Success isn’t given, it’s earned, and Christian Bailey-Steenport of Fond du Lac is using his drive and motivation to pave his path. He had a difficult upbringing with a traumatic home-life. As a result, he left home before finishing high school. The choices he made from there weren’t always the best, but it ultimately led him to where he is today.

“I had a horrible home life,” Christian said. “When I left, I ended up with the wrong crowd and eventually became a product of my environment.”

He needed a change in his life, but at the time didn’t have access to opportunities that could help turn his life around. It wasn’t long before Christian was in trouble with the law. 

“I wasn’t making good choices,” he said. “However, my time behind bars is ultimately what gave me the clarity and fresh start I needed.”

While Christian was in jail, he made solid goals and a plan to obtain them. When he was released on January 8, 2019, his first stop was Moraine Park Technical College’s Economic and Workforce Development Boot Camp program test drive.

The College’s test drive offers the opportunity to explore the welding and computerized numerical control (CNC) machining careers, meet potential employers, and receive valuable real-world opportunities. Christian immediately signed up for the welding boot camp. 

“Both my Grandpa and Dad were welders,” he said. “I had some background knowledge of the field and decided to learn more.”

Christian began his college career in February of 2019 and hasn’t stopped since.

“When I first came to Moraine Park, I was only interested in completing the welding boot camp,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in making friends. I wanted to focus only on my goals. It didn’t take long for my mindset to change, and I’m glad it did. I’m learning a lot, enjoying college, and I have made some great friends along the way.”

Christian completed the welding boot camp in May of 2019 and immediately enrolled in the welding technical diploma program. He is scheduled to graduate in December of 2020. He also has plans to earn his metal fabrication and automotive technician technical diplomas and has an interest in serving an industrial maintenance apprenticeship. His overall goal is to own a custom metal fabrication shop with his brother, who begins his boot camp journey in January 2020. 

“I am motivated to succeed,” Christian said. “I’ve overcome a lot in my life, and my college journey hasn’t always been easy, but I keep showing up. I’ve never missed a day of class-ever.”

Currently, Christian works full time at MEC, where he served his boot camp internship and was hired before graduation. He also attends school full time. He is busy but motivated, and that is the driving force that makes it all work for him. 

“I’ve had a lot of support from Moraine Park,” he said. “They helped me to succeed and ultimately have guided me through this new path. I’m proud of myself and look forward to accomplishing more.”

For more information about a career in CNC or Welding, visit morainepark.edu/bootcamp and sign up for one of the information and testing sessions in January 2020. These sessions are a required step to participating in the free boot camp program. 

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. 

In 2018, MPTC started a community impact awards program where students can track their service 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 of service learning or volunteering. In the 2019 fall semester, 17 students earned awards and logged over 800 hours of service!

Congratulations to the fall 2019 award winners!

Bronze Award Winners

Completing 25-49 hours of service learning.

• Brielle Aylesworth, Medical Assistant
• Merinda Chamberlin, Medical Assistant
• Kylie Cody, Medical Assistant
• Ashley Despres, Medical Assistant
• Stephanie Dobek, Medical Assistant
• Brittany Enderle, Medical Office
• Erika Kaatz, Medical Assistant
• Amy Kaminski, Medical Assistant
• Sarah Lemmenes, Medical Assistant
• Heather Pieper, Medical Assistant
• Rhonda Roehl, Medical Assistant
• Olivia Sharp, Medical Assistant
• Kayla Wagner, Medical Assistant
• Rebecca Wenninger, Medical Assistant
• Haley Ilkenhans, Medical Assistant
• Tania Torres, Graphic Communications
• Meghan Griswold, Marketing and Social Media     

Moraine Park Technical College has earned the eleventh spot on the “Military Times Best: Colleges 2020” rankings. This honor recognizes career and technical colleges for their commitment to educating and providing opportunities to America’s veterans.

Moraine Park has made this list for the last five years and serves as the only technical college in Wisconsin to earn a place on this list. The Military Times surveys colleges and universities on an annual basis requesting documentation on services, special rules, accommodations, financial incentives, and student services that are offered to veterans and their families. There were nearly 500 survey entries for the Military Times Best College’s ranking, and less than half earned a spot on this list.

“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 recognition validates the proactive work that Moraine Park has been doing,” Lt. Col. Scott Lieburn, U.S. Air Force, and dean of students at Moraine Park said. “As a veteran myself, I am proud of Moraine Park for making it a priority to educate and provide opportunities to our local veterans, service members, and their families.”

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

Moraine Park Technical College earned fourth place in Humana, Inc.’s Go365 National Step Challenge. Go365 is Humana’s health and wellness rewards program focused onimproving the fitness of employees from companies across the country. Moraine Park has been utilizing the Go365 wellness platform for three years as an employee benefits tool.

“We implemented Go365 in 2016,” Lori Schrage, benefits coordinator at Moraine Park said. “The tool not only encourages employees to be more active, it also provides rewards for doing so.”

The National Step Challenge is a competition in which employer groups with two or more Go365 members compete for the highest team average step count. All winning teams receive a donation to their local member food bank of Feeding America® in their name. 

As a result of Moraine Park’s efforts, they placed fourth earning 10,000 meals, which will benefit individuals in eastern Wisconsin and the MPTC district, through Feeding America.

The Challenge featured 2,939 competing organizations that collectively logged 10.6 B steps earning one million donated meals. 

