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. 

We encourage 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, and President’s Award for 200 hours!

In the 2021 fall semester, despite all the Covid-19 challenges, 15 students earned awards and logged over 1,600 hours of service!  Congratulations to our Fall, 2021 award winners!

Presidents Award

For Fall, 2021, three students earned the President’s Award for over 200 hours of service each in their time at MPTC!  The three students are Corey Koch – Administrative Professional, Heather Quickle – Nursing, and Julianna Stuht – Paramedic.  MPTC President Bonnie Baerwald celebrated with and congratulated each student, stating: “I’m extremely proud of the accomplishments of Julianna, Corey and Heather. Each has their own unique story and came to Moraine Park Technical College to explore and create new career opportunities. In addition to their work and college obligations, their volunteer efforts exemplify the college values of continuous improvement, collaboration, and impactful learning. I can’t wait to see what their futures hold for them!”

President’s Award winner Corey Koch said: “I spent my volunteer internship hours working on the new database/donor tracking system for the FDL Area Women’s Fund.  I was excited to learn and plan how a good database could help bolster the Women’s Fund mission and goals.  I helped with each Women’s Fund fundraising event, and put all previous and new donors into the database.  I also worked on creating a guidebook for the software. I hope this book can be utilized by the next incoming person who will handle software management.  I learned more about working independently and on a team. My Women’s Fund experiences were eye-opening and great practice for my future career.”

President’s Award winner Julianna Stuht said: “Volunteering as an AEMT/firefighter for my community gives me the opportunity to meet the citizens that reside in my service area, as well as further my skills as a healthcare provider. I am so excited to continue learning through this volunteer opportunity.”

Gold Award

Completing 100-199 hours of service-learning or volunteering.

Stuht, Julianna – Paramedic

Silver Award

Completing 50-99 hours of service-learning or volunteering.

Riemersma, Allison – Nursing

Beeks, Tonia – Medical Assistant

Manke, Zoe – Medical Assistant

Stuht, Julianna – Paramedic

Bronze Award

Completing 25-49 hours of service-learning or volunteering.

Beeks, Tonia – Medical Assistant

Moore, Brianna – Medical Assistant

Diaz, Gisselle – Medical Assistant

Manke, Zoe – Medical Assistant

Gerth, Ashley – Medical Assistant

Fassbender, Noelle – Nursing

Koenitzer, Kaitlyn – Medical Assistant

Riemersma, Allison – Nursing

Rogers, Dorothy – Paralegal

Schmitt, Jordyn – Nursing

Stuht, Julianna – Paramedic

Vang-Xiong, Mina – IT Network Specialist

Mueller, Cindy – Leadership Development

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

Amanda Kollmorgan, a Leadership and Organizational Development student, is getting fired up! As a part of her capstone course, Amanda is conducting a service learning project. Service learning takes the learning experience outside of the classroom, connects students to community, and provides a mutually benefit to the student and community through the service. Amanda is applying skills and knowledge acquired through the completion of her program in a project with the Village of St. Cloud Fire Department. She is partnering with local heroes to provide a COVID friendly online auction to help meet department needs.

When asked why she chose a community project, she reflected on her feelings about the community and why giving back was important to her. “I am not from the Fond du Lac area and come from a very small family. When I married my husband, I married into a large Fond du Lac and Holyland family. When I started a job in St Cloud, everyone immediately made me feel like family. The community out there is so warm and friendly. It just really feels like home, even though it’s not. That’s why I chose to support the Fire Department. They are volunteer based and rely completely on the community to run, so what better way to give back to all of those folks who became part of my family than do a fundraiser”.

Amanda is set to finish the associate degree program this semester and reflected on her experience at MPTC. “I truly love how involved in the community it is, the number of resources there are, the ability and support of the staff available, and the quality of teachers. This is my third time attending college, and I regret not having been able to start my journey here. In fact, I love this school so much I signed up for a second degree starting in the fall!”.

Amanda plans to leverage the knowledge, insight, and tools gained from her experience in the program to achieve her short and long-term career goals which include owning her own bakery. She shared that she now has”…a better understanding of how to manage people plus be aware of the laws and regulations that pertain to them. I feel better apt to provide trainings as well as plan and manage projects. For the bakery, I am aware of what will take to plan my project proposal, as well the laws governing recruiting, hiring, and employing personnel”.

The Moraine Park Community extends their appreciation to Amanda to all of her service to community!

Congratulations to Moraine Park students and staff on a huge accomplishment!

As of today, a total of 4,000 community impact hours have been logged by Moraine Park students and employees. This amounts to approximately $97,000 in economic impact throughout the MPTC District and surrounding areas. Needless to say, Moraine Park is giving back, in big ways!

For more information on service learning, or how you can become involved, visit morainepark.edu/service-learning.

