Donald Shono, of Rubicon, found Moraine Park after serving in the United States Air Force Security Forces for six years. In 2011, he decided to end his active-duty service after experiencing a decline in his mental health.

Shono served in the 2nd Air Force Security Forces Squadron and had one deployment to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served his last year with the Barksdale Air Force Base Honor Guard.

“The Security Forces Squadron was not my first choice, but it gave me the opportunity to join within a month of enlisting, and I didn’t want to wait,” Shono said. “I had an interest in law enforcement at the time, so it was not a difficult choice.”

Security Forces is an Air Force Special Forces unit that provides base security, law enforcement and an infantry force; the Base Honor Guard conducts ceremonial events such as local veteran funeral services and base award ceremonies.

“I joined the service because I felt I needed to do something more with my life that was bigger than myself and something I felt truly mattered, but eventually, my mental health needed to become a priority,” he said.

When he returned home, Shono began researching ways to heal his mind and body. In 2013, he started working as a massage therapist at a spa in Slinger, WI. He worked there for three years before moving to Spotsylvania, VA, where he continued his career for five years.

During the pandemic, Shono moved home to be closer to family. Since he was already working in a health and wellness career, he decided to use his time at home to further his education.

Shono enrolled in Moraine Park’s Health and Wellness program and attended his first semester classes on the West Bend Campus in fall 2021.

“I chose Moraine Park because it was one of the only schools that offered the path to health and wellness I was looking for,” Shono said. “I am really happy with my experience so far and cannot wait to see what the future has in store.”

After receiving his associate degree, he plans to become certified as a health coach and personal trainer to expand his career opportunities.

My time in the military was really stressful and took a big toll on me mentally,” Shono said “I am pursuing health and wellness because I want to heal myself and help others do the same.”

Shono is involved in the West Bend Health and Wellness Club. Outside of school, he enjoys staying active, hiking and spending time with his family.

“Looking back on my time in the service–it is not all good memories,” Shono said. “I am really grateful to Moraine Park for opening me up to a new way of thinking and caring for myself.”

Read more stories like Donald’s in our Spring 2022 NEXT Magazine.

Grant Maniér is many things: a talented artist, passionate advocate, creative illustrator, poised public speaker, dedicated student and great friend.

He also lives with autism.

“I have autism, but I do not let it define me,” Maniér said. “I define my autism through my talents and my skills.”

Maniér is 26 and a first-year student in Moraine Park’s Graphic Communications program.

In 2021, he moved to Fond du Lac from Houston, TX, after accepting a job at the Treffert Center as a behavioral treatment technician and enrolling at Moraine Park. He and his mom, Julie Coy, were eager to take on this new adventure.

“Through Covid, the art world was shut down,” Maniér said. “I used to travel the country raising awareness, acceptance and promoting inclusion for people with disabilities. I would meet hundreds of people at events and take pictures with my art. After that stopped, we got an exciting opportunity to move, and we took it.”

Unlike traditional artists, Maniér constructs ecological, environmentally friendly art as an ‘eco-artist’.

“An eco-artist is not a normal artist,” Maniér said. “Being an eco-artist is taking recycled materials like paper from magazines, discarded puzzles, old calendars and wallpaper, and turning them into something beautiful. If it is recyclable, I can create eco-art out of it.”

Eco-friendly projects can also be made using materials such as old metal or scrap wood. Maniér gets his materials through direct donations, at thrift stores, and garage sales. Some of his pieces include an owl made from old movie posters, a dragon made with contact lens cases, dolphins made from applesauce lids and a giraffe made with jigsaw pieces named Jigsaw Grant.

Jigsaw Grant started out as one of Maniér’s many animal projects, but for this piece he decided to do something different. Instead of regular giraffe spots, he made the spots look like jigsaw pieces. His mom loved it so much that she coined it, Jigsaw Grant, after her son.

When people asked about Jigsaw Grant and Maniér’s other art pieces, Coy made-up stories about who the characters were and where they came from. Eventually, she started writing them down, and that is how Grant the Jigsaw Giraffe children’s book series was born.

There are five books in the collection, with more coming soon. Some of the topics include dyslexia, the autism spectrum, childhood cancer and the pandemic.

“I have come to know a lot of people and make many friends who have different challenges or disabilities,” Maniér said. “We figured if we talked about them in a children’s book format, we could help teach people from an early age about disabilities and how they can support people with differences.”

When it comes to sharing the work of writing and illustrating the books, Maniér describes it as an 80-20 percent split. His mom is the author, and he is the illustrator, but they both have their own opinions and give each other feedback as they create.

Maniér and Coy hope to publish more books and eventually bring their characters to life through animation.

