Moraine Park’s Online Accounting program was ranked #11 in best online accounting programs in the nation by University HQ, a leading independent education organization providing students with resources to prepare them for their career and educational journeys. 

“Moraine Park’s ranking reflects our faculty, staff and management’s dedication to helping students master the skills necessary to reach their education and employment goals,” Joan Falter, Moraine Park Accounting Instructor, said. “The accounting team works with our advisory team to ensure that our program meets current needs. Online students have shared surprise in their ability to interact one-on-one with the accounting faculty.” 

The ranking is based on unbiased government reports that analyze admission, retention, graduate rates, diplomas awarded, programs offered, graduate salaries, loan default rates and the percentage of students receiving financial aid. 

“This ranking in addition to the fact that we don’t charge higher out-of-state tuition will continue to build our out-of-state student body,” Falter said. 

Moraine Park’s Online Accounting program was an early adopter of online learning and has been quick to increase synchronous online options. 

“Consistency among modalities and instructors ensures a cohesive learning experience throughout the program,” Julie Dilling, Moraine Park Accounting Instructor, said. “This minimizes students’ cognitive load because they know what to expect as far as cadence and requirements in each of the program courses.” 

Moraine Park provides many resources for students to aid in their successful learning outcomes such as academic advising, counseling, disability services, student life, employment services, tutoring and more, which are all available to online students. 

“In the future, we expect to build on past success,” Falter said. “We will continue implementing new modalities such as synchronous online classes in order to provide online learners with a remote ‘face-to-face’ option.” 

Moraine Park’s Online Accounting program was also ranked #4 in the nation by The Best Schools, an educational and professional resource for students. 

Moraine Park Technical College has released the Spring and Summer 2021 Dean’s lists.

To qualify for this distinction, a student must be enrolled in at least six undergraduate-level course credits, earn a minimum grade point average of 3.5, not have a failing or incomplete grade for the semester, and be in good academic standing.

Congratulations to all our Dean’s list students- this is a huge accomplishment!

Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our Spring, 2021 service learning opportunities. Michele said, “our Nursing students are learning community health oriented nursing. We are targeting prevention strategies. Today’s Nurses need to be able to advocate for under represented populations and know about community resources that are available to help their patients.”

This semester 20 students spent over 100 hours researching and collaborating with community partners in Fond du Lac, West Bend, and Beaver Dam to learn more about parenting, fostering, opioid addiction, human trafficking, poverty, developmental disabilities, domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Students formulated detailed plans to address how a nurse can help a community identify and address these issues, providing education, awareness, advocacy and resources. Students gathered data to help determine strengths and weaknesses in their own communities. Project presentations were held in May.

Congratulations on all of this great work on important mental health issues in our MPTC community!

Moraine Park Technical College has presented ASTOP with its 2021 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.

ASTOP is a sexual assault service provider offering treatment, outreach, prevention, and advocacy. ASTOP emphasizes hope and connection to self and others, serving Fond du Lac, Green Lake and Waushara counties. In 2021, despite Covid restrictions, MPTC volunteers served over 300 hours at ASTOP and 3,500 hours overall!

ASTOP Executive Director Nicole Krause said, ““We are so grateful to have been chosen for this award. To say this is an honor is an understatement. Partnerships like this happen when different organizations work together. We cannot thank everyone involved enough! Volunteers are an integral part of our agency and the services ASTOP provides to the communities we help. We really appreciate the time the students have dedicated to our clients.”

Some student words of reflection include:

This is a very fulfilling position knowing you can help empower or even make someone smile when they are hurting inside.

I learned that ASTOP is a very rewarding service provided in Fond du Lac, Green Lake and Waushara counties. ASTOP stands for Assist Survivors Treatment Outreach and Prevention. They have extensive training for staff to support survivors and the affected family members. They try and educate as much as possible through preventative education programs. about sexual abuse rape and or incest. ASTOP offers a crisis line that is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. Another thing that is offered through ASTOP is cost-free counseling. This helps lighten the burden of cost when one is seeking help.

The best thing I learned about what ASTOP offers was about the Art therapy. I know someone that benefited from that a great deal and was just accepted from high school with a full scholarship to an art school. She is doing amazing things and that gives me something to strive to be. Someone to change a human being’s life.

ASTOP also offers Medical Advocacy which helps victims of sexual assault and helps them through the legal system. Having this option to help people deal with whatever situation they have really helps. I am glad they have this as a option to help anyone through their life situation. Just knowing that someone or anyone is there to help is always a great option. I learned so much that I myself could be trained as a medical advocate or volunteer on the crisis line.

