Moraine Park Technical College has announced plans for a limited access in-person commencement ceremony—thanks to the support of their community partner, the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Fond du Lac. 

Typically, the College collaborates with its longtime community partner, Fond du Lac High School, to host the annual ceremony. However, with increased restrictions at the K-12 level, the College needed to explore alternative venues. The College considered options including both a virtual and an outdoor ceremony in hopes to make a celebration possible. 

“Last year presented many difficult scenarios outside of our control,” Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park president, said. “While this year has had its fair share of challenges, we at least had time to consider options and prepare. It was a goal of ours to make a safe in-person event a possibility. We understand the extreme pressure our local K-12 school districts are under to maintain their operations and knew utilizing Fond du Lac High School would not be an option this year. However, we look forward to continuing our partnership with Fond du Lac High School in the future.” 

The College explored holding an outdoor ceremony at the College’s Fond du Lac campus. However, limited resources and heightened overall risk eliminated that possibility. 

“Commencement is a large undertaking on a normal year and working through scenarios to relocate it outside was challenging,” Baerwald said. “We had weather, access, equipment, security, and safety to consider, among other things. Our goal is to hold a safe ceremony for our graduates and an outdoor event simply presented too many risks.”  

The College considered holding a virtual ceremony, like many other Colleges in the state, until the Radisson Hotel and Conference center stepped forward with an option to use their facility. 

“The Radisson offers a large open space, and by utilizing their facility, we can hold an in-person ceremony that otherwise would likely not be possible,” Baerwald said. “There are restrictions to ensure overall safety—face coverings and temperature checks are required for entry and ceremony attendance will be limited to graduates only. Due to capacity and social distancing restrictions, we are unable to accommodate guests.”

Baerwald added that the College follows the current recommendations of city, state and county public health officials making a capacity restriction needed regardless of venue.

“Our students have proven to be resilient and flexible during a time of so many unknowns and difficult scenarios,” Baerwald said. “While we know this event will look different, we also know in-person ceremonies in our state are still few and far between. I am proud of the work being done to ensure an in-person celebration for our soon-to-be graduates and am grateful to the Radisson for helping us make this possible.”  

Only graduates and Moraine Park employees executing the event will be permitted to attend. The College is expecting 350 graduates to participate in the ceremony. With current capacity restrictions, the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center can accommodate a maximum of 500 guests, and Baerwald has a goal to stay well under the maximum capacity. 

While family, friends and supporters are not able to participate in person, the event will be available via live stream. Ceremony details will continue to be shared with graduates as they unfold and will be made public on the College’s webpage.

For more information on the 2021 commencement ceremony, visit morainepark.edu/commencement.

Moraine Park Technical College has reallocated a portion of its Non-Traditional Occupations (NTO) grant to be used to benefit high school classrooms and encourage students to explore non-traditional career options. Non-traditional occupations are defined as careers that currently employ 25% or less of one gender.  

Previously, these grant dollars were used to help recruit college-aged students into programs that qualified as NTO. This change will allow high school teachers to partner with Moraine Park to promote NTO and encourage more students to explore these career opportunities in a high school dual credit class.  

“The goal with this change is to showcase these career options to students earlier,” Sally Ruback, enrollment communication and student recruitment manager at Moraine Park, said. “By directing these grant dollars to our district high schools, we can partner with teachers to promote both dual credit classes and NTO. This will be done through classroom presentations in areas such as math, English, science, and business.”  

Students who participate in dual credit classes also have the opportunity of earning college credit. High schools within Moraine Park’s district are eligible to participate in this grant program. Currently, partnerships are being formed to help influence the NTO exploration of skilled trade, health care, and early childhood occupations.  

“Many of the programs that qualify as NTO also have a high demand for skilled workers in the field,” Ruback said. “Our goal is to help fill those gaps in our local industries, and we can help do this by partnering with our high schools to expose students to these careers. There is also a significant benefit to students who choose to take college credit classes in high school. This opportunity helps to develop life skills to be more self-sufficient and well-rounded adults.”  

