happy and broke down in tears! I was in tears too, because until now I took seeing for granted.”
“I really enjoyed working with the other volunteers and hearing their stories as most of them have been there for a very long time, some even with previous work experience as nurses in the ER years ago. Barb with volunteer services was also fantastic, she is so easy to talk to! I am hoping to continue volunteering for Agnesian in the future.”
“I had the incredible opportunity to volunteer with Agnesian Hospice. This has been a very humbling experience. It has provided me with insight and knowledge in what it takes to work with people who are close to death. I realized the most vital part of my experience was not mulling over death, but maintaining social relationships that brightened a patients day no matter what the circumstance. I found that just the fact that patients recognized me, even if it was just my voice in the last one or two visits, was amazing. I would find myself forgetting that the patients were at the end of life and just focus on the time we could spend together every week. I think this opportunity was a very valuable experience. I plan on volunteering with Hospice indefinitely. This experience has actually made me consider furthering my career and eventually being a nurse in hospice.”
Barb Van Egtern, Agnesian Volunteer Services Supervisor said, “Thank you very much! We love working with your students and hope to continue partnering with you! We are truly honored.”
Congratulations Agnesian and thank you to all amazing healthcare students, instructors and workers!
Moraine Park Technical College is committed to community engagement and student success. The College supports these commitments through the opportunity for students to participate instudent community impact and apply their classroom knowledge to an applicable, real world environment.
In 2018, MPTC started a community impact awards program where students can track their service hours, submit their reflections, and earn a Bronze Award for 25 hours, Silver Award for 50 hours,Gold Award for 100 hours, or Presidents Award for 200 hours of service learning or volunteering.
This summer we have awarded our second President’s Award Winner – Brett Hebert! Brett earned the President’s Award with over 200 volunteer hours.
Upon receiving his President’s Award, Brett stated: “Education at MPTC has given me a whole new book to live my life through. I am applying now to become a police officer, my lifelong dream job!” President Bonnie Baerwald said, “Brett is an exemplary student who has created a high standard. He has a love for life and learning and making a difference in the world. We all have high hopes for his career and hope he will be a part of our community for a long time to come.”
Strengthening community impact is a strategic priority at MPTC.
Connecting the college and community for the goals of fostering collaboration and connectivity among business, alumni and community partners, increases the visibility of the college impact to the communities we serve. Moraine Park students and employees are also helping fulfill community needs, sharing their time and talent, connecting and volunteering to help and improve the communities where we live, work and go to school.
Since we started tracking the volunteer and service learning hours that students and staff submitted we have now reached over 8,000 hours with an economic impact throughout the MPTC district of over $200,000. Way to go!
In the Fall of 2019, Welding Instructor Steve Henderleiter began planning a service learning project for his Spring, 2020 students. Sandy Paws, the new dog park in West Bend, needed a sign.
Four students took on the project this spring, using geometry and rigging skills, as well as the welding they learned in fall semester. When COVID caused schools to shut down from mid March until mid May, it put extra pressure on Steve and his students to meet the June 30 completion deadline on their project.
Students were committed and worked hard and fast to make it happen! They put in extra volunteer hours to get the PAWS project done, plus made sure to get all their regular assignments completed.
Steve is super proud of his students! “Many students don’t get real world experience on their resume. Having this service project helps out their community, and gives them the hands on experience they need, prior to graduation. Now they will be able to find a job and handle issues that come up in welding project situations.” Associate Dean of Manufacturing Marcia Arndt stated, “So proud of the work that these students have accomplished under the constraints of limited classroom time. Steve as always you have done amazing work with giving these students real world experience and pride in helping the community. “
Steve himself is a dog lover. Sadly, his own dog passed away during the project before the sign was complete. Students added her name and birthday onto the sign in special memory.
Moraine Park Technical College is committed to community engagement and student success. The College supports these commitments through the opportunity for students to participate in student community impact and apply their classroom knowledge to an applicable, real world environment.
MPTC encourages students to participate in our community impact awards program where students can track their service learning or volunteer hours, submit their reflections, and earn a Bronze Award for 25 hours, Silver Award for 50 hours,Gold Award for 100 hours, or Presidents Award for 200 hours!
In the 2020 spring semester, 24 students earned awards and logged over 1,000 hours of service!
Congratulations to our Spring, 2020 award winners!
Bronze Award Winners
Completing 25-49 hours of service learning or volunteering.
