LaToya Singleton, of Kewauskum, has a love for children that has no limits. As an early childhood education student at Moraine Park, it is apparent that this career path is her passion.

Originally from Wisconsin, LaToya moved to New Orleans where she successfully operated her own childcare facility for seven years. She moved back to Wisconsin in 2015 to be closer to her family.

Her plan was to bring her childcare business here but found that Wisconsin licensing requires a degree in the field. LaToya is now working towards earning her early childhood education degree at Moraine Park.

LaToya’s love for children is the driving force behind her persistence to obtain her degree.

“My husband and I lost three babies to miscarriage,” LaToya said. “I still wonder why, but now I devote my attention to loving the children that I care for every day. I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of their lives.”

It seems that LaToya gives all of herself to everyone in her life. She regularly has a houseful of family and friends, has helped to raise her godson, and serves as a mother figure to many. She also volunteers at a childcare facility in Milwaukee. I guess you could say she’s everything to everyone.

“There is a need for good childcare,” she said. “I’m happy to provide some help.”

 LaToya admitted that when she first came to Moraine Park, she was frustrated to have to obtain a degree. She had worked successfully in childcare for many years and didn’t welcome the idea of having to go to school to continue her career. However, she now makes it known that she is adapting well to college life and is enjoying her journey.

“Moraine Park is now my sanctuary,” LaToya said. “I’m making friends and getting used to being around adults on a daily basis.”

She is a member of Moraine Park’s Promise and Edge programs. The Promise program is an opportunity for tuition-free schooling thanks to generous donors. The Edge program is a Student Support Services program that provides academic advising, study groups, cultural services, and many other resources for qualifying students. LaToya hopes that through her work, she can help bring awareness of diversity in the area.

“Moving back to Wisconsin was hard,” LaToya said. “I have experienced some direct racial hate. My hope is that I can show others that it is the brain and heart that really matters.”

Moraine Park works to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment. Support programs like Edge and groups like the Diversity Club, help to provide students with positive college experiences. Despite the obstacles she has had in her life, LaToya remains a positive ray of light.

“I have gotten everything I have ever prayed for,” she said. “I didn’t get them altogether or even on my terms, but I still got them. I asked for children to love, a house, an education, morals, and stability. In some way, I have all of those things. I am blessed.”

The quick conclusion I came to is that we all could use a LaToya in our lives.

She is expected to graduate in May of 2020 with her associate’s degree in early childhood education. She has goals to graduate summa cum laude and as a member of the Phi Theta Kapa Honor Society.

Congratulations to LaToya for her accomplishments so far! We look forward to following her journey!

For more information, visit morainepark.edu.

Are you aware that over one-third of households in WI struggle to afford basic necessities?*

Moraine Park Technical College is excited to host national speakers, Terie Dreussi-Smith and Ruth Weirich, from aha! Process, Inc., to help bridge the gap and provide a better understanding of poverty in our communities and workplaces to assist with retention, productivity, and engagement in entry-level workers. This two-day summit will be held on March 12 and 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The event will consist of a Bridges out of Poverty and Workplace Stability workshop to learn how to achieve workplace stability for entry-level employee retention and performance. These sessions will help us recognize the signs of poverty and the range of factors that create instability for our employees, and see how instability, employee performance, and profitability are related.

Employers have come to understand diversity in terms of age, race, and gender – now they need to understand it in terms of socioeconomic class. The income and resource gap is a growing divide in workplace culture, causing missed opportunities from miscommunications to separations, as well as lost productivity, promotion, and profit.
“Viewing a diverse workforce through the lens of economic class allows a company to create more stability for team members and for the business, which results in higher retention, higher productivity, more engagement, and increased profits.” – Ruth K. Weirich, Workplace Stability, p. 129

Did you also know that 27% of households in the MPTC district fall below the ALICE level? ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed; it’s a way for defining men and women who work hard, earn above the federal poverty level, but still not enough to afford a basic household budget.*

With that being said, are you aware of the hidden rules, culture, and range of factors that contribute to the instabilities in poverty? Workplace instability issues have an impact on employee retention and performance across all industries. We are hoping these sessions will raise awareness and give you the tools to provide open lines of communication with your employees, ultimately creating higher employee retention.

Bridges out of Poverty will use the lens of economic class to provide concrete tools and strategies for a community to alleviate poverty.  The Bridges out of Poverty and Workplace Stability sessions will provide tools and strategies for you to:

• Recognize the signs of poverty
• Understand the culture of poverty
• Recognize the range of factors that create instability for employees
• See how instability, employee performance and profitability are related

Event details:
March 12 & 13, 2019
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts
Fond du Lac, WI

For more information or to register for this event, visit http://bit.ly/bridgesmptc . 

*www.unitedforalice.org/wisconsin

The weather outside may be frightful, but we know that summer will come- eventually!

Be sure to mark you calendars for Tech Knowledge College (TKC) 2019!
August 6th – August 8th, 2019
9:00 am- 2:45 pm
Fond du Lac Campus

This fun summer camp allows for students entering sixth through eighth grades to explore different career options through hand-on activities.

View the 2019 TKC Brochure here!

*Busing will be available from the West Bend and Beaver Dam Moraine Park Campuses.

Registration begins May 1st. Stay tuned for more information.

morainepark.edu/tech-knowledge-college.

