Way to go Amanda Leslie! For her Leadership Development Capstone service learning project, Amanda put together a virtual pet show fundraiser to support the FDL Humane Society and was able to raise $725! “Join me to support a good cause and possibly win a prize without ever having to leave the house! Donate $5 or more and message me a photo of your pet to enter into our virtual pet show and help raise money for FDL Humane Society Inc. Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. Winners of the pet show were announced on October 25th, 2020 on a virtual event! Thank you for your support!

Amanda’s instructor, Mary Vogl-Rauscher said, “Very Impressive Amanda!! You are a Rock Star!!” Associate Dean of Business, Bobbi Fields, said, “Amanda – I want to congratulate you on the success of your project and to thank you for your contributions to the community. I am very supportive of service learning and greatly enjoy hearing stories of how students effectively leverage the projects to enhance their education and their community. Undoubtedly, you have promoted your own professional profile; however, I see the benefits of your altruistic project yet another amazing outcome of your project. Again,  thank you applying the leadership skills you have gained in Mary’s program to promote your community. “

Amanda said, “The reason I chose this project is because I have always been passionate about animal welfare and rescue. Animals are precious to me and I want to help any way I can to aid in their protection.  We are in unprecedented times with this pandemic and many non-profit organizations, such as the Humane Society, have had to close their doors to the public and cancel upcoming public fundraising events.  This has deeply impacted them financially.  Therefore, my project was a fun alternative means to engage the community and help provide financial aid to an organization that does amazing work providing humane care and protection to animals in need, while keeping supporters safe in their own homes. The virtual pet show had an element of convenience and engagement for my supporters by having them share photos of their beloved companions in the contest, rather than simply asking for a donation.  There was 5 different categories they could enroll their pet into, which allowed for creative freedom and 5 chances to win. It was an encouraging experience interacting with so many individuals who had a similar passion and love for animals as me. There was so many generous donations from supporters resulting in a total of $725 and I can’t thank them enough!” 

Congratulations on your Bronze Award for Student Community Impact Amanda!

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 fall semester, despite all the Covid-19 challenges, 16 students earned awards and logged over 900 hours of service!

Congratulations to our Fall, 2020 award winners!

Bronze Award Winners

Completing 25-49 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Megan Andrew, Medical Assistant
• Corrine Chalker, Medical Assistant
• Courtney Dickow, Medical Assistant
• Alexis Erickson, Medical Assistant
• Tanya Johnson, Medical Assistant
• Cindy Krueger, Medical Assistant
• Maggie Landowski, Leadership Development
• Amanda Leslie, Leadership Development
• Emily Lewis, Medical Assistant
• Whitney Liegl, Medical Assistant
• Kelly Pike, Medical Assistant
• Megan Ryals, Medical Assistant
• Barbara Turner, Leadership Development
• Rachael Wagner, Medical Assistant
• Allexis Wegner, Medical Assistant

Silver Award Winners

Completing 50-99 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Megan Andrew, Medical Assistant
• Corrine Chalker, Medical Assistant
• Courtney Dickow, Medical Assistant
• Cathryn Kuslits, Medical Assistant
• Barbara Turner, Leadership Development
• Allexis Wegner, Medical Assistant

Gold Award Winner

Completing 100-199 hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Barbara Turner, Leadership Development

President’s Award Winner

Completing 200+ hours of service learning or volunteering.

• Barbara Turner, Leadership Development

When Leadership Development student Maggie Landowski, saw that Big Brothers Big Sisters of Fond du Lac posted a need for warm winterwear for kids, she knew just what her Capstone project should be!

Maggie created a wonderfully successful Drive Up event on Saturday, October 24 to collect socks, underwear, mittens, gloves, hats and scarves for BBBS families.

Maggie said, “This event has brought me so much joy to know that I have collected over 370 items total for kids in the Fond du Lac area to help keep them warm this winter.” Maggie’s instructor Mary Vogl-Rauscher said, “OUTSTANDING job Maggie!” Associate Dean of Business, Bobbi Fields said: “You did such a nice job on your project and presentation Maggie! I can certainly see that you put a great deal of planning and effort into your work. As I meet with employers and our MPTC advisory committee members, I continually hear the value of project planning, organization, communication as sought out skills. I thank you for your commitment to serving the community and again, wonderful work!”

“Maggie was our angel this holiday season,” Tammy Young, Executive Director of BBBS of Fond du Lac County, said. “She feels strongly that no child should want for basic things to keep them warm- hence the drive she put on for BBBS of Fond du Lac County- and boy did she deliver! Her “can do” attitude helped many children. On behalf of BBBS, I can’t thank her enough!”

Congratulations Maggie on your Bronze Student Community Impact Award!