Ashley Ade, Medical Assistant
Breanna Alioto, Medical Assistant
Erica Boehnlein, Medical Assistant
Alexis Darkow, Medical Assistant
Kendra DeJager, Medical Assistant
Molly Donais, Medical Assistant
Taylor Erlauer, Medical Assistant
Kayleigh Gorman, Medical Assistant
Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*
Ashlee Keller, Medical Assistant
Cheyenne Kohrt, Medical Assistant
Cathryn Kuslits, Medical Assistant*
Abby Muenchow, Medical Assistant
Megan Neu, Medical Assistant
Nora Nuhiji, Medical Assistant
Caitlin Pieper, Medical Assistant
Gina Roll, Medical Assistant
Samantha Schubring, Medical Assistant
Jordan Sterns, Medical Assistant
Bethany Thome, Graphics*
Meghan Thompson, Medical Assistant
Emma Zimmerman, Medical Office
From left to right smiling Bronze Award winners: Cheyenne Kohrt, Cathryn Kuslits, and Emma Zimmerman. Congratulations!!
Silver Award Winners
Completing 50-99 hours of service learning or volunteering.
Meghan Griswold, Marketing & Social Media*
Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*
Ashlee Keller, Medical Assistant
Jordan Sterns, Medical Assistant
Gold Award Winner
Completing 100-199 hours of service learning or volunteering.
Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*
Our Spring, 2020 Gold Award Winner, Cortland Henning! Cortland is also our 2020-21 Newman Civic Fellow. Cortland volunteered over 100 hours since last summer for the FDL High School Color Guard. “I helped the kids in the high school color guard with their work and drill, as well as helping with a sectional before practice. Helping the color guard is always my favorite pastime. I love helping them because I owe so much to the guard. I honestly had so much fun co-coaching these kids during the season. It has strengthened my leadership skills and it helped me bond a lot with the kids. I have also gained coaching skills that I can use in the future. Jo Ann Hall has really changed my life and made me a strong and responsible young man. I can’t thank her enough for helping me. I will continue to help them into the near future.”
President’s Award Winner
Completing 200+ hours of service learning or volunteering.
Brett Hebert, Criminal Justice*
Our amazing President’s Award winner, Brett Hebert! Brett volunteered over 200 hours during his 2 year associate degree at MPTC. Most of his hours were spent at FDL Boys and Girls Club and helping the Criminal Justice Club showcase careers in the Dream Big service project. “The power of the human mind is truly breathtaking. The mind itself can adapt to any situation it is put in and can give the power to the rest of the body to survive. The most amazing thing about the mind is that with all the power it has, it still takes nearly 20 years to end growing. While it is growing your thoughts can completely change from one year to the next. Any troubled child can completely flip a switch in the matter of a year due to the power of the human mind and possibly a little help from others. This is what my goal is with volunteering at Boys and Girls Club in FDL. It has taught me that there is no such thing as a bad child, there are just children that take a little bit more time to mature. When I see children like this, that tells me they are vulnerable to all types of things, good or bad. So, I must be the one to guide them to the light of success. Volunteering at Boys & Girls Club is by far the best decision I have ever made. It has truly given me a new meaning to life. Those kids are my meaning of life. I would do anything to protect them from any dangers and I am 100% certain that I will do everything in my power to let them know there are dangers in this world, but also so much love all around them, and that is what matters most. I am so grateful that because of the Promise Program having these requirements I now live a different life because of it. A much happier life.”
“Congratulations Brett! Thank you for being an amazing mentor for our kiddos at the Boys & Girls Club, this is a well deserved award!!” Karissa Schneider, Director of Operations Boys & Girls Club of Fond du Lac
What happens when you are required to do 40 hours of service learning to complete your practicum course and your college and community are locked down for Covid? You get creative! That is just what MPTC Medical Office student Emma Zimmerman did this spring. Emma looked on the MPTC online volunteer system to see what safe volunteer from home opportunities there might be. She found creating cards for seniors at the Cedar Community and Gardens of Hartford through the Washington County Volunteers posting and got started on her project!
Emma reflected, “MPTC has offered me the ability to give back to the community for the experiences I have gained through going to college. However, due to COVID-19, my community service is different from what others have experienced face to face. Nonetheless, it has enhanced both my career and the care I have for the communities I’m around.”
“For my service learning, I wrote cards for the Cedar Community in West Bend and became a part of the Pen Pal program for The Gardens of Hartford. Each card had a unique quote and message from me personally. I also included adorable stickers and drawings. Because of this, I believe I provided a therapeutic effect on the community. Due to COVID-19, many seniors are separated from their family and friends. Their loneliness can negatively effect their health and can cause a pessimistic view on their life and the current situation.”
By writing inspirational messages to the seniors of the Cedar Community and The Gardens of Hartford, I was able to provide much needed happiness for those in need. While I might not have cured their loneliness, I hopefully gave someone a smile or reminded them that they are not alone. My community service may not have been the most exciting. However, I believe I provided an important service by interacting with people who may have needed it the most. I believe it strengthened my communication abilities and allowed me to impact the community in a way I was unable to before.”
Emma is planning to complete her practicum this spring and graduate to go out to work in her community as a Medical Office Specialist. She has also earned the Bronze Student Community Impact Award for serving 25-49 hours. Way to go Emma!
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