As we wrapped up the crisis phone call, the victim gave me the satisfaction of what I wanted to hear, “I can’t thank you enough. You’ve really made me feel empowered.” That is all I wanted to do in this position. I just wanted people to walk away after talking to me and think ‘That was a pleasant phone call’ or ‘That conversation made my day.’ This is a very fulfilling position knowing you can help empower or even make someone smile when they are hurting inside.

Moraine Park Technical College has earned the eighth spot on the Military Times Best for Vets college rankings as a Midwest, 2-year College. This honor recognizes colleges across the country for their commitment to educating and providing opportunities to America’s veterans.

Moraine Park has made this list for more than six years and serves as one of two technical colleges in Wisconsin to earn a place on this list. The Military Times surveys colleges and universities annually, and more than 350 schools participated in the latest Military Times Best for Vets: Colleges survey, which seeks details about the school’s costs, programs, policies, and services that impact military-connected students. Federal data from the U.S. Departments of Education, Veterans Affairs and Defense, were also considered.

“The College is committed to making sure every veteran who steps onto our campuses are provided everything they need to be successful,” Steve Pepper, student veteran specialist said. “I truly believe having someone our veteran students can turn to who can speak their language or understand some of their frustrations is important to their college experience and overall success.”

Moraine Park offers many programs that qualify under Veteran Administration (VA) benefits, with flexible scheduling options. The College is continuously working to maintain a culture that supports the challenges that veterans may encounter.

“This nationwide recognition confirms the proactive work Moraine Park has been doing,” Lt. Col. Scott Lieburn, U.S. Air Force, and dean of students at Moraine Park said. “As both a veteran and current active-duty service member, I am thankful to be part of a team of staff at the college that truly cares about creating and preserving a supportive campus culture for our student veterans.”

The College also ranked 31 among all public colleges and universities in the Midwest and 38 among all colleges and universities in the Midwest.

The “Military Times Best” ranking is published in the Military Times magazine and is available to subscribers, as well as online at MilitaryTimes.com and other affiliated websites.

Congratulations Fond du Lac Medical Assistant Students! From Left to right, Kayelee Kufalk, Kayla Rieder, Amber Christenson, Hannah Miller, Allexis Wegner, Savannah Clarke, Hailey Rist, Hannah Stoll.

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 2021 spring semester, despite all the Covid-19 challenges, 53 students earned awards and logged over 2,600 hours of service!

Congratulations to our Spring, 2021 award winners!

Bronze Awards

Completing 25-49 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Anderson, Keanu – Leadership Development
• Balzer, Morgan – Medical Assistant
• Bartoli, Candice – Nursing
• Bauman, Haley – Medical Assistant
• Berger, Abigail – Medical Assistant
• Christenson, Amber – Medical Assistant
• Collins-George, Halle – Marketing and Social Media
• Dobbert, Michaella – Medical Assistant
• Drabek, Renee – Marketing and Social Media
• Gleixner, Hanna – Medical Assistant
• Goes, Elisa – Nursing
• Goss, Kalie – Medical Assistant
• Haase, Melissa – Medical Assistant
• Hanefeld, Sara – Medical Assistant
• Hansen, Chad – Leadership Development
• Kabat, Mollie – Leadership Development
• Kliamentsyeva, Anastasiya – Marketing and Social Media
• Kollmorgan, Amanda – Leadership Development
• Kowalski, Haley – Medical Assistant
• Kluball, Rachel – Nursing
• Koch, Corey – Administrative Professional
• Kreuziger, Alyssa – Medical Assistant
• Kufalk, Kayelee – Medical Assistant
• McGrath, Megan – Medical Office
• Medeiros Simas, Gabriella – Medical Assistant
• Miller, Hannah – Medical Assistant
• Miller, Penny – Medical Assistant
• Pierret, Sean – Leadership Development
• Poellinger, Emily – Marketing and Social Media
• Quickle, Heather – Nursing
• Reding, Nicole – Nursing
• Reynolds, Douglas – Medical Assistant
• Rieder, Kayla – Medical Assistant
• Riemersma, Allison – Nursing
• Rist, Hailey – Medical Assistant
• Robinson, Kelly – Nursing
• Rosenberg, Kileen – Leadership Development
• Ruplinger, Sarah – Nursing
• Schneider, Stefanie – Medical Assistant
• Schoebel, Victoria – Medical Assistant
• Schultz, Kaytlyn – Nursing
• Serchuk, Marissa – Medical Assistant
• Stewart, Krista – Medical Assistant
• Stoll, Hannah – Medical Assistant
• Taylor, Tiffany – Medical Assistant
• Toombs, Nikki – Leadership Development
• Uttech, Venessa – Medical Assistant
• Vick, Ashley – Medical Assistant
• Wasley, Kelsey – Medical Assistant
• West, Laine – Leadership Development
• Zabolski, Renee – Medical Office

