Amy Harmsen’s Fall, 2019 Business Practicum students made a generous impact on their local and global communities, while learning all the ins and outs of creating and managing a small business! 10 students in Amy’s fall class partnered with our local Just Fare Market and created their own Fair Trade Pop Up Shop with beautiful Mayan Hands friendship bracelets, mini chocolates from Equal Exchange, and hot cocoa and milk chocolate bars from Divine Chocolate.

Students sold Fair Trade products throughout the semester and were very proud to use their profits to give donations of $179.07 each to the FDL County Sheriff’s Shop with a Cop program and the FDL Humane Society. Sales of the Fair Trade products also benefited farmers and artisans in Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Ghana! 3 students, Heather Fousek, Taran Smith and Valerie Stafford, also earned full scholarships to attend the National Fair Trade Colleges Conference in Pasadena, CA in March. Congratulations!

Moraine Park Technical College was named the first Fair Trade technical college in the U.S in May 2015! Fair trade supports farmers and artisans in developing countries. These producers lack economic opportunity and often face steep hurdles in finding markets and customers for their goods. Fair Trade is about making a tremendous impact on artisan and farmer communities while offering great products to the public all around the world.

Moraine Park Technical College, in partnership with the Wisconsin 9-11 Memorial and Education Center, will host a 9-11 Lecture series every Thursday in February, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. The events are free and will be held at the College’s West Bend Campus, 2151 N Main Street.

The lecture series will feature Mike Nichols, author of a Few Sleeps Away, on February 6; Secretary Mary Kolar, Wisconsin Dept. of Veterans Affairs, speaking on societal changes since 9-11, on February 13; Charlie Vitchers, foreman at Ground Zero, on February 20; and, Gordon Haberman, father of 9-11 victim Andrea Haberman, on February 27.

The purpose of the series is to bring continued awareness to the 9-11 Memorial efforts in Wisconsin through accounts of personal stories and the building of a memorial in Kewaskum. Current Moraine Park students are working with the Wisconsin 9-11 Memorial and Education Center to offer assistance in some areas of the project. Refreshments will be provided.

This event is made possible thanks to generous donations from Dunn Brothers Coffee, MCR Services, LLC, Property Loss Management, LLC, The Candyman on Main, and Washington County Fair Park and Conference Center.

Seating is limited, and registration is required. The event will also be available on a live stream format. For more information on the event, the live stream, or to register, visit morainepark.edu/lecture.

Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our Fall, 2019 service learning opportunities. Michele said, “students are purposefully working to learn community oriented nursing. We want to target prevention as a priority. Nurses need to understand how to advocate for specific populations of people and have knowledge of the resource programs in your community that you can partner with to help your patients.”

This semester 20 students spent over 100 hours researching and collaborating with community partners to learn more about parenting, fostering, opioid addiction, poverty, developmental disabilities, domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Students formulated detailed advocacy plans to address how a nurse could 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 on December 20.

Congratulations on all of this great work on important community issues!

The final week of classes the Early Childhood program students supported the community by volunteering helping the Salvation Army to sort toys and put together stocking stuffers for all the good little boys and girls. These gifts were donated by the community Angle Tree patrons for distribution to low income families in Fond du Lac County.

To learn more about the Early Childhood program visit morainepark.edu/academics/programs

Throughout the month of November, 2019, Auto Instructor Jim Daniels and students from the MPTC Automotive Technology Programs, hosted teens in grades 5-12 and staff from the Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac and the Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area and Waupun High School for fun interactive Dream Big events.

The Dream Big project started in 2017 with Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac teens learning more about the over 100 careers available through MPTC.  Now Dream Big has expanded throughout the MPTC district (Fond du Lac, Dodge, Washington and Green Lake Counties.)  This is a great community partnership opportunity for Moraine Park students to showcase their careers and make a true community impact  and for area teens to get excited about career choices!

Fond du Lac Boys and Girls Club Teen Services Director Dillon Wiese said, “We are so excited for these Dream Big opportunities! At Boys and Girls Clubs we work hard to prepare teens with life skills to get ready for the world of work.  At Dream Big Auto teens learned about batteries, engines, changing tires and more! They also learned about how important their high school classes of math, science and english are for their future careers. Our partnership with MPTC is a great way for teens to explore their interests, learn about careers, get ready for college and know they really can achieve their dreams! Thank you MPTC!”

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

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     

Have you submitted your answers for our spring/summer 2019 NEXT magazine trivia contest?

Answers are within the NEXT magazine. You can find the online version here, or there are copies at any of the Moraine Park campuses.

Questions are:

• What MPTC location do Emma, Kayli and Mackenzie attend?
• What sport did Dr. Bruce Forciea coach prior to teaching?
• Where does Brett Hebert volunteer?
• What degree will LaToya earn in May 2020?
• What is the age range for eligible Promising Futures applicants?
• What percentage of MPTC grads are satisfied or very satisfied with the training they received?

Submit your answers here!

Answer them all correctly by December 31, 2019 and be entered for a chance to win one of these exciting prizes:

• $100 gift certificate to Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells–donated by Magnum Radio.
• Four ski lift passes for Ski Brule in Iron River, Mich–donated by RadioPlus, Inc.
• $20 gift certificate to Techniques Salon at Moraine Park–donated by Techniques Salon.
• A three-course lunch for two at Park Terrace, Moraine Park’s culinary student restaurant.

Winners will be announced by January 8, 2020. Good luck!

For more information, visit morainepark.edu/nextcontest.

The fall/winter 2019 NEXT magazine is filled with student, alumni, and faculty stories.

You can find the magazine throughout all of the Moraine Park campuses, or you can view the online version here.

The Moraine Park NEXT magazine is released twice a year. Please send story suggestions to khaensgen2@morainepark.edu.

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

On October 29, in celebration of Fair Trade Month, the Moraine Park Technical Fair Trade College and Just Fare Market hosted a wonderful education event!

Over 600 Grades 3-5 students and teachers from FDL and NFDL elementary schools, Riverside, STEM, and Friendship, and 50 plus community members enjoyed an amazing story from One Plastic Bag Author Miranda Paul!

The evening event also included educational community partner displays focused on the Fair Trade Principle of “respecting the environment” from Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, CD Smith, FDL Audubon, Sustain FDL, UWFDL Fair Trade University and FDL Fair Trade Towns!

Miranda Paul has been a teacher in Gambia as well as the owner of a Fair Trade store in Green Bay. Her presentation focused on two of her books, “One Plastic Bag” and “I am Farmer.”   One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia tells the inspiring story of five women who creatively dealt with their village’s plastic trash problem. Despite limited resources and ridicule, Isatou and her friends persevered for more than a decade, eventually realizing economic empowerment through their recycled plastic purse project. 

I am Farmer, written in collaboration with Baptiste Paul, is the true story of how environmentalist Farmer Tantoh is transforming the landscape in his home country of Cameroon. When Tantoh Nforba was a child, his fellow students mocked him for his interest in gardening. Today he’s an environmental hero, and bringing clean water and bountiful gardens to the central African nation of Cameroon.

A big thank you to Just Fare Market for their Fair Trade education leadership and education grants from CSA and FDL Area Foundation in bringing Miranda Paul to visit for Fair Trade Month! Each 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom also received a copy of One Plastic Bag and were able to get their books autographed by Miranda!

See lots more amazing event photos here!