(WHITEWATER- April 1, 2021) The Whitewater Community Foundation is now accepting applications for the Spring Community Action Grant Cycle. Grants will be awarded to local non-profit organizations actively working to support the Whitewater community.
Interested organizations can find more information here and should fill out an application form.
In the Spring of 2020, with the onset of COVID-19 and the resulting loss of jobs, the Foundation awarded Community Action Grants totalling $21,175 to the following organizations to reimburse them for funds expended in response to the needs of community members struggling with meeting their basic needs: The Whitewater Food Pantry, The Community Space, Bethel House, First United Methodist Church, St. Patrick Catholic Church, and the Whitewater Rescue Squad.
The deadline for submitting applications is April 30, 2021.
Please spread the word to groups trying to effect positive change in the Whitewater area. We look forward to working with leaders who are striving one goal at a time to make our community a greater place to live, work, and learn.
About WCF: The Whitewater Community Foundation’s mission is to “Enhance quality of life in the Whitewater area via educational, cultural, charitable or benevolent expenditures” through scholarships and community action grants. To donate and support the continuation of the Whitewater Banner, simply send a check made out to Whitewater Community Foundation to P.O. Box 428, Whitewater, WI, 53190, or donate online at whitewatercommunityfoundation.org by hitting the “Donate” button on top of the contact page. For tax purposes, the Whitewater Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Corporation.
(Whitewater High School submission) The faculty at Whitewater High School has chosen sophomore Kindyl Kilar to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar this year! The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY) is a dynamic hands-on program designed to recognize and develop leadership potential in outstanding sophomores. Each year, every high school in the state is invited to nominate one student to attend the local seminar based upon that student’s leadership potential. The 2021 Seminar is scheduled to take place virtually June 12 – 13.
Kindyl Kilar
Jackie Carper, HOBY Alumni, current Director of Recruitment for Wisconsin and member of Pi Sigma Epsilon – a marketing organization at UW-Whitewater will be awarding Kindyl a $225 scholarship to pay the fee for the seminar. Congratulations Kindyl!
Jeff Bierman writes, “The Eagle frequents this tree in Hillside Cemetery.”
Our thanks to Jeff Bierman for generously sharing his photography.
An interesting graphic from the American Eagle Foundation( https://www.eagles.org/what-we-do/educate/learn-about-eagles/bald-eagle-decline-recovery/) ,but see below for further reported growth of the population
A March 25, 2021article from NPR, titled “Once Imperiled, America’s Bald Eagle Populations are Soaring,” includes this information:
“The number of bald eagles in the lower 48 U.S. states — a population once on the brink of extinction — has quadrupled in the last dozen years to more than 316,000, federal wildlife officials say, despite steep declines in other American bird populations.
A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found there are more than 70,000 breeding pairs of the iconic raptor in the contiguous U.S. In the late 1960s, there were fewer than 500.
The turnaround is a “historic conservation success story,” said newly confirmed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at a news conference Wednesday……
By Lynn Binnie Whitewater Banner volunteer staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
The State Joint Finance Committee visited the Young Auditorium on April 9 for a well-attended public hearing on the biennial State budget. It was the first of only three in-person hearings around the state, and reportedly was the first time in many years that the committee had not scheduled a hearing in Madison or Milwaukee. This perceived oversight was noted by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. A final, virtual hearing, is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28. Individuals wishing to provide input can also do so via the dedicated portal available at: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments or via email at budget.comments@legis.wisconsin.gov .
The committee was welcomed by Chancellor Dwight Watson and City Manager Cameron Clapper. A number of Whitewater residents
City Manager Cameron Clapper spoke on behalf of the League of WI Municipalities
Jeffrey Knight, CEO of the Greater Whitewater Committee, advocated for funding renovation of Heidi and Winther Halls
Joint Finance Committee
Lisa Dawsey Smith and Larry Kachel joined Knight in promoting renovations at UW-W
Chancellor Dwight Watson highlighted the important role UW-W plays in economic development in the region
Photos courtesy of Tom Ganser
Below is the statement provided by City Manager Cameron Clapper on behalf of the City of Whitewater and the League of WI Municipalities.