Silver Awards

Completing 50-99 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Drabek, Renee – Marketing and Social Media
• Gleixner, Hanna – Medical Assistant
• Kabat, Mollie – Leadership Development
• Kluball, Rachel – Nursing
• Koch, Corey – Administrative Professional
• Quickle, Heather – Nursing
• Reynolds, Douglas – Medical Assistant
• Taylor, Tiffany – Medical Assistant
• Toombs, Nikki – Leadership Development
• West, Laine – Leadership Development

Gold Awards

Completing 100-199 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Koch, Corey – Administrative Professional
• Quickle, Heather – Nursing
• Toombs, Nikki – Leadership Development

President’s Award

completing 200+ hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Henning, Cortland – Culinary Arts

Congratulations to Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park’s President, for being named a Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund ‘SHEro’. Bonnie was recognized for her strong leadership throughout the community during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

You can watch the Fond du Lac Women’s Fund video-featuring Bonnie- here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvfwpls7Yc.

For more information on the Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund, visit fdlwomensfund.com.

Moraine Park instructor, Gus Boyle-Gustavus, has been named a 2020-2021 Educator of Promise. This qualification has awarded her the opportunity to participate in the Educator Leadership Rendezvous this July.

This event is offered annually by the Wisconsin Army National Guard (WI ARNG), the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and Wisconsin Association for Middle Level Education (WAMLE). The three-day leadership retreat is designed to engage Educators of Promise to build leadership skills and strategies, connect with educators across the state, and learn how to uplift teacher voice and leadership in their roles.

Participants will learn through hands-on activities and leadership labs about topics such as:

• military life, and especially the lives of military families and children in our schools
• common leadership lessons and scenarios
• building culture and community
• applying leadership to problem-solving, to improve student outcomes, schools, and communities
• the effects on us all of PK-12 academic and career planning, equity and trauma-informed decision-making, and college and career readiness
• Curricular connections to classrooms, including STEM, Social Studies, and history
• Professional networking and relationship-building that live on far beyond the event

“I am hoping to learn more about leadership skills in a college setting, inside and outside the classroom,” Gus said. “I am especially looking forward to learning more about how to connect with, and uplift, the lives of military families and underprivileged students.  I am always looking to better myself, just as most instructors are.  I’m looking forward to doing this by connecting with other educator’s, outside of Moraine Park, and learning a tremendous amount of information from them.  I want to learn how to help build a stronger sense of culture and community at Moraine Park.  I believe Moraine Park is an amazing place to work.  How do I help get others to believe this?”

Congratulations Gus on your commitment to education, leadership and Moraine Park! We look forward to hearing about your experience at the Educator Leadership Rendezvous.

May 22 was a momentous day for the Moraine Park graduates who participated in the College’s limited access in-person commencement ceremony, held at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Fond du Lac. In total, Moraine Park had over 800 graduate candidates eligible to receive an Associate of Applied Science degree or technical diploma.

President Bonnie Baerwald presided over the ceremony and extended her congratulations to the graduates and gratitude to the commencement speakers, Moraine Park District Board, Moraine Park faculty, and the President’s Cabinet.

“We are gathered to honor the students of the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021. Those students whose desire for learning and aspirations for a better life led them to enroll at Moraine Park Technical College,” Baerwald said. “For more than a year, the pandemic has disrupted our lives and eliminated or altered the way we live, socialize, celebrate, work and learn. Despite all those challenges, you have succeeded! Today, we recognize and celebrate your perseverance and dedication. Today, we celebrate you!”

Becky Glewen, Mayor for the City of Beaver Dam served as the keynote speaker. Haley Van Raden, Moraine Park’s 2020-21 District Student Ambassador was the student speaker, and Steve Peterson, a 1969 Moraine Park alumnus and the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus award recipient served as the alumni speaker.

Dr. James Eden, vice president of Academic Affairs, presided over the presentation of candidates and President Baerwald conferred degrees and diplomas. Graduate candidates were announced by Brenda Raad, dean of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Fred Rice, dean of Applied Technology and Trades.

Moraine Park District Board members in attendance were Bur Zaratsky, chairperson; Candy Fields, secretary; and Renee Almeida, employee member.

“It was wonderful to have an in-person ceremony,” Eden said. “While it looked different, the peer support was palpable. The strength and courage the students demonstrated in their academic studies carried through to the commencement ceremony. These graduates are all shining examples of what it means to be part of the Moraine Park family. Congratulations to the classes of 2020 and 2021!”

To view photos from the 2021 Commencement Ceremony, visit facebook.com/moraineparktech.