David Block has worn many hats here at Moraine Park.  He began working at MPTC in 2011 as an ELL instructor at the Dodge County Jail.  He has taught ELL at the Rosendale Dairy and on the Beaver Dam campus, and he served as the ELL Program Specialist in Fond du Lac.  He is currently our wonderful full-time ELL instructor at the Fond du Lac campus and we are sad to see him retire from his position at the end of the Fall 2021 semester.

When David was younger, he never thought that he would be an English teacher.  According to David, “English was not my favorite subject in school.”  This all changed when he relocated with his family to Peru to do mission work.  There, he served as an administrator and an instructor for a religious organization.  The focus of the mission work was on earthquake relief after an 8.1 Richter scale earthquake caused significant damage to the country in 2007.  He and his young family lived there for 15 years.  His experience moving to Peru with his family has given him great perspective on all the challenges that his students face when moving to a new country.  He appreciates how brave our ELL students are to take on such a big change and to “start a new life where the language and the culture are totally different.”  David “is glad to be a part of their process [to help them] to better integrate into their new ‘home.”’

One of the things that David enjoys most about his job is getting to know his students and learning about their cultures and individual stories. He appreciates being able to connect with so many students from different countries and cultures and to foster friendships amongst his students through English classes.  David has found joy and gratification in “helping students take next steps towards achieving their dreams [and] watching as they stretch their wings and fly.”  And his students are very grateful for the time and support that David has given to them. We asked his students to describe David, and here are some of the words that they used: warm, patient, tolerant, responsible, awesome, and excellent. He must be an excellent language instructor to have taught his students such dynamic vocabulary!

David has been a wonderful leader and mentor to our team of instructors in the Adult Ed. department.  He has been an invaluable asset to Moraine Park Technical College, to his many wonderful students, and to the greater Fond du Lac Community.   We wish him the best in his retirement and throughout the next chapter of his life.

Moraine Park Technical College’s Early Childhood Education and Cosmetology programs collaborated earlier this month, Dec. 7, to learn about hair care techniques for children with ethnic hair.

The Cosmetology students used mannequins with textured hair to teach Early Childhood Education students how to detangle, braid, twist and style the hair with elastics.

“A lot of times when we care for children it involves grooming their hair throughout the day,” Anne Paradies, Early Childhood Education instructor, said. “It’s important that students are prepared to care for all hair types.”

The collaboration was spurred by Early Childhood Education student, Monica Dreifuerst, who works at a childcare center.

“We take the children swimming often, and that requires some hair maintenance afterwards,” Dreifuerst said. “I love doing the kids hair, but I realized quicky I didn’t know the best way to care for textured hair. I never want any of the children to feel left out, so I really wanted to learn.”

This training is the first collaboration between Moraine Park’s Cosmetology and Early Childhood Education programs.

“We hope to continue collaborating on this training with future classes,” Paradies said. “The Cosmetology students are the best resource, and it is a great learning experience for everyone involved.”

Moraine Park’s Early Childhood Education program is a 2-year associate degree program. In class, students learn to care for and educate children while playing a key role in their development. Graduates from the program are prepared to work with children from birth to 8-year age range and are well-prepared for a variety of Early Childhood Education roles. For more information visit morainepark.edu/academics/programs/early-childhood-education/.