(Whitewater High School submission) Whitewater High School is proud to announce that Carson Ellenwood has been named the Class of 2021 DAR Good Citizen! Fort Atkinson DAR Representative, Nancy Olson, presented Carson with a certificate on April 16 to recognize his outstanding qualities of dependability (which includes truthfulness, loyalty, and punctuality); service (which includes cooperation, courtesy, and consideration of others); leadership (which includes personality, self-control and ability to assume responsibility) and patriotism (which includes unselfish interest in family, school, community, and nation); to an outstanding degree. Congratulations Carson!!
Pictured with Carson is his mother, Elisabeth Deussen.
“I am so honored to be named the WHS Class of 2021 DAR Good Citizen! I would like to thank the faculty for their nomination and all of their guidance throughout my high school years. I would also like to thank the community that has helped me so much along the way. Your kindness and compassion inspired me to be the person that I am today. Thanks again for the honor and the wonderful years in Whitewater!” said Carson Ellenwood.
Pictured with Carson is Fort Atkinson DAR Representative, Nancy Olson.
Article submitted by Chad Carstens Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach ccarstens@wwusd.org Photo Credits: Peter Mischka, Tammy Tomomitsu, Shelly Hammond, Jaime Weigel, Tiffany Buehler
Legendary Hall of Fame North Central College Coach Al Carius’s program philosophy is, “Run for fun and personal bests.” The Whippets really put it together having some fun and ran some incredible personal bests when it was all on the line for the Rock Valley Conference Championships hosted by WHS on Thursday, April 22nd. The team has run on this home course three times this season, and 85% of the team race their personal best on this course, many dropping several minutes, rising to the challenge in the way that Whippets only know how to do: with guts and unwavering determination.
Gwen Truesdale Photo Credit: Peter Mischka
The girls’ varsity started things off, and Gwen Truesdale led the charge finishing in 28th with a time of 25:45. She dropped 36 seconds from her previous best on this course. Olive Coburn was 29th, dropping 1:15 from her previous best. Lauren Buehler dropped a minute from her best on this course to place 31st. Caelyn Caputo, Danielle DePorter, Sophie Walton, and Emma Weigel all came in successive places finishing 35-38. Caelyn dropped over 2:30, Danielle dropped nearly a minute, and Emma dropped over 2:00 from her previous best on this course. The girls’ team placed 8th overall in a tight finish with several other teams. Showing how tight it was, 13 points separated 6th – 8th. These were incredible efforts by these young women!
In the JV girls’ race, Jenny Villarreal stole the show for the Lady Whippets and placed 3rd overall. Jenny cut FIVE MINUTES off her previous best on this course, which also included 4:30 off from her season best on any course. In fact, her time of 25:51.5 put her as the second fastest Whippet female on the day! Izzy Dieter placed 13th with a 46 second time drop. Senior Nikole Pelot went out on her own terms, crushing her final race in a Whippet jersey to place 14th and dropped 1:38 from her previous best time on this course. Evie Troxel also placed 21st in a time of 33:28.
Trenten Zahn Photo Credit: Peter Mischka
On the boys’ side, senior Trenten Zahn blitzed his way to another first team all-conference honor as he placed 4th overall, just missing out on breaking 18:00 as he stopped the clock in 18:03. Trenten is a pure guts kid. He is just so tough on race day. In his final conference race, Trenten earned his third first-team all-conference honor to go along with a second-team all-conference honor, totaling four all-conference honors in his career. CJ Tomomitsu and Cooper Hammond earned their first ever all-conference honors by placing 19th and 20th. This afforded them the honorable mention all-conference recognition. CJ dropped nearly a minute, and Cooper dropped 13 seconds. Senior Will Hofmann really displayed his grit as he battled lower leg injuries to place 33rd overall and still dropped 1:18 off his previous best WHS course time. Freshman Nate Holden really came to the party and executed wonderfully and placed 35th, dropping nearly two minutes off his previous best. Senior Evan Schepp completed his final conference race as a Whippet in 51st, and Andrew Rollette placed 52nd running varsity for the first time and dropped 2:30! The boys’ team finished in fourth place with 111 points.
