Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our fall, 2018 service learning opportunities. Michele said, “students are purposefully working to learn community oriented nursing. We want to target prevention as a priority. Nurses need to understand how to advocate for specific populations of people and have knowledge of the resource programs in your community that you can partner with to help your patients.”

This semester 20 students spent over 100 hours researching and collaborating with community partners on projects such as drug free communities, family resource centers, Alzheimer’s, poverty, mental health, breast cancer, obesity, domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Students formulated detailed advocacy plans to address how a nurse could help a community identify and address these issues, providing education, awareness, advocacy and resources. Students gathered data to help determine strength and weaknesses in their own communities. Project presentations were held on December 21. Congratulations on all of this great work on important community issues!

For more information on Moraine Park, visit morainepark.edu.

Here is what’s happening on your campus January 21-25.

Many of us can identify life-changing moments as a result of being in the right place at the right time. For Danairis (Deedee) Melendez, that is exactly how her Moraine Park journey began.

Deedee is a mother of six children and originally came to Wisconsin from Puerto Rico. Her family settled in Milwaukee, and she found employment at a local Optometrist office. To the outside world she led a normal life, but behind closed doors, she was in a vicious cycle of abuse, both mentally and physically. It is apparent that Deedee has a strength that is rare to come by. However, she said that even her strong, independent personality was no match to her abuser.

“I never thought that I would be a victim of abuse,” Deedee said. “I knew my family deserved more. So, I packed up and fled the situation.”

She relocated her family to the West Bend area and welcomed this as an opportunity to have a fresh start.

Deedee started working at Advanced Focus Eyecare in West Bend. On a typical workday, she was helping a woman find glasses when they began to talk about career goals. Deedee mentioned her desire to become a nurse, and her customer just happened to be Kathy Vandemark, a counselor at Moraine Park Technical College in West Bend.

“We hit it off, I liked her immediately,” Deedee said. “Kathy helped walk me through the enrollment process, and ultimately helped me get into my program.”

Deedee not only wants to be a nurse, but she also has aspirations to be a neonatal nurse.

“My oldest son was born at 23-weeks,” she said. “He had a one-percent survival rate, and he just turned 17!”

Her experience in the neonatal unit as a parent is what motivates her to want to serve the parents and babies in need of care.

Both Deedee and Kathy were in the right place at the right time. The result? Deedee will petition to begin her nursing clinical this March and is expected to graduate in December of 2020.

She is also writing a book documenting her journey as a victim of abuse. Her goal is to help others in similar situations find the help that they need to redefine their life.

We look forward to following Deedee’s journey and wish her the best of luck as she continues to pursue her degree.

**A fun side note**

Deedee’s daughter Jayanie age 12, sat in on our interview. I couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with her also. Jayanie is quite possibly the most polite 12-year old I’ve ever spoken with, and she also aspires to be in health care. Her goal is to be a heart surgeon, and her eyes sparkled a bit when she talked about her dream career. I look forward to interviewing Jayanie in the future as a Moraine Park health sciences student.

Meet our business analyst (BA) instructor, Jo Ann Giese-Kent!

Jo Ann grew up in Campbellsport but now resides just outside of Fond du Lac with her husband Tim (a Moraine Park Alumnus), her teenage daughter, Ashlee, and her furry feline friends Pepper and Lilly. 

Prior to her current role, she worked as the VP of business intelligence and entrepreneurship for the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation. During this time, she also served as an adjunct instructor, teaching small business classes for Moraine Park’s Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) department.

“I received my bachelor’s degree in business administration majoring in marketing in the early ’90s,” Jo Ann said. “When I interned as a market researcher at a paper company, I discovered I liked the analytical side of marketing.   Throughout my career, I have done all aspects of marketing but felt the most comfortable with analysis from analyzing customer segments’ behavior and needs to analyzing processes or other business needs and recommending solutions to deliver more value to customers or internal stakeholders.  I’ve done analysis type work in several industries including direct marketing (catalog business), banking, higher education, and economic development.”

Jo Ann worked in Moraine Park’s Institutional Research department from 2000-2009  and returned to Moraine Park in August of 2017 as the full-time BA instructor.

“I enjoy working with students and sharing my experiences,” Jo Ann said. “When I heard about the new BA program instructor position, I was very interested. I am grateful that I was offered the job! Instead of being behind-the-scenes researching and understanding our students, I now can have a direct impact on their learning and success.”

The number one reason why someone should consider a career as a business analyst is that they are in high demand across many industries. According to the US Bureau of Labor  Statistics, employers throughout the United States will need 861,400 management analysts (which includes the business analyst title) by 2024.  In Wisconsin, employers will need 13,151 by 2024.  That’s a growth of 14%, almost double compared to all occupations nationally.  As a plus, an experienced analyst can earn $71,230 as the median annual wage.

“Employees who do business analysis have many different titles and roles,” Jo Ann said. “Most have the business analyst title but could also have titles such as systems analyst, process analyst, database analyst, market research analyst, supply chain analyst, and many others. They primarily help identify business needs, solve problems to produce better business outcomes, and help organizations add value to customers, suppliers, or end users of a process, or system.  They are known as the liaison or agent to enable that change to occur.”

The online BA program teaches the fundamental knowledge areas, tasks, and techniques needed to be successful in the business analysis field.

Outside of the College, you can find Jo Ann enjoying time her yard planting and landscaping. You might even catch her at a heavy metal concert.

“I’m more of a quiet and reserved person. Some people find it surprising that I love hard rock and heavy metal music,” Jo Ann said. “At this year’s Rock USA, I won a hand-painted, autographed Dean guitar!”

Thank you, Jo Ann, for your devotion to Moraine Park and the BA program. For more information, visit morainepark.edu/programs.

