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Class of 2020 Commencement Ceremony

(UW-W Announcement Oct. 19) UW-Whitewater will celebrate the historic 150th class of Warhawks graduating in 2020 in a ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19. While we had hoped to gather in person to honor our students, the ongoing pandemic makes it impossible to safely congregate in large groups, and the Commencement Committee, with the support of the Chancellor’s Cabinet, will instead coordinate a virtual ceremony for the entire Class of 2020.

The combined event will include May, August and December graduates and will feature university leaders, student speakers, the reading of the names of all participating graduates and the official conferring of degrees. 

In order to provide the best possible experience for students and their friends and family members, the ceremony will be presented according to college, each with an estimated run time of one hour, and it will be pre-recorded so viewers can pause the recording to be sure to capture their Warhawk’s moment. An electronic program will also be available for downloading. The diplomas will be mailed out by February 15.

The university will once again offer its popular Warhawks Rising social media campaign, in which graduating students share a photo and highlights from their college experience and offer a shoutout to a faculty or staff member who made a difference in their lives. Graduating Warhawks will receive a link to that campaign via student email later this semester.

Members of the class of 2020: Your journey as our 150th graduating class, one completed under a pandemic, is extraordinary. We can’t wait to celebrate you and your accomplishments on Dec. 19!

Sincerely,

UW-Whitewater Commencement Committee

(Whitewater Unites Lives submission) Patty Harmon is a WUL Hometown Hero “For organizing both the CROP Hunger Walk, which benefits local food pantries, and the Campus & Community Spaghetti Meals.”

Patty said, “What a surprise and honor! Thank you!” 

The nomination includes, “She works hard, along with Mariann Scott, for the CROP Hunger Walk organizing, getting out the word, filing out the paperwork and also creating packets for each walker.  This year with COVID – 19 she has worked tirelessly to make sure that CROP Hunger Walk can still be successful.  Proceeds go to the Whitewater Community Food Pantry, the Warhawk Pantry at UW-W and The Community Space. 

Patty also is the organizer, along with Margie Hammerl, for the Campus & Community Spaghetti Meals.  This is held at the Congregational UCC on Monday nights and feeds the students as well as the community a warm meal of spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and dessert.  This takes a lot of planning to assure that there is enough food for everyone.  Patty always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude.  She is always willing to give a helping hand!”

WUL (Whitewater Unites Lives) is a locally-focused civil and human rights group that works to connect the people in our community and to create opportunities for all people to learn and support each other in our common humanity.   

 Anyone who would like to nominate a local hero of any age should send their nomination, with a short description, to whitewaterunites@gmail.com 

Joshua Kane Visits Virtual Classroom at WHS

On Friday, October 16th, students in Mrs. Camden Harlan’s English 12 virtual class at Whitewater HS were honored with guest speaker, award-winning actor, storyteller, and voiceover artist, Joshua Kane, as part of a residency with UW-Whitewater. Also joining the conversation was Young Auditorium’s Education and Community Engagement Coordinator, Keriann Kirkeng, as well as WHS Associate Principal, Nathan O’Shaughnessy. 

Mr. Kane was wonderfully entertaining and brought a wealth of experience, exuberance, and artistic flair to Mrs. Harlan’s virtual classroom. Mr. Kane reminded students that as they prepare to enter the adult world, “It’s less important to be right, than it is to be kind… You don’t have to be right, you just have to be authentic.” He encouraged students to be the moviemaker of their story every single day; to ask themselves who they are, how they’re handling their camera; to make sure they back up in order to see the whole picture. Full of energy and wisdom, Mr. Kane enlightened students’ perspective on today’s societal issues, the pandemic, their education, and that “silly makes the world go round.”

UWW’s Young Auditorium will be hosting Joshua Kane’s live virtual performance of ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Terror’ on Wednesday, October 21st, at 7 PM. Purchase tickets for the event here.