When asked about his mantra, “’Autism does not define me, I define autism,’” Maniér said, “It’s basically asking the question: how do I live with it? It is something I cannot change. It is like having black hair. I don’t know what it is like to not have black hair, so I maintain it and keep it healthy, which is a lot like how I view my autism.”

Read more stories like Grant’s in our Spring 2022 NEXT Magazine.

Congratulations to all of Moraine Park’s 2022 High School Art Contest winners! The winners were selected by a panel of Art/Design professionals. Artists were invited to submit their work in the following categories:

1. Sculpture
2. Digital Illustration
3. Painting
4. Traditional Illustration
5. Drawing
6. T-Shirt Design
7. Digital Photography
8. Publication Design

Winners

Best of Show: Emma Schoebel, Princeton High School for the Drawing: Lucca

Reserve Best of Show: Amber Mans, Princeton High School for the Sculpture: Amphora

Fan Favorites

Fan Favorite Painting: Amber Mans, Autumn Birch, Princeton High School

Fan Favorite Sculpture: Gwyneth Spence, Nana’s Rose, Berlin High School

Fan Favorite Digital Illustration: Jenna Twinstra, Women’s Rights Issues, Berlin High School

Fan Favorite Traditional Illustration: Bella Hooker, Shadows, Kewaskum High School

Fan Favorite T-Shirt Design: Jenna Twinstra, Be Kind to Your Mind, Berlin High School

Fan Favorite Publication Design: Allison Disch, Polaroid Title Page, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

Fan Favorite Drawing: Jenna Twinstra, Allie’s Final Bow; Ariel, Berlin High School

Fan Favorite Digital Photography: Abigail Lang, Lines of Life, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

Sculpture

1st- Amber Mans, Amphora, Princeton High School

2nd- Gwenyth Spence, Nana’s Rose, Berlin High School

3rd- Amber Mans, Colored Vase, Princeton High School

4th- Violet Daubner, Lorikeet, Berlin High School

5th- Emma Schoebel, “Chad” Zebra, Princeton High School

Digital Illustration

1st- Emma Schoebel, Sunlight Zebra, Princeton High School

2nd- Emma Schoebel, Bay Horse, Princeton High School

3rd- Cambria Branson, A Few of My Favorite Things, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

4th- Taylor Gruhlke, A Very Innocent and Not Evil Image of an Elf in the Forest, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

5th- Jenna Twinstra, Women’s Rights Issues, Berlin High School

Painting

1st- Nora Otte, Take your Broken Wings and Learn to Fly, Fond du lac High School

2nd- Ava Schultz, Portrait, Fond du Lac High School

3rd- Amber Mans, Autumn Birch, Princeton High School

4th- Hayden Mason, Aura, Fond du Lac High School

5th- Nora Otte, Western Sky, Fond du lac High School

Traditional Illustration

1st- Bella Hooker, Brick by Brick, Kewaskum High School

2nd- Bella Hooker, Shadows, Kewaskum High School

3rd- Anya Bennett Smith, Mermaid, Fond du Lac High School

4th- Amber Mans, Medusa, Princeton High School

5th- Corrie Phelan, Fond du Lac High School

Drawing

1st- Emma Schoebel, Lucca, Princeton High School

2nd- Jenna Twinstra, Allie’s Final Bow; Ariel, Berlin High School

3rd- Cambria Branson, Puppy Love, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

4th- Ava Schultz, Fond du Lac High School

5th- Corrie Phelan, Fond du Lac High School

T-Shirt Design

1st- Jenna Twinstra, Be Kind to Your Mind, Berlin High School

2nd- Emma Schoebel, Zebra, Princeton High School

3rd- Emma Schoebel, Leopard, Princeton High School

4th- Kaisha Cheers, BD Circle Shirt, Beaver Dam High School

Digital Photography

1st- Dace Branson, Echo Lake, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

2nd- Ashley Patino, Behind my Spirit, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

3rd- Ashley Patino, Inside a City, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

4th- Abigail Lang, Lines of Life, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

5th- Abigail Lang, The Spectacular Sea, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

Publication Design

1st- Kaisha Cheers, Jazz Music Festival, Beaver Dam High School

2nd- Cambria Branson, A Time to Remember, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

3rd- Allison Disch, Polaroid Title Page, Waupun Junior/Senior High School

To view all entries, visit morainepark.edu/2022-high-school-art-contest/.

Jackie Fuller, of Theresa, graduated from Moraine Park’s Cosmetology program in 2002. She worked as a hairstylist at Cedar Community Assisted Living in West Bend for 11 years until a new passion led her back through Moraine Park’s doors.