Moraine Park will be hosting College & Coffee, an information night for adults interested in continuing their education.

The event will take place at all three campuses, and interested individuals are invited to attend anytime between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.

• Beaver Dam- Tuesday, February 5

• West Bend- Wednesday, February 13

• Fond du Lac- Thursday, February 21

Financial aid assistance will be available from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about programs, have on-demand transcript reviews, apply for summer or fall 2019, and take mini career assessments.

No appointment is necessary. Stop in for a cup of coffee and a conversation with our staff.

For more information, visit morainepark.edu/coffee-college.

Talitha is the new WIOA Training Navigator for Moraine Park, stationed on the Beaver Dam campus and part of the Economic and Workforce Development department.  In case you are wondering what WIOA stands for, it means Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and Talitha’s primary role is to provide various supports for adults with barriers who want to pursue MPTC training programs which help lead them to economic self-sufficiency. 

Talitha comes to Moraine Park having spent the last ten years teaching Language Arts at La Follette High School on Madison’s east side.  She has also taught AVID for five years, which is a program designed to support students with barriers succeed in high school and prepare for college. While she found profound meaning in her work as a teacher, she was also ready to make a career change and is excited to shift her career to providing individualized supports for motivated adults.

Talitha says she is passionate about the goals of WIOA which align with the amazing work that MPTC is already doing.  She believes that by eliminating some of the small financial barriers that prevent many individuals from pursuing education/training, we can help them forge paths out of poverty and dependence on government assistance.  Talitha is truly excited for the opportunity to support motivated individuals pursue more stable and meaningful lives, and feels honored to do this work as a member of the MPTC community.

For more information on Moraine Park, visit morainepark.edu.

At the end of 2018 fall semester, 17 Medical Assistant and/or Medical Office students earned service learning awards. Twelve students earned Bronze Awards for completing at least 25 hours of service and five students earned Bronze and Silver Awards for completing at least 50 hours of service. Congratulations!

Anne Lemke, Experiential Learning Coordinator, was excited to present awards to some of the students present at the Medical Assistant/Medical Office Careers event at Fond du Lac Campus on December 4, 2018. Program Director Sarah Chojnacki and Practicum Instructor Eric Ziebell said, “We are so proud of our students! Seeing the community impact they make together is just tremendous! The reflection and learning that comes from these service experiences is so valuable! Students can take their learning experience and awards to showcase on their resume, in interviews, and out into the workplace!”

Together these 17 students helped over 25 community partners and served over 770 hours! Great work!!

Nancy Osorio’s service learning experience was shared in an earlier blog, click here to read about her journey.

Pictured above, left to right. Front row, Jackie Glynn , Kelly Duley, and Brooke Wentland. Back row, Nancy Osorio, Rachel Rongstad, Lyn Vogt, Tonja Bates, Andrea Wilcox, and Megan Andrews.

“I completed this class as a successful writer,” Lauren Schwefel stated.

“I believe that our instructor, Dr. Rebecca Leichtfuss, provided us with quality writing tools so that we can achieve career success in the future,” Natalie Graff concluded.

Natalie Graff and Lauren Schwefel decided to share their experience in the English Composition I course to let other students know about what to expect.  “When I enrolled in the English Composition I course, I thought I already knew what we needed to know about writing. Turns out I was wrong,” said Graff, who will be graduating from the Accounting program in May, 2019. 

Lauren Schwefel, a Nursing student, also found that she would learn a lot from taking the English Composition I course.  “Dr. Rebecca Leichtfuss taught our class and emphasized to students the importance of learning the 4 C’s of Writing.  We practiced the 4 C’s of writing of clarity, conciseness, completeness, and correctness with every writing activity and assignment.  Every class period we drafted, revised, edited and proofread our writing, which helped me construct higher quality work,” shared Schwefel.

As the course continued, these students focused on learning about different types of writing, including creating professional business e-mails, completing communication case studies that required critical thinking, analyzing research studies, writing a blog, and preparing a research paper.  “Initially I was not looking forward to writing the research paper, but it became easier when our instructor taught us how to follow the writing process, which included writing an annotated bibliography, a plan and outline, and a rough draft,” recalled Graff.

Schwefel recalls that while writing the research paper she learned the importance of organization, time management, and how to determine credible sources. “When all was said and done, I could confidently write a research paper that I initially had dreaded,” she said.

Overall, these students emphasized how the English Composition I course taught them more about writing than they imagined. 

“I completed this class as a successful writer,” Schwefel stated. 

“I believe that our instructor, Dr. Rebecca Leichtfuss, provided us with quality writing tools so we can achieve career success in the future,” Graff concluded.

For more information on Moraine Park, visit morainepark.edu.

As of today, the federal government has been on a partial shutdown for 19 days, the second longest in history.

This type of uncertainty brings questions to the surface for many of us. For Moraine Park, we are focusing on how our students will get the federal funding (FAFSA) they need for their education.

The IRS has been closed, and many students have had difficulty receiving the appropriate documents. Fortunately, we have new guidance on collecting tax documents. As of now, students should bring signed copies of their 2016 tax forms to serve as verification of income for 2018-19 FAFSA applications, and students will no longer have to provide transcripts. This will also be the protocol for 2019-20.

However, there is one remaining issue that has not received as much attention. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Selective Service are two of the offices/departments that are affected by the shutdown. As a result, there is no way to verify the citizenship of any new applicants for federal aid. This means those new FAFSA applications cannot be processed and funding cannot be awarded. The most affected students will be first time FAFSA applicants.

Moraine Park is currently working with students that may be affected by the government shutdown to make sure that their FAFSA is ready to submit once federal business resumes.

For more information on financial aid, visit morainepark.edu/financial-aid.