Social Media Tags:

Joshua Kane:
https://www.facebook.com/NYCActorJoshuaKane
https://twitter.com/JoshuaKaneNYC
https://www.instagram.com/JKaneNYC/

Mrs. Harlan:
https://www.facebook.com/camden.maesharlan/

WUSD:
https://www.facebook.com/WhitewaterHighSchool
https://www.facebook.com/Whitewater-Unified-School-District-WUSD-106839987773143/

UWW:
https://www.facebook.com/Young.Aud
https://www.facebook.com/uwwhitewater

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
October 17, 2020

This very lengthy article provides the following information:

• Updated data on case incidence and positivity in Walworth County and Whitewater. Walworth’s case incidence has significantly declined, in no small part due to declining cases at UW-W. However, with a 7-day case incidence of 25.9, the county is still considered to barely be “very high risk” under the Jefferson County model that Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) is no longer using as guidance. Whitewater’s case incidence, 24.0, is now essentially mirroring that of Walworth County. Meanwhile, Jefferson County is currently reporting an extraordinarily high 7-day case incidence rate of 56. The statewide case incidence is reported to be 44.9.
• WUSD’s current data, which indicates that since September 1 there have been twelve positive cases among students and three staff members. In-person classes resumed fulltime for 4K – 5th grade on September 28; grades 6-12 began a hybrid model on October 12.
• UWWs current data, showing that last week there were only eight students and two staff with positive PCR tests. In the initial four weeks of the semester there had been a total of 371 students and 15 others. In the past three weeks there have been 39 students and 5 others with positive PCR tests.
• Erica Bergstrom, MPH, Walworth County Health Officer, included this note in the county’s Oct. 15 COVID update: “Since March of 2020 Walworth County Public Health staff have managed more than 30,000 COVID-19 test results and 111 COVID-19 outbreaks, this is thousands more communicable disease reports than are typically seen in this county in a year, let alone 7 months. If you interact with a local public health employee please give them your thanks; be they from Walworth County or anywhere else in the state. Their work is difficult and often underappreciated. They’ve maintained dignity and grace in very trying times.  Thank you local public health staff.”
• Per this state website, Walworth County has a “high” COVID activity level, and Jefferson and Rock Counties have “very high” levels. The state as a whole is currently rated in the “very high” activity level. Per the state, “COVID-19 remains very contagious and most people in Wisconsin are still at risk of getting sick from the virus.”
  
  

DAILY CASE INCIDENCE PER 100,000 PEOPLE – WALWORTH COUNTY

End Date	New cases/14 days	Incidence	New cases/7 days	Incidence
9/15	527	38.8	403	59.2
9/22	648	47.7	245	36
9/29	379	27.9	134	19.7
10/5	302	22.2	176	25.9
10/16	308	22.6	176	25.9

DAILY CASE INCIDENCE PER 100,00 PEOPLE – CITY OF WHITEWATER (WALWORTH COUNTY PORTION)

End Date	New cases/14 days	Incidence	New cases/7 days	Incidence
9/15	345	206.8	284	340.4
9/22	419	251.1	132	158.1
9/29	180	107.9	48	57.6
10/17	42	25.1	20	24.0

TEST POSITIVITY RESULTS – CITY OF WHITEWATER (WALWORTH COUNTY PORTION)

End Date	# Tests Reported – 14 days	# Positive	Positivity %	# Tests Reported – 7 days	#Positive	Positivity %
8/22	216	27	12.5%	103	6	5.8%
8/29	240	19	7.9%	128	13	9.2%
9/7	421	77	18.3%	274	60	21.9%
9/20	958	404	42.2%	571	204	35.7%
9/29	663	180	27.1%	236	48	20.3%
10/17	175	42	24.0%	80	20	25.0%

TEST POSITIVITY RESULTS – WALWORTH COUNTY

End Date	# Tests Reported – 14 days	#Positive	Positivity %	# Tests Reported – 7 days	# Positive	Positivity %	% of Those with Positive Results Who Reported being Asymptomatic	Total Deaths
8/22	2386	277	11.6%	1071	112	10.5%	11.4%	25
8/29	1972	210	10.6%	901	98	10.9%	11.1%	27
9/7	1953	228	11.7%	986	129	13.1%	10.9%	32
9/22	2689	648	24.1%	1249	245	19.6%	9.7%	34
9/29	2504	379	15.1%	1255	134	10.7%	9.75%	35
10/5	2189	302	13.8%	864	176	25.6%	9.49%	35
10/16	1803	308	14.6%	1142	176	15.4%	9.47%	36

WUSD is providing the following “COVID Tracking Data” on its website at this link.

COVID TRACKING DATA

On September 23, 2020 the WUSD School Board voted to suspend the utilization of a community level metric.

Below is the cumulative and current number of close contact, symptomatic, COVID positive staff and students.