At Cedar Community, Fuller fell in love with transforming people’s hair and putting smiles on the residents’ faces, especially in hard times. Eventually, watching residents fall ill and experiencing loss in her own family took a toll, and she realized she was destined to do more.

“By the time I was 27, I had lost both of my parents,” Fuller said. “Watching them get sick without knowing how to help was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. Being so young and not having my parents was, and still is, a challenge. I felt driven to learn how to help people in their time of need.”

Fuller enrolled in Moraine Park’s Nursing program in 2020 and will graduate in December. Since starting the program, she has become the vice president of the Student Nursing Association and a member of the Beaver Dam Campus Student Senate.

Outside of school, Fuller enjoys spending time with her family. She has a fiancé and two teenage sons. The boys both fully support their mom going back to school and love to help her study with flashcards and quizzes.

“My kids are getting older,” she said. “I want to be able to show them they can be anything they want to be and that it’s never too late.”

Fuller was recently hired at Froedtert in West Bend where she works as a critical care technician. After she graduates, she will stay at Froedtert as a nurse and plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). She still tends to her first passion by keeping her cosmetology license up to date.

“From my first appointment at Moraine Park, I was encouraged to make steps forward in my career,” Fuller said. “It took me a while to push through those doors, but I am so glad I did. Moraine Park has been there every step of the way, allowing me to explore both of my passions.”

Thank you, Frontline Workers.

It’s no secret frontline workers fuel the economy. Each year, more than 1,000 Moraine Park alumni enter the workforce and make an impact on local industries and current worker shortages. We are incredibly proud of the many alumni in our communities and the passionate work they do to keep us moving forward.

For more stories like Jackie’s, check out our Spring 2022 NEXT Magazine.

Moraine Park Technical College held its annual General Education Development (GED) and High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) graduation ceremony on May 26. There were 96 GED/HSED graduates for the 2021-22 school year. 

Jebichi Yator of Fox Lake and Gretta Hanna of Columbus served as this year’s student speakers. 

“I want to thank my teachers at Moraine Park for their support, patience and guidance,” Yator said. “Completing my GED and enrolling in Moraine Park’s Nursing program will change my life and my children’s lives, too. I can’t wait to start changing lives myself by becoming a nurse.” 

The GED/HSED students had to pass all five subject portions of the nationally recognized GED tests: Reasoning through Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Mathematical Reasoning and Civics. GED students must also complete Career Awareness training. Students obtaining an HSED are required to complete both Employability Skills and Health Literacy training. 

“Congratulations to all of our 2022 GED/HSED graduates,” Pete Snyder, Moraine Park’s associate dean of adult education, said. “Our graduates worked full-time jobs, cared for children, and supported their parents–all while coming to school. These accomplishments are special, and they earned the right to be here tonight.” 

For more information about Moraine Park’s GED/HSED classes, visit morainepark.edu/GED. 

Mina Vang-Xiong was married at 17 and graduated from Fond du Lac High School in 2005. She went on to pursue nursing at UW-Oshkosh, later becoming a certified ophthalmic assistant. After seven years and having three children, she felt a pull to spend more time with her family and in her community.

“I wanted to be able to spend more time with my children,” Vang-Xiong said. “In the medical field, I
knew I wouldn’t be able to live the life I wanted. Information Technology (IT) is something learnable and will allow me to be more flexible. I know that after I graduate, I’ll be able to work in any industry I want, and I am really excited about my future.”

Vang-Xiong enrolled in Moraine Park’s dual-degree IT program in spring 2020 and will graduate in 2022 with both IT Network Specialist and IT Technical Support Specialist associate degrees. After graduating, her future goals include getting a job at an IT company and working toward a bachelor’s degree.

By enrolling at Moraine Park, Vang-Xiong found not only more time to spend with her family, but also more time to engage with her communities. She is vice president of Moraine Park’s Fond du Lac Student Senate, president of the IT Club, a member of Phi Theta Kappa Academic Honor Society and had the opportunity to work with Moraine Park’s IT department as a technical support assistant.

“Being involved and volunteering is an emotional experience that allows me to be more aware of
the needs in my community,” Vang-Xiong said. “I believe when schools, parents and communities partner together, great things can happen in the lives of children and young adults.”

Outside of Moraine Park she volunteers at her children’s school events, engages with her local Hmong community and enjoys practicing her hobbies of fruit carving and baking. Recently, she was awarded a Bronze MPTC Student Impact Award for completing more than 25 hours of volunteer work.

“Stepping outside of my job and into volunteering has given me the chance to learn new professional skills while sharpening others including public speaking, managing teams, fundraising and coordinating events,” she said.