In the JV race, Keith Cameron placed 20th with a three-minute time drop in 26:04. Sterling Truesdale placed 24th and finished in 29:08.
Next up for the Whippets will be home again on May 1st as Whitewater High School becomes the competition site once again for the Sectional Meet. Meet times are still yet to be determined by the WIAA and will be shared as they become available. The road to State will once again be coming through Whitewater!
Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch Ferradermis Advisor and Banner Volunteer lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Ferradermis, Whitewater High School’s FIRST Robotics Team, has been named the Skills Competition Finalist (2nd place in their group of 30 teams) for Infinite Recharge at Home! When you rank all of the teams in the world together who submitted for the challenge, Ferradermis ranks #71 out of 1,302 teams.
FIRST divided all of the teams who opted into this competition into groups of 30, naming each group for an element. Ferradermis competed in the Oxygen Group with teams from 16 states, Turkey, and Mexico. Teams first had to submit technical information on their robot and complete a virtual presentation and interview with a panel of judges before they were allowed to enter the skills portion of the competition. Teams then could select any three of five challenges to record on video and submit for judging. Ferradermis elected to participate in the Power Port Challenge, the Interstellar Accuracy Challenge, and the Hyperdrive Challenge.
For the Power Port Challenge, the team was given 1 minute to score as many points as possible by shooting power cells (yellow dodgeballs) into the circular inner port (3 points) and hexagonal outer port (2 points) of the power port. The team was only allowed to use 3 power cells during the challenge, and only 2 team members could retrieve the power cells and return them to the robot. Many team members took turns practicing as the human players for this challenge, but eventually, team members Drew Swartz and Sterling Truesdale set record time rebounding and delivering the power cells back to the robot while drive team members Reilly Aschenbrener and Elijah Grall operated the robot. Ferradermis’ final video submission showed the robot completing 10 cycles of 3 power cells in 60 seconds hitting 29 out of the 30 power cells in the higher scoring inner port, with the 30th cell hitting the lower scoring outer port. The final score of 89 tied for 12th place in the world.
The Interstellar Accuracy Challenge required that the robot shoot 3 power cells from 4 different distances in less than 5 minutes. Ferradermis was one of 93 teams in the world to score a perfect 45 points on this challenge.
The final part of the skills challenge submission required driver Elijah Grall to traverse four different obstacle courses (barrel race, slalom, bounce, and lightspeed circuit) in the fastest time possible. Elijah’s final time was 49.6 seconds total, placing the team in the top 12% of teams in the world for this challenge.
Ferradermis’ combined final score for all 3 skills was 438.87 out of a possible 450. Many team members spent countless hours fine tuning the robot, running the video camera, and resetting course markers over the course of the skills competition. It was truly a team effort!
For a list of the winners and finalists from all groups, visit the FIRST blog. It is interesting to note that the teams are listed in numeric order by their team number with a smaller number generally meaning an older team. Ferradermis is the 5th youngest team on the list.
Ferradermis thanks all of its generous community sponsors for making this experience possible.
(University of Wisconsin-Madison submission) On April 17, The Alpha Chapter of Wisconsin Phi Beta Kappa President Seth Pollak led the induction of 229 University of Wisconsin-Madison students into membership of Phi Beta Kappa, with past president Catherine Stafford. Whitewater residents Nick Kuzoff, Noah Miller and Connor Steinke were inducted.