District COVID Tracking Data Sept 1 – October 14 (updated October 15)
		Cumulative	October 14
STAFF
	Close Contact Positive Person	24	5
	Showing Symptoms	30	0
	Tested COVID-Positive	3	1
	Total Quarantined Staff	57
STUDENTS	Close Contact Positive Person	78	19
	Showing Symptoms	122	44
	Tested COVID-Positive	12	3
	Total Quarantined Students	212
	Totals	Number of Positive COVID Cases	15
	Number of Days of School	32

UWW has established the following dashboard which provides useful information. It is found at this link.

COVID-19 Dashboard

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ever-changing situation and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater actively monitors and reviews a series of health, safety, and resource metrics to guide decision-making with regard to university operations. These metrics are considered in combination and consultation with recommendations and orders from the state and county health departments before any changes in operations are made.

Last Updated 10/16/2020 at 8:15 AM

COVID-19 cases reported to UW-Whitewater

	New reports – Week of Oct. 11 – Oct. 17	Previous week	Cumulative reports since March 2020
Students	8	15	418
Employees	2	1	18
Other	0	0	3
Unknown	0	0	0

Dashboard is updated on business days with available data. Numbers include cases reported through university-coordinated testing, as well as those reported through the COVID-19 Hotline, which may include testing that occurred off-campus through other health clinics/providers. Student employees are counted in the student numbers. The “Other” category is defined as any positive cases reported to UW-Whitewater who are neither students nor employees and may include visitors to the university, contractors or vendors, or others who have been to the university in person.  These numbers represent individuals who have had direct contact with the campuses.  Individuals who are working or attending solely in a remote manner and not living in University Housing are not included.

Regional Metrics

	University Health and Counseling Services (10/1-10/15)	Walworth County (9/29-10/12)	Rock County (9/30-10/13)	Jefferson County	Wisconsin (7-day average)
Percent Positive	24% (30/126*)	11.40%	21.81%	19.8%	20.8%
Time to complete contact tracing	100% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours**	95% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	49% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	Not Available	N/A
Healthcare system capacity level	No crisis management of care	No crisis management of care	No crisis management of care	Not Available	16% Available (Based on Immediate Bed Availability)
Total cases per 100,000	n/a	321.6	573.4	631.8	627.9

*UHCS percentage positive is based on PCR testing performed at the University Clinic site of students only.  Case totals are represented by (Total Positives/Total PCR Tests)

**To avoid duplication, UHCS actively partners with Walworth, Rock, and Jefferson Health Departments.  County Health Departments do tracing of positive cases and UHCS employees do tracing of contact cases. 

Previous 7 days of PCR Tests Administered

PCR* Test Date	# of PCR Tests Administered
10/7/20	8
10/8/20	9
10/9/20	7
10/12/20	6
10/13/20	5
10/14/20	6
10/15/20	4

*PCR testing is conducted on symptomatic individuals and individuals with positive Antigen testing results.

Total All PCR Tests	# of PCR Negative	# of PCR Positive	Percentage Positive
922	706	249	26.1%

Previous 7 days of Antigen Testing Administered

Antigen* Test Date	# of Antigen Tests Administered	# of Antigen Negative Results	# of Antigen Positive Results	Percentage Positive
10/7/20	99	98	1	1.0%
10/8/20	60	58	2	3.4%
10/9/20	60	60	0	0.0%
10/12/20	123	123	0	0.0%
10/13/20	159	157	2	1.3%
10/14/20	62	62	0	0.0%
10/15/20	69	67	2	3.0%
Total All Antigen Tests	2,223	2,161	62	2.9%

*Antigen testing is conducted on asymptomatic and random volunteers.

RIPON, WI (10/15/2020)– Area students were named to various honor societies during the Awards Convocation in the spring of 2020.

Clarice Bergman of Whitewater, Wisconsin was named to the Sigma Tau Delta (English) honor society

Lydia Wiley Deal of Whitewater, Wisconsin was named to the Sigma Pi Sigma (Physics) honor society

Ripon College, founded in 1851, is Wisconsin’s best-value private college and a national leader in liberal arts education, devoted to ensuring every student realizes their unique potential. Ninety-six percent of alumni are employed, in graduate school or student-teaching within six months. In recognition of its academic excellence, the college was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1953, placing it among a select group of the nation’s top colleges. Ripon has the highest earning graduates in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard. Ripon ranks first in Wisconsin and third in the Midwest on Washington Monthly’s list of “Best Bang for the Buck” colleges. The College has the highest minority graduation rate in the nation. Ripon is consistently recognized as a “Best Value” and “Best 383 College” by The Princeton Review and a Top Tier National Liberal Arts College by U.S. News & World Report. For more information about Ripon College, visit ripon.edu.