.Moraine Park Technical College is offering the Girls Rock Robotics summer camp at the Fond du Lac Campus August 12-14, 2019 from 9-Noon each day.

Registration is open and underway for all girls entering grades 6-8 in the fall of 2019.  This camp will allow attendees to explore the world of robotics using LEGO® Mindstorms. Students will build robots with motors and sensors to perform tasks and react to their environment. They will learn how to program the robots using the software in which you place icons in sequence to create the instructions that you desire. As a bonus, they will also spend time working in teams to build and program a robot to solve missions similar to those in First Lego League® (FLL) competitions.

The registration fee is $30 per student and is waived for Free and Reduced Lunch recipients. Space is limited. Register today at morainepark.edu/grr, or by contacting Renae Fischer at rfischer6@morainepark.edu or (920) 929-2477.

A strong workforce doesn’t happen by chance. For Centro Inc., of Beaver Dam, growing internal talent is the key to their future success.

“It’s important that we develop talent from within,” Myron McMahon, operations manager at Centro, Inc. said. “We provide rotational molding technology, which is a specialized market. We can’t place an ad in the paper and expect to get many that are skilled leaders in the field. For this reason, we need to engage our newer frontline employees and provide them with professional development opportunities.”

Centro was founded in 1970 near Oxford, Iowa, and today they have eight locations across the Midwest and two international locations in Brazil and Ireland. They work to provide custom molding to industries such as agriculture, automotive, construction, medial and bio-medical, consumer goods, lawn and garden, and many more. Some of their customers include John Deere, Toro, Scag, and Metalcraft.

Their internal training began at the main headquarters in Iowa, with a request to mimic that training at their Wisconsin locations in Beaver Dam and Horicon. Their goal was to provide all employees with similar training opportunities despite the plant locations. Centro connected with Moraine Park’s Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) department to achieve this goal.

“We had the curriculum from our Iowa location,” McMahon said. “The EWD team was then able to take that curriculum, correlate it to Moraine Park’s training, and create a leadership program that fulfilled our needs.”

Their training, taught by Moraine Park instructors Roy Krueger and Tim Meyer, has been customized to fit the mission, values, and structure of Centro. The EWD team understands that not all companies are alike. For this reason, they offer flexibility in scheduling so that opportunities to grow don’t inhibit current company production.

“Developing leaders as our talent pipeline will serve well for our future,” McMahon said. “The Moraine Park instructors provide exceptional teaching and even work Centro’s mission and values into the lessons. I can’t say enough good things about our experience with Moraine Park’s EWD department.”

Centro’s first class of 10 is set to complete their Leadership Tier 1 training on June 11. There are plans for a second group this fall, and in total Centro is working to create three different internal professional development opportunities; Supervision 101, Leadership Tier 1, and Leadership Tier 2.

Learn more about partnering with Moraine Park for customized training. Contact training@morainepark.edu or call Angie at 920-924-3449.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, and Moraine Park Technical College and Marian University teamed up once again to sponsor a veteran’s suicide awareness event, dubbed 22 No More. A 2.2-mile trek to help raise awareness of the many veterans’ lives lost too soon due to suicide.

Over 125 people participated in this year’s annual event, intended to raise awareness of the alarming suicide rate among veterans and, form a strong community around those who have served or currently serving. Although 2.2 miles may not seem like a significant distance, the number was chosen to identify the 20-22 veteran suicides or, one every 80 minutes which occur every day, and, ensure everyone who attended would be able to take part in the event.

Participants received a free 22 No More water bottle or small nylon sport-pack courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs and everyone was encouraged to honor a service member by carrying a photo of them during the walk. There was also an opportunity for the community to meet with area veteran resource providers, the National Guard, and ROTC service members.

The event began promptly at 10:00 a.m. with a flag presentation by Marian University’s ROTC followed by the 2.2-mile walk around the Fond du Lac Soccer Complex. Participants also got the marathon treatment courtesy of MPTC’s Health and Wellbeing Committee who provided water and bananas along the way and, the walk ended with a free from Yummy Bones Barbeque sponsored by Moraine Park’s Student Veterans and Civil Engineering Technology Clubs.  Plans are in the works to conduct the 22 No More walk again next year, and we are always looking for new ways to raise awareness and increase participation. If you would like more information or may be interested in assisting next year, please contact Steve Pepper, Moraine Park’s Student Veteran Specialist at 920-924-3489 or spepper1@morainepark.edu .

