Over the Atlantic Ocean and 8,273 miles away, Emma Williamson of Zambia, Africa, attends her Moraine Park Marketing and Social Media Management classes. Between acting in Zambia’s most popular local TV show, working for her family businesses and taking classes at Moraine Park, Williamson excels at the non-traditional student experience.

“I chose to pursue my education at Moraine Park because the College offered a completely online learning program, which is beneficial for me because it allows me to be flexible with my schedule and pursue my acting career while still getting my education,” Williamson said.

Williamson is originally from Louisville, Kentucky. In 2010, she moved to Lusaka, Zambia, with her family to be missionaries, but after their contract was up, they loved it too much to leave. She has lived in Zambia for 12 years with her parents and six siblings.

“The culture in Zambia is very different from the United States, but because I’ve lived here for so long, it is sometimes difficult to remember,” Williamson said. “One difference is that there is a much bigger focus on family relationships. Family obligations and duties take high priority in people’s lives here.”

By completing the Marketing and Social Media Management program, Williamson hopes to learn how to market her family’s businesses. Her father owns a woodworking business called Williamson Craftsmen, where they create hand-crafted furniture and home goods. Her mother runs a business called Megan’s Cakery, where they supply authentic tortilla chips and salsa, and frozen cookie dough and waffles to local stores.

“Unlike some common misconceptions about Africa, there are many developed areas like the capital city, Lusaka, where I live, that have businesses, movie theaters, coffee shops, hotels, malls and all the things you see in the United States,” Williamson said.

Williamson is focused on pursuing her acting career and hopes to learn how to market herself and develop her own personal brand. She is currently an actress on Zambia’s largest television show, Mpali, and is very passionate about creating dynamic social media content on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @EmmaRoseZambia.

Read more stories like Emma’s in our Fall/Winter 2022 NEXT Magazine.

Moraine Park Technical College encourages service learning experiences for students. The Marketing and Social Media Management program students attending the Advertising and Social Media Campaigns spring 2021 course were able to gain this experience working with local nonprofit partner organizations. Students attended this course entirely online and were divided into two groups. The 2 groups worked closely together acting as an advertising agency for the entire semester.

The newly created student agency sought out area nonprofit organizations, communicated with them to determine current and future needs, and developed an advertising/social media campaign plan for each organization. The two organizations selected were Kohler Credit Union, Kohler, WI and The Gathering Source, Juneau, WI.

“Students in both groups worked extremely well together all semester. They problem-solved and created ways to communicate and collaborate entirely online using Zoom, OneDrive, Canvas Group Chat, Canva and Google Docs, ” said Sarah Ninmer, Marketing and Social Media Management Instructor.

The students wrote reflections at the end of the semester documenting their experiences. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and students truly appreciated the “real world, hands on” education and connections they made with the nonprofit organizations. Below are a few student quotes:

“I have worked within a team this entire semester for my Advertising and Social Media course at Moraine Park Technical College. We’ve completed several assignments such as a ‘Situational Analysis’ and a ‘Creative Plan’. After completing all of these tasks, we have officially created a comprehensive marketing guide for Kohler Credit Union in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Our team, “Connect Together” worked very hard to analyze, evaluate, design, and so much more for the company. We learned how to communicate effectively, work together, create documents, give professional feedback, etc. We have learned so much!”

Olivia Anderson, Marketing and Social Media Management Program Graduate

“This was essentially exactly what my future job could be, it taught me how hard it is to look at everything from every single angle to try and find the best way to do something. It also made me feel amazing to help this wonderful cause be even better and reach more people. I feel that we worked together amazingly to help The Gathering Source expand and open to new opportunities. I feel this project has helped everyone involved greatly. I learned a ton about helping businesses, how to work with a team and collaborate actively with others for more than just a paper. These are amazing skills to learn in order to work more effectively and positively in the future.”