Currently, the College has 12 classes from nine area schools that will receive funding for NTO dual credit classes next fall. Each class will receive $1,000.  

“The grant money will go directly into the teacher’s classes to enhance the learning environment,” Ruback said. “This program provides reimbursement toward the purchase of materials, supplies, textbooks, software applications, or equipment for the dual credit class. Our NTO partnerships will directly benefit the students in our district, which is extremely exciting.”    

Moraine Park’s district schools that are interested in exploring dual credit options should connect with the K-12 Department at k12@morainepark.edu.   

For more information on dual credit, visit morainepark.edu/k-12.

Moraine Park Technical College will continue offering face-to-face classes for the fall 2021 semester.  

Like in the current spring semester, most Moraine Park classes will be offered in the classroom; this fall, more than 90 percent of classes will be offered in person on one of the three Moraine Park campuses. Business and industry-related outreach and adult education instruction continues in face-to-face formats.

“The pandemic has really intensified our commitment to our students and forced us to reevaluate their changing needs,” Jim Eden, vice president of academics at Moraine Park, said. “Early on, we heard our students tell us they excelled the most in a face-to-face classroom setting—and so we worked as hard as we could to make that a safe reality. We also know virtual learning is here to stay and must continue to offer the flexibility of virtual options to help accommodate the busy and ever-changing schedules of our students. “

“Meeting our students where they are at has always been important to Moraine Park, and we are continuously working make sure we are serving them as best as we can,” Eden added. 

Moraine Park closed its doors and transitioned to virtual learning last spring and summer—but resumed many face-to-face classes on campus in at the beginning of the fall 2020 semester. 

Throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, Moraine Park officials monitored COVID-19-related connections and illnesses through a public dashboard. Throughout the pandemic, Moraine Park’s monitoring has showed very few cases and no significant impact to operations across the three campuses.

Many precautions were taken, including mandatory face coverings, classroom spaces set for appropriate distancing, limited student events, and stricter sanitary procedures. Additionally, the College implemented a door-handle protocol to address nightly cleaning in employee offices and common spaces. These precautions will likely continue into the 2021-22 academic year.

“Our ability to hold classes on campus and the low number of cases at the College are a direct reflection of the commitment of both our students and employee,” Eden said. “We’ve had to make some difficult decisions to ensure overall safety. However, despite these changes, students and employees have stepped up, kept moving forward, and ultimately helped make our College a safe place to learn.”

Eden said he’s hopeful student activities and a full campus reopening can occur by fall. Moraine Park’s leadership and COVID-19 teams continue to meet to assess local and state trends and information to help inform decisions. 

Registration for summer semester begins April 5 and students are encouraged to enroll. Fall registration will open to returning program students on April 13, new program students on April 20, and non-program students on May 4.

For more information, visit morainepark.edu/register.

Hello Soon-to-be-Grads!

Believe it or not, we are about 3 months away from the end of our semester and our annual commencement ceremony. 

As expected, the College has had to implement changes and make hard decisions to allow for an in-person event to be executed safely.  

As previously announced, we are planning for a limited-access in-person 2021 Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 22, at 10 a.m. While we are thrilled to make plans for an in-person celebration, the event will undoubtedly look different.  

Important details to note:   

• Commencement will be held at the Radisson Conference Center, 625 W. Rolling Meadows Dr., Fond du Lac.  
• To abide by local and state guidelines and to maintain appropriate distancing, guests will not be permitted into the conference center— only graduates and Moraine Park staff executing the ceremony will be permitted into the event space.  
• Family and friends will be able to view the ceremony live. An invite with the event link will be coming soon.  
• Graduate candidates must RSVP to the event. Students who are applying to earn a Technical Diploma or Associate Degree must apply for graduation by March 15 to participate in the ceremony.  
  • When applying for graduation, participation in the ceremony must be indicated on the form.  
  • College officials will monitor the participation numbers and adjust the ceremony as needed to follow appropriate safety guidelines.  
  • If you already applied, and would like to change your RSVP response, email hclark4@morainepark.edu by March 15. 
• Face coverings and temperature checks are required to enter the facility.  
• More details can be found online at MystudentMPTC. 