Thirteen students from the 2018/19 Jackson Regional Center Welding program, together with their instructor Steve Henderleiter, recently completed the fabrication of canoe/kayak/paddle board racks for the Washington County Parks Department. This service learning project took 52 hours total to complete 3 sets of racks soon to be installed at Glacier Hills, Ackerman’s Grove, and Leonard J. Yahr County Parks; ready for paddling fun this spring and summer!

Each rack will hold 6 canoes, kayaks or paddleboards. Eric Hyde, Washington County Parks Manager, said, “these racks turned out great! We are so excited! It was a perfect partnership with MPTC for students to have this learning experience and fabricate the racks for the parks. So many people are going to enjoy paddling this summer with the whole new rental program we are launching! We are giving each student and Steve a county park pass and T-shirt to say thank you! This plan worked out really well. We used a basic rack design from Minnesota and we also got a conservation/recreation grant from the DNR to help fund the project, along with a good deal from our West Bend Fleet Farm, McNeilus Steel and Acme Galvanizing.”

Anne Lemke, Experiential Learning Coordinator, was on hand to celebrate the students service achievement. Anne said, “wow what a great service learning project! Students reflected on the teamwork it took to build these racks. They told me it was almost like putting a puzzle together, starting with 21 foot pipes, studying a blueprint, then cutting, coping, drilling and welding. Quite a few nights they were here til almost midnight working on the racks after classes. This is a wonderful achievement they can all add to their resumes and showcase to their family and friends for years to come!”

Pictured above from left to right: Washington County Parks Manager Eric Hyde, Thomas Wiesen Jr of West Bend, Connor George of Fond du Lac, Kelly Becker of Slinger, Jerry Russell of Grafton, Cole Baumgartner of West Bend, Noah Doak of West Bend, Cole Schuette of Slinger, Thomas Strom of Kewaskum, Austin Scheid of West Bend, Matt Berlin of Mequon, MPTC Welding Instructor Steve Henderleiter.

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

Nursing students in Instructor Michele Mengert’s Mental Health and Community Concepts course recently completed their community advocacy projects as part of our fall, 2018 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 on projects such as drug free communities, family resource centers, Alzheimer’s, poverty, mental health, breast cancer, obesity, 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 strength and weaknesses in their own communities. Project presentations were held on December 21. Congratulations on all of this great work on important community issues!

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

At the end of 2018 fall semester, 17 Medical Assistant and/or Medical Office students earned service learning awards. Twelve students earned Bronze Awards for completing at least 25 hours of service and five students earned Bronze and Silver Awards for completing at least 50 hours of service. Congratulations!

Anne Lemke, Experiential Learning Coordinator, was excited to present awards to some of the students present at the Medical Assistant/Medical Office Careers event at Fond du Lac Campus on December 4, 2018. Program Director Sarah Chojnacki and Practicum Instructor Eric Ziebell said, “We are so proud of our students! Seeing the community impact they make together is just tremendous! The reflection and learning that comes from these service experiences is so valuable! Students can take their learning experience and awards to showcase on their resume, in interviews, and out into the workplace!”

Together these 17 students helped over 25 community partners and served over 770 hours! Great work!!

Nancy Osorio’s service learning experience was shared in an earlier blog, click here to read about her journey.

Pictured above, left to right. Front row, Jackie Glynn , Kelly Duley, and Brooke Wentland. Back row, Nancy Osorio, Rachel Rongstad, Lyn Vogt, Tonja Bates, Andrea Wilcox, and Megan Andrews.

On Wednesday, December 5, MPTC Welding Instructor Aide Dan Eldridge, Welding Bootcamp Student Amy Mann, and EWD Business Rep Beau Gellings, visited teens in grades 5-12 and staff from the Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area for a fun two hour interactive Dream Big event.

“MPTC visited our Club to talk about different educational options and career opportunities  in welding and allowed us to get hands on experience with the virtual welding equipment! 15 teen Club members tried it out and asked lots of questions.  Members earned scores for their welding performance based on 5 different measurements that make a good weld. There was some serious competition!  It was a fun and educational evening that may have lit some sparks for our kids!  Thank you MPTC!” – Carrie Govek, Tri-County BGC Teen Futures Coordinator 

“I was wondering if the kids would understand what a great opportunity it would be to get introduced to a welding career by having fun on the virtual welder, just like a computer game!  It’s very exciting for me to give back after all I have received through MPTC and the boot camp!” – Amy Mann, Moraine Park welding intern

 “It was really great tonight for me to see our student become the teacher.  I saw her giving the kids the exact same instructions we gave her when she was a beginning welder just 3 months ago. We are so proud of her!” – Dan Eldridge, welding instructor aide

Dan also told us that Amy just got offered at job at MEC, where she was serving her internship. 

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 is expanding throughout the MPTC district to include Boys and Girls Club of the Tri-County Area (Berlin, Green Lake County) and Boys and Girls Club of Washington County (West Bend).  This is a great community partnership opportunity for Moraine Park students to showcase their careers and practice service learning  and for Boys and Girls Club members to get excited about career choices!

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.