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

Sometimes where you start, isn’t where you are destined to end up, and Catherine Holmes of Fond du Lac knows that first-hand.

Her educational journey began after she earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and started her career working with special needs children. She left the workforce for a short time when she relocated to Fond du Lac and began raising her family. Catherine then joined the team at Agnesian HealthCare in Fond du Lac, where she has been an employee for over 10-years. It was there that she was introduced to the business analyst career field, a high demand job that is considered one of the best-kept career secrets.

The beauty of this career path is that it wears many hats. In fact, you may have never actually seen the job title of business analyst. However, jobs like project manager, business systems analyst, functional analyst, process analyst, market research analyst, or management consultant, are all actually business analysts.

Catherine enrolled in Moraine Park’s business analyst program in August of 2017 and was hired as a business analyst for Agnesian prior to graduating.

“I love that no two days are the same,” Catherine said. “We call ourselves the engineers of change, but my role is to reevaluate processes and offer guidance.”

More specifically, she is helping to navigate a change in computer systems by holding conversations and being the liaison between her employer and the computer system company.

One of the best parts of this career path is that it is considered in high demand by many industries, including healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, finance, and retail. Employers throughout the United States will need 861,400 analysts by 2024. That is a growth of 14% compared to all occupations at 6.5% growth. In Wisconsin, employers will need 13,151 analysts by 2024, and the median annual wage is $71,230 for an experienced analyst. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections).

Today, Catherine is a college graduate, with goals to continue her educational journey.

“I highly recommend this career field,” she said. “My instructor, JoAnn, was supportive and flexible, and set me up for success in the field.”

morainepark.edu

Moraine Park Technical College named nearly 1,100 students to the Dean’s List for the spring 2019 semester. To qualify for the Dean’s List distinction, students must earn a minimum semester grade point average of 3.5, be enrolled in at least six credits of undergraduate-level courses, be in good academic standing and cannot have a failing or incomplete grade for the semester.

Click here to view the list. 

Two Moraine Park students were recently recognized for their heroic and life-saving actions.

This spring, Scott Lieburn, Moraine Park’s dean of students, received a notification that a 911 call was placed on campus. Upon his arrival at the scene, he immediately identified that it was near the nursing classroom. Natasha Sokoloff, a second-year nursing student, and Andres Morales, a first-year respiratory therapy student, were providing care to an unresponsive person. They were supported by instructors and classmates and administered life-saving care until EMS arrived.

“It is clear that these students are in the right field,” Scott said. “They showed a sense of urgency and remained calm during the intense situation.”

This person was within minutes of death, but because of Natasha and Andres’s teamwork, they are alive today.

It is because of these heroic measures that the Fond du Lac Fire Department presented Natasha and Andres with a Lifesaving Award at Moraine Park’s June 19 board meeting.

Additionally, the person sent a message.

“To the person or people who found me, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I literally owe you my life, and I hope you know how grateful I am for that.”

Moraine Park staff and board members gathered at the College’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday, June 19 to honor Mike Staral’s retirement from the Moraine Park board and his many years of service to the College.

Staral is a 1978 graduate from Moraine Park’s Tool and Die Technologies Apprenticeship program, and since then has been a self-motivated advocate and ambassador for the College.  He served for 40-years at Willer Tool Corp. in Jackson, retiring in June 2016 from his role as Vice President. He was also an active member of the Moraine Park CNC/Tool and Die Technologies Advisory Committee for 15 years, the Moraine Park Alumni Advisory committee for four years, and served on the Moraine Park Board for six years, two of those as the Chairperson.

He’s dedicated a large part of his life to spreading the good word about technical education. It’s no wonder, then, that 65 percent of Willer Tool Corp.’s employees are Moraine Park graduates.

 “I’m Moraine Park’s biggest fan,” Staral said.

Aside from himself, three other members of his family are graduates of Wisconsin technical colleges, including his wife, Kate, with a degree in interior design; his son, Jason, with a tool and die degree; and his daughter-in-law, Krista, with a degree in dental hygiene.

A lifelong West Bend resident, Staral will continue to serve his community as president of Friends of West Bend Parks and on the West Bend Baseball Association Board of Directors and the West Bend Park and Recreation Commission.

At the June board meeting, President Bonnie Baerwald extended her gratitude and presented Staral with a gift in honor of for his service to the College.

“Mike is one of those unique board members,” Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park president said. “I’m a firm believer that the success of an organization is built around strong leadership, which comes directly from the board, especially its chair. Mike has been one of my strongest supporters and the biggest cheerleader for Moraine Park. He is passionate about career and technical education, and it is felt through all that he did for the College. He not only served in various leadership roles on the Board, but also advocated for legislation, attended conferences to learn best practices, and challenged, as well as supported, fiscal and strategic decisions. He is a wonderful ally and dear friend, and the College and I will certainly miss him.”

We can’t stop celebrating commencement and the many accomplishments that happened at Moraine Park this last year. To keep the party going, we have included links to all of the celebration photos.

Happy reminiscing!

2019 Commencement Ceremony

2019 GED/HSED Graduation

2019 Bootcamp Graduation

Nursing Pinning Ceremonies

Student Awards Banquet

Are you dreaming of accomplishing your educational goals? Moraine Park has many options to get you into your dream career. Find out more at morainepark.edu.