Please know the final details will ultimately depend on the status of COVID-19 and the recommendations from our local and state public health departments as commencement day nears. We will plan to connect with graduation applicants by early April with additional details and decisions. 

In the meantime, reach out to Heather Clark at hclark4@morainepark.edu with any questions regarding the 2021 commencement ceremony.  

Moraine Park Technical College has made the difficult decision to postpone Tech Knowledge College (TKC) until 2022. The COVID-19 situation is still very fluid, and the safety and well being of our entire communities remain a top priority.

We appreciate the continued community support around this great summer camp opportunity, and stay tuned for information on TKC 2022.

Sign up for our newsletter at morainepark.edu/tkc to receive information on TKC.

Moraine Park Technical College is currently accepting applications for three positions on the Moraine Park Technical College District Board; one employer member, one employee member, and one school district administrator member, with the terms ending June 30, 2024. The application window is from February 5 to February 19.

The Employer Member position must be appointed from those counties of the Moraine Park Technical College District located west of the east shore of Lake Winnebago and the area west of the east boundary of the towns of Fond du Lac and Oakfield in Fond du Lac County and west of the east boundary of the towns of Leroy, Williamstown, Oak Grove, and Lowell in Dodge County. 

The Employee Member position must be appointed from those counties of the Moraine Park Technical College District located east of the east shore of Lake Winnebago and the area east of the east boundary of the towns of Fond du Lac and Oakfield in Fond du Lac County and east of the east boundary of the towns of Leroy, Williamstown, Oak Grove, and Lowell in Dodge County. 

The School District Administrator Member position may be appointed from anywhere 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 Ms. Candy Fields, 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 19, 2021. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Employer and Employee members must be representative of the businesses and industries within the Moraine Park Technical College District.

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 22, 2021, 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 22 or March 1, 2021.

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

Moraine Park Technical College named over 1,000 students to the Dean’s List for the fall 2020 semester.

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.

You can view the list here!

Congratulations to all our fall 2020 Dean’s list students- this is a huge accomplishment!

Hey, 2020 Grads!

We know COVID-19 canceled our celebrations last spring, but we haven’t forgotten about you- and we still need to celebrate your huge academic milestone!

We are beginning to plan our 2021 Commencement Ceremony.

Mark your calendars for May 22, 2021 (time and location TBD).

While many of the details are still in the works- here are a few changes you should know about:

• Guests may not be permitted.
• Tickets will be required.
• Virtual viewing will be available. 

If you are planning to attend, please let us know by filling out the commencement form by January 8, 2021.

Please note: This step is required if you are wanting to participate in the 2021 ceremony.

Class of 2021- no need to fill out this form yet- we will connect with you soon!

Moraine Park Technical College has extended both their public access restrictions and mask-wearing requirements for all campuses- which will remain in effect indefinitely – but, at least through June 30, 2021. The College will remain closed to the general public, and masks will continue to be required on all campuses- even if the statewide mandate ends.

“COVID-19 exposures remain low on our campuses,” Bonnie Baerwald, Moraine Park president, said. “We hope by continuing to limit the number of people on our campuses, we can ensure a successful spring 2021 semester for our students and staff- including the ability to continue in-person classes and hold our annual commencement ceremony.”

As of now, the spring 2021 semester will begin as scheduled on Monday, Jan. 25, and classes will continue to be offered in face-to-face, virtual, and online formats.

Additionally, the College plans to host their 2021 commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 22- if conditions remain as they are or improve. The ceremony will be held outdoors at the Fond du Lac campus, there will be guest limitations to allow for social distancing, and a backup date will be selected in case of inclement weather.

“We are moving forward with our spring semester and planning our 2021 commencement ceremony,” Baerwald said. “While the ceremony will undoubtedly look different, we are confident that we can find a way to celebrate together safely.” 

While the College will continue to remain closed to the public, this will not affect Moraine Park’s classes, events, and activities. College leadership will continue to follow recommendations from local public health departments, as well as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) when making decisions for the spring 2021 semester and beyond. 

For more information, visit morainepark.edu/coronavirus.