Learning about tomorrow’s careers was the focus of  our annual Toolin’ It manufacturing summer camp held in June at Moraine Park Technical College’s West Bend and Jackson campuses.

Students learned about welding, CNC, mechanical design, electricity and more, and also toured area manufacturers.

Enjoy the photo’s from this year’s camp, and if you’re interested in a career in  CNC/Tool and Die Technology, Mechanical Design, Welding or Electricity visit morainepark.edu/programs to learn more!

CNC Day

Design Day

Electricity Day

Industry Tour Day

Welding Day

Did you know how many different career opportunities there are in the field of Criminal Justice? Did you know that for the past 28 springs the MPTC Criminal Justice instructors have been hosting a Career Day to help students explore?

Students spend the day engaging in professional communications, networking, and participating in and observing mock interviews with community partners from: Fond du Lac, Washington, Dodge, Green Lake, and Winnebago County Sheriffs, Fond du Lac and Oakfield Police, State of WI Department of Corrections, and U.S. Probation. Criminal Justice Instructor Joan Barfield said, “The many available jobs and career opportunities in this high demand law, public safety, and security field can be confusing! This day is great with experiential learning for our students to get a clearer picture of all their choices so they can imagine success!”

Check out the Criminal Justice Associate Degree!

As part of the Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund, Fond du Lac Says No More! project, to prevent violence against women and children, the Women’s Fund is launching the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Project to make Fond du Lac safer! Green Dot specifically educates on 3 core tactics for intervention: Direct, Distract, Delegate.

In November, 2018 – 40 area volunteer trainers were certified in Green Dot and are now being sent out into the FDL area community to educate and build the collective “we” who will all make a difference!

What can you do?

*Check out the info on the little teal table at MPTC FDL Campus near the Career Center

*Attend a bystander intervention workshop

*Bring a Green Dot workshop to your business or school

*Share Green Dot with family, friends and co workers

No one has to do everything if we all do something!

#westandupfdl

#dontstandby

For more info contact: 920-322-8778 or greendotfdl@gmail.com

Last month, first semester Moraine Park nursing students helped residents get ready for their annual prom at the Fond du Lac St. Francis Home.

The students used their clinical time to provide hair and nail care, and dress the residents for their big event! The students enjoyed the one-on-one time to pamper the residents and give personalized care.

St. Francis Home hosts the resident prom each spring with a live music from a local high school band and invites family members to participate. So much fun!

For more program information, visit morainepark.edu/programs.

Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our Spring, 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 17 students spent over 80 hours researching and collaborating with community partners to learn more about planned parenthood, poverty, women & infants, suicide, domestic violence, opioid abuse, water quality, 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 May 17.

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

Moraine Park Technical College has presented Serenity Hospice with its 2019 Community Partnership Award. This award recognizes a community non-profit or business partner organization who has gone above and beyond in their role of working with Moraine Park students in service learning opportunities.

Serenity Hospice is committed to providing the highest quality of care with a multidisciplinary team, serving patients and their families through every stage of end of life care. Moraine Park Medical Assistant students are important members of the hospice team! Volunteers are specially trained to provide support to the patient and family such as socialization, visitation, and helping with administrative tasks such as scanning, filing, alphabetizing, faxing, data entry, scheduling and collating. In 2019, MPTC student service learning volunteers spent over 240 hours at Serenity Hospice!

Ashley Wissinger, Volunteer & Bereavement Coordinator for Serenity Hospice said, “Thank you so much for this award!  We’ve had a lot of wonderful student volunteers from Moraine Park. The award is lovely and is proudly displayed. It was so great to meet your team and put faces with names!  It is truly an honor to work with the Moraine Park students.  We appreciate everything you and your team do to ensure your students are successful.”

Moraine Park Technical College works to bring quality education to the students, which in turn will benefit the communities where they live and work. Students who participate are required to log their volunteer hours, which count towards earning a Service-Learning Award.  Opportunities such as this allow students to make community connections prior to graduation and work through real-life scenarios. The partnership created by Moraine Park Technical College and Serenity Hospice will continue to benefit both of our organizations, the student volunteers, and the patients and families that are being served.

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