Veteran’s Day was a very special experience for twenty-one Veterans residing at the St. Francis Home campus in Fond du Lac this year.

Steve Pepper, Moraine Park’s Student Veteran Specialist, and one of the Student Veteran’s Club advisors arranged and participated in a Zoom video call with the veterans and several students and staff from Moraine Park. Nathan Evrad, one of Moraine Park’s academic advisors, even created personalized video greetings thanking the Veterans for their service.  He stated, “As a fellow military veteran, I want to thank you for your service and let you know that you are not forgotten.” During the call, the veterans reminisced about basic training, their jobs while serving, flying overseas for duty, and even pesky chiggers.

Due to COVID restriction, some residents had not seen each other in a while, so it was great to see some veterans talk among themselves during the call. Before the event, donations of chocolates, snacks, puzzles, and other goodies were collected. Staff at St. Francis home filled patriotic bags that morning and handed them out after the call.

Which included a surprise of a specially designed “I Served” pin and Moraine Park’s military challenge coin.

Anne Lemke, Student Community Impact Coordinator, had this to say about the event: Thank you so much for this wonderful extra special effort! My Dad loved his “interview” with Steve Pepper… and the goodie bags, especially the black licorice.

“When it was over, Steve remarked, “What a great day, and thanked all of the staff at the St. Francis Home who made this Day possible. Hopefully, things will get back to normal next year, and the college will be able to visit with the veterans in person.””

For additional information regarding veterans’ events and benefits, please contact Steve Pepper at 920-924-3489 or spepper1@morainepark.edu

“Volunteering with the Red Cross for my service learning project has been an amazing experience. Therapeutic communication really came in handy talking with everyone. Every shift I worked I was with a different crew and did things a little different, but it was easy to adjust. They all were so much fun to work with but honestly the best lead I had was Julie. Julie is a Certified Medical Assistant that left a clinic job to join the Red Cross, it was amazing talking with her and once the crew learned that I was a MA student they were showing me different tips and tricks.”

“They were really cool with letting me watch how they start the venipunctures and I learned a different way to mark that I think will be helpful with starting venipunctures in class. It really was a learning experience to feel veins on different people and how some are small and hard to find, and some are very easy. I learned so much from this experience that I will take into class and the work field.” Corinne Chalker, Medical Assistant Student

“Volunteers are the heart and soul of nearly everything that happens at the American Red Cross. In their volunteer roles, Corrine, Megan and Whitney are also the spirit at our blood drives,” said Amber Carey, Volunteer Partnership and Community Outreach Specialist at the Red Cross for Southeast Wisconsin. “They’re the smiling faces which welcome donors of life-saving blood, making sure donors are at ease every step of the way. We’re grateful for their important volunteer service – especially during a pandemic – and know that their impact has been felt by dozens of blood donors in our community.”

Amber Carey, Volunteer Partnership and Community Outreach, American Red Cross, 2600 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53233, 414.335.7114

Congratulations Corrine and Megan on your Bronze and Silver Student Community Impact Awards! Congratulations Whitney on your Bronze Award!

“I did all my service learning hours at the Community Blood Center. This was a great experience for me as I learned quite a bit on phlebotomy, taking temperatures, explaining paperwork, and talking to patients. I also learned about watching for reactions as I helped a patient get a snack and/or drink after giving blood. These will all help me with my practicum site in so many ways.”

This experience has given me tips on how to perform skills and get me out of my comfort zone when talking or explaining to someone about something. I am now more comfortable with taking temperatures and feel more confident as I learn venipuncture. Everyone in the blood drive was very nice and helpful when I needed assistance. This experience has also helped me get ready for practicum because I have to be patient with people and that sometimes I have to be up early to make it on time for the event! My goals for practicum are to be the best I can be by being myself and giving the best care possible. I feel better after having service learning hours because I am now more confident and ready for Medical Assistant practicum to start.” Allexis Wegner, MPTC Medical Assistant Student

“Your students have been wonderful, thank YOU!”

Heather Du Vall, MNM |  Manager, Volunteer Program
4406 W. Spencer St.  |  Appleton, WI 54914
(800) 280-4102

Congratulations Allexis on your Fall 2020, Bronze and Silver Student Community Impact Awards!

“ASTOP has been an amazing organization to volunteer for my service learning project. They are very flexible and do not require a certain amount of hours. I really like that I am able to do the crisis line from home. My favorite part of this volunteer opportunity was the training. The training was about 9 hours in total. I learned so much about sexual assault. It was also really interesting learning about different kinds of grounding exercises. These are very important to use during a crisis call. Grounding exercises really help a person in crisis calm down.”

