“I think the Introduction to Mass Communication course at MPTC should be a prerequisite for any college student. The amount of knowledge that I attained from this course has by far exceeded my expectations.”

Amanda Rondorf, MPTC Student

“When I first enrolled in the Introduction to Mass Communication course with Dr. Rebecca Leichtfuss, I was not sure what I was getting myself into. I knew I had to take some type of communication course, but I wasn’t sure what this course really entailed until the first week.  It seemed quite simple and easy to understand initially, but as the weeks progressed throughout the course, I realized that this course was much more involved than I had first anticipated.”

“I think the Introduction to Mass Communication course should be a prerequisite for any college student. The amount of knowledge that I attained from this course has by far exceeded my expectations. I never realized how the Internet started and the purposes of social media. Until this course, I took for granted the resources and capabilities of the Internet and media communications in my life.”

“I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is in college. It gives you a view of how communication has evolved over the years and how it will continue to evolve.”

Written by:  Amanda Rondorf, MPTC Student

On April 23, MPTC President Bonnie Baerwald and Student Community Impact Coordinator Anne Lemke, were very excited to receive the Partner In Excellence Award from the Boys & Girls Club of the Tri-County Area

Center Director Mindy Collado said, “Thank you so much for attending our Great Futures Celebration and for all of your hard work with the Dream Big Initiative!”

Teen Futures Coordinator Carrie Govek said, “We are so delighted with the opportunities Dream Big has offered the teens in our Career Launch program and we look forward to continuing this partnership.”

Club CEO Jason Presto said, “Dream Big is so amazing! We are very thankful for the way MPTC is introducing our members to opportunities they may be interested in or may have never even known was an option for them. This school year they learned about careers in Medical Assistant, Criminal Justice, Health and Wellness, Welding, and Automotive!

Nikki Dahlke is the new Recruitment and Advising Specialist for the boot camps in the Economic and Workforce Development Department. In her role, she will actively recruit students interested in participating in the short term manufacturing boot camps as well as support the current students attending them.

She comes to MPTC from a collaborative program between Goodwill Industries and Fox Valley Technical College where she was a Financial Coach for the Oshkosh FVTC students doing 1-1 financial counseling as well as classroom workshops to teach money management. Prior to that she worked at Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity for 4 years as the Family Services Coordinator and is still involved there as the Chair of their Family Selection Committee.

Nikki has spent her career working in non-profit case management and is looking forward to the opportunity to use those skills to help support students’ success at MPTC.

Nikki earned her Bachelors’ degrees from UW River Falls in Communicative Disorders and in Spanish. She is fully bilingual in Spanish and taught English in Mexico for a few years following college. She enjoys traveling to places off the beaten path and spending time with her husband and son.

“I am excited to continue to make a difference in the community by helping remove barriers to employment. These boot camps provide an incredible opportunity for students to gain skills, knowledge, and connections to a workplace through the internship. I look forward to working with the MPTC family in giving a hand up to people through these manufacturing boot camps.”

Interested in learning more about our boot camp opportunities, visit
https://www.morainepark.edu/services/business-and-industry/bootcamp/ .

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 service learning and apply their classroom knowledge to an applicable, real world environment. 

Last year, MPTC started a service learning 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. In the 2018-19 school year 112 students logged over 2,800 hours of service impacting 138 area community partners! 15 students earned awards in December and 28 students earned awards in May.

Congratulations to the spring 2019 award winners!

Bronze Award Winners

Completing 25-49 hours of service learning.

• Gwendolyn Redmon, Medical Assistant
• Kayla Tiedke, Medical Assistant
• Stephanie Munro, Medical Assistant
• Kelly Loeper, Medical Assistant
• Mackenzie Dressel, Medical Assistant
• Robin Hanson, Medical Assistant
• Yasmine Albert, Medical Assistant
• Kristin Auchtung, Medical Assistant
• Summer Benn, Medical Assistant
• Kayla Bunker, Medical Assistant
• Rachel Dobberphul, Medical Assistant
• Chelsea Herriges, Medical Assistant
• Paige Langlois, Medical Assistant
• Roberto Mondragon, IT Software Developer
• Jaimi TerLaan, Medical Assistant
• Delaney Tisdale, Medical Assistant
• Brooke Wightman, Nursing        

Silver Award Winners

Completing 50-99 hours of service learning.

• Erin Bunch, Business Management
• Stephanie Darkow, Medical Assistant
• Traci Hauge-Rueter, Medical Assistant
• Jessica Hendrickson, Business
• Kimberly Lindemann, Medical Assistant
• Gabrielle Schumacher, Business
• April Weisinger, Medical Assistant

Gold Award Winners

Completing 100-199 hours of service learning.

• Abigail Donath, Business Management
• Brett Hebert, Corrections        
• Sara Tallman, Medical Assistant
• Renee Vnuk-Uhrman, Medical Lab Technician

You might remember Arletta from our previous blog posts, marketing campaigns, or perhaps you’ve seen her out in the Fond du Lac community. If not, you can catch up with her story here.

The 2017 graduate from Moraine Park’s Leadership Development program has big things on her horizon, and we are excited to highlight them!