Vang-Xiong’s proudest moment was volunteering as a traditional Hmong dance instructor with the Fond du Lac Nkauj Hmoob Kaj Siab dance team to help younger generations learn more about
their culture, become more engaged in their community and build self-esteem.

“Career transitions are like onions,” Vang-Xiong said. “They are complex and there is usually more to them than what we see on the surface. This career switch has kept me on my toes, and this new chapter in life has created a network of new relationships, broader access to new information, career advice and community support.”

Read more stories like Mina’s in our Spring 2022 NEXT Magazine.

Take a book. Start a conversation. Change our world.

Moraine Park is bringing the Little Free Library (LFL) – Read in Color initiative to all three campus libraries. The initiative brings diverse books to LFL boxes across the country, creating a more inclusive and equitable world for all.

At Moraine Park, the launch of the Little Free Library will feature books that provide perspectives on racism and social justice; celebrate BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized voices; and experiences from many identities for readers.

This project was inspired by MPTC’s Innovation 2025 values of collaboration, continuous improvement, impactful learning, and inclusivity, and is brought to the College by Moraine Park’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cross-Functional team in partnership with Student Services.

“Little Free Library believes everyone should be able to see themselves in the pages of a book,” said LFL Executive Director Greig Metzger. “We also believe a broader awareness of the diverse life experiences in America can break down barriers and nurture a deeper understanding of our society’s inequities.”

The books can be found on the Fond du Lac campus near the library. This initiative will be brought to the Beaver Dam and West Bend campuses by the end of the summer.

May 21 was a momentous day for the nearly 350 graduates who participated in Moraine Park Technical College’s commencement ceremony, held at the Fond du Lac High School Field House. In all, the College had nearly 800 graduate candidates eligible to receive their associate of applied science degrees and technical diplomas. 

Jim Spannbauer, retired President and CEO of Mid-States Aluminum, served as the keynote speaker. 

Ryan Riley, Moraine Park’s Student of the Year, was featured as the student speaker at the event. Riley graduated from Moraine Park’s Electrical Power Distribution program. He encouraged his peers to focus on running their own race and using healthy competition to fuel their motivation. 

Mike Schwab, elected official member of the Moraine Park District Board, welcomed the Class of 2022 and their guests to the ceremony. 

Dr. James Eden, vice president of Academic Affairs, presided over the presentation of candidates with the conferring of degrees and diplomas done by Moraine Park President Bonnie Baerwald. Brenda Raad, dean of General Studies, Barb Jascor, dean of Health and Human Services, and Bobbi Fields, dean of Applied Technology and Trades, announced the graduate candidates. 

Corey Bennett, a 2014 and 2020 Moraine Park graduate, served as the 2022 alumni commencement speaker. 

President Baerwald congratulated the graduates and extended her personal gratitude to the commencement speakers, Moraine Park District Board, Moraine Park faculty and the President’s Cabinet. 

Congratulations to all of our 2022 graduates!

View more 2022 commencement photos here.

Jeffrey Kern is driving over 1,200 miles from State College, PA, to walk the stage at Moraine Park’s Commencement Ceremony this Saturday.

Kern, originally from Hurley, WI, is graduating from Moraine Park’s online Small Business Entrepreneurship Program. He is also enrolled in MPTC’s online Business Analyst program and is set to finish in May 2023.

“There was a significant amount of global insecurity at the start of 2020,” Kern said. “This uncertainty fueled personal anxiety and depression, but it also provided a reason to further my education.”

In 2017, Kern launched a fitness application called BOSS Running. Unfortunately, he did not find as much success as he had hoped. He was able to financially rebuild from 2018-2020 working in other jobs, but his mind always remained on his app.

“BOSS Running was always on my mind,” Kern said. “I wanted to know what I did wrong and how I could prevent making similar mistakes in the future. Knowing this, I began researching schools that offered degrees in Entrepreneurship.”

He found Moraine Park through researching various universities and programs.

“Moraine Park Technical College offered was the best option from the schools I researched,” he said. “MPTC had positive online reviews, the highest graduation rate, a simple application process, and offered an online program in Entrepreneurship with specific prescribed classes with minimal electives.”

Kern started a new job at Travelers Insurance as a Software Engineer earlier this year. In June, he will make the move to Hartford, CT, to start his next chapter and work with his colleagues in person.

“Despite the challenges thrown at me, I’ve never lost sight of who I am as a person or what makes me unique,” Kern said. “Not only that, I’m thriving. I lost 35 lbs of weight during the pandemic, but I have gained the ability to be assertive and to argue for what is right and kind. Walking the stage signifies the start of a new chapter in my life, one where past trauma can no longer hold me back.”

Learn more about Moraine Park’s Small Business Entrepreneurship program.