Moraine Park will be holding a certified nursing assistant (CNA) course March 11- April 29 at Kewauskum high school. This opportunity is open to the public, ages 16+.

In just over a month you can earn three college credits, a certificate, and jump start your career in healthcare!

Spots are filling fast in this high demand course! Register today by calling 1-800-472-4554.

To view the course schedule, click here.

For more information on the nursing assistant program, visit morainepark.edu/nursing-assistant.

Meet Larry Clark, welding, metal fab, and fabrication technologies program instructor. He has been with the College for 18 years and worked in the welding industry prior.

“The last job I had required me to teach most new hires,” Larry said. “When their business got slow, I thought I would try to give back to my field and show other people how to do what I had learned.”

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Having trouble with APA citations? Solving algebraic equations? Completing that graphic organizer?  The staff at the Student Success Center (SCC) is here to help!  At the Student Success Center, students can get help with course work from various classes for FREE! 

Many students come to the SSC for assistance in researching, organizing, and editing papers.  Staff can also help with APA formatting, which is new to many MPTC students.  Students can also get help with math course work.   If you are unsure whether we can help, please come in and ask.  Many students like to come to the SSC for a quiet place to work, where help is available if needed!

Jasmine Garcia, a pre-core nursing student, utilized the SSC weekly this past fall for help on her Chemistry and Intro to Psychology course work.  “I like the nice quiet environment and how there are not too many distractions. I also really like the instructors who work in the SSC. They are very friendly and happy to help. When I was struggling with chemistry, I was a little nervous to come to the SSC to ask for help at first, but I am really glad that I made myself go,” Garcia stated.

“The SSC helped me be successful in many ways. I recently graduated from high school this past May, and throughout my high school career, I always needed a lot of extra help from my teachers with math. I knew that in college my instructors would probably not be available as much as my teachers in high school were. The SSC has a great availability of schedule for you to come in and work on things. I usually like to get started on homework right away in the morning, and the SSC was always available for me to go and get things done right away. Overall, it is a nice resource to go to work on homework or study for any class. I am really glad that the SSC is available for students because without it, I would be struggling in a lot of my classes,” said Garcia.

For more information, visit the morainepark.edu/student-success-center or visit any of the campus locations!

Beaver Dam K-316  920-887-4436

Fond du Lac A-216 920-929-2108

West Bend W-137 262-335-5775

Moraine Park has named nearly 1,100 students to the Dean’s List for the fall 2018 semester.

Are you one of them? Click here to view the list and find out!

For the ninth consecutive year, Moraine Park Technical College has made the Victory Media list of Military Friendly Schools for its commitment to serving student veterans.

The Military Friendly Schools list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources for more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans, and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly Schools survey from participating institutions.

“I continue to be immensely proud of our staff and students for their passion in making our College an exceptional place for military students and student veterans,” Scott Lieburn dean of students at Moraine Park said. “Our consistent designation as a Military Friendly School affirms this commitment. We look forward to further serving our student veterans and those still serving in the future.”

The award recognizes the top colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide who embrace America’s veterans as students. This year 766 schools earned this prestigious designation.

Moraine Park has numerous resources available to military and veteran students, including the Student Veterans Association (SVA) club. The SVA club meets regularly to answer questions and provide information about educational opportunities and veterans benefits. The club also allows students to meet other military students and veterans, as well as their supporters. Resources like the SVA club provide a support system to assist with the transition from military life to college and careers.

For more information about Moraine Park’s Veterans Services, visit morainepark.edu/veterans.

Moraine Park Technical College is currently accepting applications for three positions, employer member, employee member, and additional member on the Moraine Park Technical College District Board. The application time frame is February 8 to February 22, with the terms ending June 2022.

The employer and additional members must reside within one of these Moraine Park District regions: east of the east shore of Lake Winnebago; east of the east boundary of the towns of Fond du Lac and Oakfield in Fond du Lac County; east of the east boundary of the towns of Leroy, Williamstown, Oak Grove, and Lowell in Dodge County.

The employee member must reside within one of these Moraine Park District regions: west of the east shore of Lake Winnebago; west of the east boundary of the towns of Fond du Lac and Oakfield in Fond du Lac County; west of the east boundary of the towns of Leroy, Williamstown, Oak Grove, and Lowell in Dodge County.

The employer and employee members must be representatives of the businesses and industries within the Moraine Park Technical College District.

Interested individuals can receive application materials from the County Board Chairperson or Clerk of any of the following counties: Calumet, Columbia, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, Sheboygan, Washington, Waushara, and Winnebago or by contacting Jaclyn Jelinek, Moraine Park Technical College, 235 North National Avenue, P. O. Box 1940, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54936-1940, telephone (920) 929-2127, e-mail jjelinek@morainepark.edu. 

Candidates should mail their completed application to Mr. Lowell Prill, Secretary, Moraine Park Technical College District Board, 235 North National Avenue, P. O. Box 1940, Fond du Lac, WI 54936-1940. Their submission must include at least two written references supporting their nomination and be received by 4:30 p.m. on February 22, 2019. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Applicants are also required to attend the public hearing of the District Board Appointment Committee tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 25, 2019, at Moraine Park Technical College. A legal notice announcing the exact date, time, and location of this meeting will be published sometime during the week of February 25 or March 4, 2019.

For more information on the open positions, please contact Jaclyn Jelinek at (920) 929-2127 or jjelinek@morainepark.edu.

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