Pollak is a professor of psychology professor and Stafford an associate professor of Spanish at UW-Madison. The induction ceremony took place remotely with over 400 participants including inductees, their families, and friends. These initiates embody not only academic excellence but demonstrate by completed coursework breadth of study in the liberal arts and sciences beyond minimal degree requirements. Approximately 5 percent of the Letters & Science senior class is inducted into the liberal arts and science scholar society. The 2021 Phi Beta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to Enrico Fermi distinguished Professor of Physics Sau Lan Wu, who was nominated by senior Yan Qian.
Professor of Astronomy and Dean of the College of Letters & Science Eric M. Wilcots was inducted into membership in Phi Beta Kappa and gave keynote remarks. Undergraduate fellows and seniors Jinan Sous, Xiyu Yang, and Jessica Kuzniewski warmly welcomed new members. Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic society honoring the liberal arts and sciences. Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, ΦΒΚ stands for freedom of inquiry and expression, disciplinary rigor, breadth of intellectual perspective, the cultivation of skills of deliberation and ethical reflection, the pursuit of wisdom, and the application of the fruits of scholarship and research in practical life. Phi Beta Kappa has 290 chapters at leading colleges and universities in the United States. The Society sponsors activities to advance the humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences in higher education and in society-at-large. Recordings of the ceremony will be available on the Phi Beta Kappa site on May 1st, https://pbk.wisc.edu
A Memorial Service will be held to honor the life of Donald “Doc” Kelley on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at Nitardy Funeral Home, 550 N. Newcomb St., Whitewater, WI 53190. A visitation will be held prior to the service at the funeral home from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service.
Donald “Doc” Merl Kelley, 64, Whitewater, passed away at his home surrounded by his family on Sunday, December 6, 2020.
Doc was born on August 14, 1956 in Elkhorn, WI to Lloyd and Irene (Clifford) Kelley. He graduated from Whitewater High School in 1975. On October 2, 1982 Doc married Cindy Lasee in DePere, WI.
He worked for Triebold Implement for 25 years as a semi-truck driver. Doc then worked for the Whitewater Unified School District as a custodian at Washington Elementary School for 18 years. He loved being around the people and the kids. They were like family. Doc was a volunteer firefighter for Whitewater for 29 years. He enjoyed camping, watching the Packers, Brewers and Badgers and the Warhawk football team. Doc was known for the phrase “Hi-ya, Hi-ya”.
He is survived by his wife Cindy, Whitewater; children Natalie (Ryan) Mussack, Prairie Du Sac, WI, and Lauren Kelley, Whitewater; siblings Kay Wall, Florida, Lloyd Kelley, Jefferson, Janet (Eric) Gill, Beloit, Richard (Pat) Kelley, Footville, and Ron Kelley, Whitewater; many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents.
As an expression of sympathy you may wish to consider memorials to the Whitewater Fire Department in Doc’s name. The family would like to thank Alden Estates and Agrace Hospice for the care they showed to Doc.
The Nitardy Funeral Home, Whitewater, WI is assisting the family. Online condolences may be given to the family at www.nitardyfuneralhome.com
(Walworth County submission) Walworth County Public Works is seeking volunteers to help with the removal of invasive plant species at County parks.
On Friday, April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon, volunteers will assist the Lake Geneva Conservancy and Walworth County Public Works with the removal of buckthorn and other invasive species at White River County Park, 6503 Sheridan Springs Rd. in Lake Geneva.
Volunteers can also pitch in on May 8 at Natureland Park in Whitewater. Efforts will again focus on the removal of invasive plant species.
Those interested in volunteering should contact Walworth County Volunteer Services Coordinator Colleen Lesniak at (262) 741-4223, clesniak@co.walworth.wi.us.
For anyone interested in learning about groundwater-fed wetlands, the Kettle Moraine Land Trust (KMLT) is hosting a Seeps, Springs, and Fen Wetlands educational workshop on May 8 at Natureland Park. KMLT’s Greg Rajsky will describe various wetland types, explore wetland functions, and introduce attendees to some of the special species that inhabit the wetlands at Natureland Park. Contact rachel@kmlandtrust.org to register.
White River County Park. Photo courtesy of: Brent Brooks, Walworth County