“Another area that I was trained in was patient advocacy. When learning about patient advocacy I learned a lot about what happens at the hospital for a sexual assault victim.  I think this volunteer opportunity will greatly benefit me as a future medical assistant. It has taught me how to speak to assault victims. It has also taught me even more about confidentiality. ASTOPS confidentiality is actually even more strict than HIPAA, which I found very interesting. I now know a lot more about sexual abuse and how to talk to victims. I also now have a resource that I can offer to patients if they are a victim of sexual abuse. I plan to continue to volunteer for ASTOP for a very long time. I think they are an amazing organization and a great benefit to the FDL community.”  Courtney Dickow, MPTC Medical Assistant Student

“Courtney, thank you for all that you do for ASTOP. We would not be able to maintain a 24-hour advocacy and crisis line response without volunteers like you. It’s reassuring to hear how your volunteer training has helped prepare you for your chosen career field. We appreciate you!” Nicole Krause, Executive Director, ASTOP, Inc.

Office 920.926.5396

Crisis Line 920.926.5395

21 S. Marr St., Fond du Lac, WI 54935

Congratulations Courtney on your Fall, 2020 Bronze and Silver Student Community Impact Awards!

Here is why I think voting is important:

It may not seem like it, but government and policy impacts how we live our lives each and every day. I strongly believe that voting is the cornerstone of a positive society and a strong democracy. If we choose not to vote, we’re putting our lives in the hands of people we may or may not support and the policies that they create. These exact people write policies that will affect every facet of our lives like healthcare, social security, climate change, housing, poverty, student debt, and many more.

So in order to create and uphold a strong democracy, we need to choose the right people to solve problems such as these. And students such as ourselves are the most important in the election process. Our Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes recently said that if every student in Wisconsin voted this November, we would make up the second largest city in our state! That makes a HUGE impact on our election process.

It has even been proven that the lowest turnout rates in past elections have been younger voters and students. According to the Campus Vote Project, “Young adults (ages 18-29) made up about 21% of the voting eligible population in 2014, but voter turnout for this demographic has reached record lows in recent years.” Community college and tech college students matter even more because we share a close relation to the communities in which we go to school, live and work. 7.1 million students go to tech or community colleges across the U.S. With such a large student representation, we can make our voices be heard this election and help politicians create policies that help us all directly – like federal financial aid, student debt forgiveness, more funding for our school programs, and more jobs within our communities.

So get out there on November 3rd and let your voice be heard! Let’s preserve our democracy for generations to come.

WI Online Registration Deadline: October 14, 2020

Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Learn more at:       myvote.wi.gov

Cortland Henning, MPTC 2020-21 Newman Civic Fellow

Moraine Park Technical College has presented Agnesian Healthcare with its 2020 Community Partnership Award. This award recognizes a community partner organization who has gone above and beyond in their role of working with Moraine Park students in student community impact opportunities.

Agnesian Healthcare is committed to helping, healing, and comforting, with a deep compassion for the community. Moraine Park health sciences students are important members of the Agnesian team! In 2020, despite Covid restrictions, MPTC volunteers served over 550 hours! Students served at Agnesian sites of: St. Agnes Hospital, Ripon Medical Center, Hospice Home of Hope, Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, and Waupun Memorial Hospital.

Some student words of reflection include:

“I had the opportunity to volunteer in the Emergency Department at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac. I absolutely loved my time there.”

“I went to the volunteer at Waupun Dialysis. The lady that trained me was very nice and helpful. While talking with a patient, we discovered that blindness was a big challenge. The Agnesian employee is also part of the Lions Club of Waupun. She found a machine that blows everything up and can make it brighter or duller depending on the patients eyes. The patient was able to receive the machine for free from the Lions. The patient was so happy and broke down in tears! I was in tears too, because until now I took seeing for granted.”

“I really enjoyed working with the other volunteers and hearing their stories as most of them have been there for a very long time, some even with previous work experience as nurses in the ER years ago. Barb with volunteer services was also fantastic, she is so easy to talk to! I am hoping to continue volunteering for Agnesian in the future.”

“I had the incredible opportunity to volunteer with Agnesian Hospice. This has been a very humbling experience. It has provided me with insight and knowledge in what it takes to work with people who are close to death. I realized the most vital part of my experience was not mulling over death, but maintaining social relationships that brightened a patients day no matter what the circumstance. I found that just the fact that patients recognized me, even if it was just my voice in the last one or two visits, was amazing. I would find myself forgetting that the patients were at the end of life and just focus on the time we could spend together every week. I think this opportunity was a very valuable experience. I plan on volunteering with Hospice indefinitely. This experience has actually made me consider furthering my career and eventually being a nurse in hospice.”

Barb Van Egtern, Agnesian Volunteer Services Supervisor said, “Thank you very much!  We love working with your students and hope to continue partnering with you!  We are truly honored.”

Congratulations Agnesian and thank you to all amazing healthcare students, instructors and workers!