Emily Poellinger, Marketing and Social Media Management Program Student

“Other than working on creating an advertising plan for a non-profit organization, during this semester I learned how to work in a team and compromise to come together with one campaign plan. It was interesting learning how to work in a group and coordinate a schedule that worked among all my team members. It was great experience to work with a team and learn how compromise all of our team member’s opinions into one joint plan that worked for our client. I think this semester was a great way to learn how to work as a team and gain skills for future career opportunities.”

Peyton Wolter, Marketing and Social Media Management Program Student

“Working on this social media marketing plan for Kohler Credit Union was a great chance to get some really good experience starting a plan from the beginning to end and also knowing what it is like to work on a project like this in a group. Since all of us are online we had to communicate through a group chat on Canvas but we really did not have any problems with that. There were a lot of different aspects of this assignment and even though we were in a group I was able to do a little bit of everything.”

Jake Antonioni, Marketing and Social Media Management Program Graduate

For more info on service learning opportunities at MPTC

Students in Moraine Park’s Marketing and Social Media Management program applied their video editing skills and created 19 videos to promote local United Way agency partners in Fond du Lac, Washington and Dodge counties.

“The MPTC Community Resource Project Team was in the middle of planning an in person community resource/volunteer fair for each MPTC campus when COVID put a halt to our plans.  A new idea was how about doing it virtually?  We reached out to our Marketing and Social Media Management Instructor Sarah Ninmer, who was eager to have her Fall, 2020 students work on a service learning project.  Next we reached out to FDL, Dodge and Washington County United Ways to ask their agency partners who would like to make a video with our students?”  Anne Lemke, Student Community Impact Coordinator.

“Anne contacted me with her project needs and I was so excited our class could help her and the United Way Community. The students ended up dedicating over 160 hours of their time and gained valuable real-world experiences”. Sarah Ninmer, Moraine Park Marketing and Social Media Management Instructor.

Students learned so much from this project!

“Completing this project was a great way for me to use my skills to give back to my community as well as learn more about creating ads for small business. Overall, I loved this assignment and hope to get similar experience in other classes!” Emma H., Moraine Park Marketing and Social Media Management Student

“Overall, I feel that this project was successful in helping me improve my digital design skills and it opened my awareness to new opportunities in the community.” Peyton W., Moraine Park Marketing and Social Media Management Student

United Way partners are so pleased with the project results!

“Wow!!!  What a great job on the videos. Thank your students and teacher for us. I have gotten a lot of feedback from Arc members and they are loving it.”  Bernie Hafenstein, The Arc of Dodge County

“United Way is grateful to the students and faculty at MPTC for producing a video series.  Each video features a local nonprofit agency that is funded by United Way.  They highlight the great work being done every day by nonprofit agencies to help our residents in need.  United Way funded programs served over 15,000 individuals and families last year.  United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in our community #UnitingForceForGood.” Kristin Brandner, Executive Director, United Way of Washington County

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 2020 spring semester, 24 students earned awards and logged over 1,000 hours of service!

Congratulations to our Spring, 2020 award winners!

Bronze Award Winners

Completing 25-49 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Ashley Ade, Medical Assistant
• Breanna Alioto, Medical Assistant
• Erica Boehnlein, Medical Assistant
• Alexis Darkow, Medical Assistant
• Kendra DeJager, Medical Assistant
• Molly Donais, Medical Assistant
• Taylor Erlauer, Medical Assistant
• Kayleigh Gorman, Medical Assistant
• Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*
• Ashlee Keller, Medical Assistant
• Cheyenne Kohrt, Medical Assistant
• Cathryn Kuslits, Medical Assistant*
• Abby Muenchow, Medical Assistant
• Megan Neu, Medical Assistant
• Nora Nuhiji, Medical Assistant
• Caitlin Pieper, Medical Assistant
• Gina Roll, Medical Assistant
• Samantha Schubring, Medical Assistant    
• Jordan Sterns, Medical Assistant
• Bethany Thome, Graphics*
• Meghan Thompson, Medical Assistant
• Emma Zimmerman, Medical Office 

Silver Award Winners

Completing 50-99 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Meghan Griswold, Marketing & Social Media*
• Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*
• Ashlee Keller, Medical Assistant
• Jordan Sterns, Medical Assistant

Gold Award Winner

Completing 100-199 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Cortland Henning, Culinary Arts*

President’s Award Winner

Completing 200+ hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Brett Hebert, Criminal Justice*

*Promise Scholar students

The spring/summer 2020 NEXT magazine is filled with student, alumni, and faculty stories.