When she came to the College in 2015, she had dreams of being a motivational speaker. To keep working towards that goal, after graduation she enrolled at Marian University to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in Communications. Today, she has her own business, Authentically Arletta, LLC., and is finally witnessing her hard work come to life. In fact, in 2019 alone, she has been invited as a keynote speaker to multiple local events.

“I’m so much closer to my dreams than I’ve ever been before,” Arletta said. “Moraine Park was a huge part of my foundation, and the place I will always consider my second home.”

Of course, Arletta’s success didn’t happen by chance. She has been on a long journey of self-discovery, one that she notes has had many hurdles.

“This has been quite a journey, but I didn’t do it alone,” Alretta said. “I’ve had the support of family, friends, and many people at Moraine Park that have helped me along the way.”

Specifically, she names Moraine Park employees Bonnie Baerwald, Mary Vogl-Rauscher, Steve Pepper, Rob Heyrman, and Amy Anderson- among others, as key players to aiding her success.

Today, her dreams are even closer as she celebrates her May 2019 graduation with a Bachelor of Communication degree with a minor in business from Marian University and being named as Marian’s Communication Student of the Year. She was also a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication high honor society, and ended her college career with a 3.95 GPA.

This August, Arletta will be one of the keynote speakers at TedXFond du Lac and is working towards a goal of one day speaking at the Essence Festival in Louisiana.

“I’ve thought about my dreams becoming a reality for a long time,” she said. “My work isn’t done, in fact in a way it’s just beginning, but it’s so exciting that I’ve made some big accomplishments and that they are no longer just a part of my dreams.”

Additionally, Arletta is working diligently on a new initiative, the Peculiar Princess Project, a mentoring program for youth girls of color ages 10 to 18.

“I look forward to taking on more speaking events registering with Wisconsin’s Speakers Bureau and taking my career to the next level,” Arletta said.

We wish Arletta the best of luck as she continues towards accomplishing her goals, and are so fortunate to be a part of her journey.

Moraine Park Technical College’s Toolin’ It Summer Camp has one last-minute spot that opened. This 14th annual manufacturing summer camp is held at the West Bend campus from June 10-14 and is open to middle and high school students ages 13-16.

Participants will have the chance to learn about computer-aided design, computer-controlled manufacturing operations, basic electrical systems, machining, welding and fabrication, and so much more. Students will also experience the start-to-finish satisfaction of designing and manufacturing a product and using high-tech machinery under the close supervision of expert manufacturing trainers.

The registration fee is $100 and includes all materials, lunches, and field trips. The vacancy will be filled at a first come, first served basis.

To secure the spot, register by Thursday at 4 p.m. atwww.morainepark.edu/toolin-it, or by contacting Cindy Wolf at (262) 306-5321 or email at cwolf@morainepark.edu.

On April 20, 2019 the Waupun High School Promise Program students came to meet MPTC EMS students and learn about Emergency Medical Services careers!

Nick Clarenbach, Waupun High School Special Education At Risk Instructor said, ” Thank you so much for this opportunity. The students learned a lot and really enjoyed the entire experience! They were talking about it all the way home!”

The Dream Big project started last year with Boys and Girls Club of Fond du Lac teens learning more about the over 100 careers available through MPTC.  This year, Dream Big expanded throughout the MPTC district to include Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area (Berlin, Green Lake County) and Waupun High School.  This is a great community partnership opportunity for Moraine Park students to showcase their degree programs and practice service learning  and for teens to get excited about their many career choices!

Moraine Park Technical College’s Electricity and
CNC Tool and Die students and staff are celebrating some major achievements at the 2019 Wisconsin SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference in Madison, WI.

ELECTRICITY

The electricity students participated in two categories; Electrical Construction Wiring and Industrial Motor Controls. The College earned a complete sweep of the top three spots in the Industrial Motor Controls category. Participants were Michael Schaefer of Juneau, first place; Daniel Sowin of Sheboygan Falls, second place; Anastasia Szczesny of Iron Ridge, third place. Also, Moraine Park student, Noah Johannes of Fredonia, earned the College another first place award in the Electrical Construction Wiring category.

“I’m very proud of their accomplishments,” Mark Wamsley, electricity instructor at Moraine Park said. “I have watched them grown and excel in their field. I look forward to watching them compete at Nationals.”

Schaefer and Johannes will represent Moraine Park Technical College at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, KY this June.

CNC

The CNC Tool and Die club representatives competed in two separate categories; Automated Manufacturing Technology and CNC Milling Specialist. Earning first place in the team Automated Manufacturing Technology category are William Kraus of Jackson, Zachary Rabideau of Jackson, and Jarred Welnak of Germantown. Isaac Schrage of West Bend competed in the CNC Milling Specialist category and achieved fifth place. Kraus, Rabideau, and Welnake will represent Moraine Park Technical College at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC) in Louisville, KY this June.

SkillsUSA is the showcase for the best career and technical students in the nation. The philosophy of the event is to reward students for excellence, involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and keep training relevant to employers’ needs. More than 16,000 people are expected to participate in the NLSC weeklong event.

For more information about Moraine Park Technical College programs, like Electricity and CNC, visit morainepark.edu.

Moraine Park staff and faculty gathered for an end of the year celebration and cornhole tournament! Needless to say, a fun time was had by all!

Fond du Lac

Beaver Dam

West Bend

Cornhole Winners!