You view the online magazine here.

Don’t forget to participate in the trivia contest by June 30 for a chance to win some great prizes!

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.

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     

Good Luck to Moraine Park Students participating in The Pitch entrepreneurship competition this Thursday, April 11 in Green Bay. 

The Pitch was created by the Fox Connection, a collaboration of the premier colleges and universities in northeast Wisconsin to enhance entrepreneurial education and opportunity for area students.

Students Shae Stangl, Kristen Westlake, and Patrick Rupprecht will be presenting their ‘pitch’ under team name Emergent Technologies.

For more information on the event, visit https://thepitchfoxcities.com/the-event/.

For more information on Moraine Park, visit morainepark.edu

The students in Moraine Park’s marketing and social media management online class, led by instructor Sarah Ninmer, recently developed a plan geared towards bringing life back to downtown West Bend. On December 3, students Tony Lechner, Heidi Mahoney, Jeremiah Kastner, and Chevy Holub presented this service learning project to Adam Gitter, West Bend economic development manager.

The Moraine Park student marketing team began this project in early September with gathering demographics, city background, and researching downtown West Bend to determine objectives and create a media plan with a timeline and budget.  They worked with Adam to develop a market analysis, behavior profile and SWOT analysis. 

The team decided on a beautiful and colorful branding slogan of THRIVE! This new theme is an active, full of promise word that will help bring the future of downtown West Bend to life, focusing on restaurants, the arts, the riverwalk, family friendly, dog-friendly, and all of the exciting downtown events! They also worked hard to make sure their marketing plan would be inclusive and open to all no matter age, gender, class, and ethnicity. Adam was pleased and excited to learn about the new plan with all the great ideas and research from the Moraine Park team! Great work!

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

 Wide Range of Career Options

Marketing does not restrict you to one specific job. Jobs range from traditional marketing to social media management and content creation. New online jobs are declared regularly for both large and small businesses. This gives the student an additional benefit of being choosy about the kinds of work atmospheres.

New Technology

The digital world is constantly changing. As a marketer, you will be learning new software, testing apps, utilizing innovative devices and implementing new technology within your marketing plans.

Flexible Work Atmosphere

Careers in marketing are flexible. Due to most functions being online, the workplace is not critical. You can often work from home since location does not matter.

Social Media

Jobs in social media are one of the coolest jobs around. You will be able to not only connect with consumers online but also create videos, posts, photography, live chats, etc. for multiple social channels.

Growing Job Market

All businesses ranging from large to small are investing in marketing. Digital jobs, like marketing, have projections of continued growth in the future.

Consumer Interaction

As a marketer, you will be talking with consumers either online or in person. This allows you to build relationships and help meet consumer needs, which is rewarding

Promotion Opportunities

An entry-level position can grow into a management position within just a few years of experience. Also, it is easy to horizontally move into other areas of marketing. If you start in advertising and prefer marketing analysis, you can make that move while giving the department the benefit of your experience.

Creativity and Innovation

 Marketing adds life to blogs and websites. This involves both creativity and analytics. Writing content and creating marketing plans demands imagination and innovative ideas.

Analytics and Research

Marketing also includes researching consumer trends and providing analytic results from multiple marketing channels. If you are a numbers person, marketing analytics and research specific careers are perfect for you.

Be a Rockstar

Being a marketer requires teamwork. The marketing team is at the forefront of innovation for the company. Successful campaigns will make you feel like a rock star since you have pioneered new technology and thinking within the organization.

Intrigued?

Learn more about Moraine Park Tech’s Marketing and Social Media Management program.