(UW-Whitewater Press Release) As the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater welcomes students for the fall 2020 semester, the process for moving students in to the residence halls will look different this year.
An Extended Drop-Off Only will take place Aug. 21-29, replacing the traditional Move-In Day, helping to ease the move-in process for students and their families and to allow for social distancing. The number of time slots that will be available during each period will be limited for each building, reducing the long lines waiting for key pick-up, parking in unloading zones, and any congestion in stairwells and elevators. Everyone will be required to bring and wear a face covering.
“Safety is and remains our main concern and we have worked with the local health departments on this matter. Both the Jefferson and Walworth county health departments were consulted prior to this decision being made,” said Chancellor Dwight C. Watson. “Additional steps will be taken to help keep our students as safe as possible in the residence halls including additional cleaning of the common bathrooms, among other actions.”
The residence halls will continue to host two students per room, unless single accommodations have been requested and are available. Students will be able to move all their personal items in during their designated period. Those who sign-up for dates prior to Thursday, Aug. 27, are expected to return home until Aug. 30, unless they are approved for early arrival.
“Our traditional faculty, staff and student assistants will not be a part of the extended drop-off this year to help keep our students and their families safe. This is disappointing news to many of you who so enjoy welcoming our students and their families. We will work to provide other ways to make our Warhawks welcome,” Watson said.
Students will receive detailed information on the Extended Drop-Off Only process from University Housing in late July.
by Lisa Dawsey Smith Whitewater Banner Staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
Recently my 77 year old mother-in-law came to live with our family after her husband passed. Rather unexpectedly I’ve become a caregiver. An added layer to this situation is that my mother-in-law is living with dementia. Very quickly I’ve realized how vital support is for those who are in this situation and I wanted to share, or re-share some information that I and my family have found helpful as we navigate new challenges that also happen to be in the midst of a global pandemic.
As found in the Seniors in the Park newsletter:
Caregiver Support Groups Access to support groups is by phone or online.
New! Virtual Event Listing for Caregivers This is a one-stop-shop website for all caregiving support groups, virtual events, memory cafes, etc. at the wisconsincaregiver.orgwebsite. If the link doesn’t take you to the correct page, click on Family Caregiver Support, then Virtual Events for Caregivers.
I’ve heard a lot of advice to make sure that I’m caring for myself so that I can care for my mother-in-law. That is finally hitting home as I realized how quickly I lost weight and found my own health beginning to suffer (it’s only been a matter of weeks!) So I have this website open on all of my computers to remind me how vital caring for myself is as well. And I’d also like to dish that advice back out to anyone who may need it: Please take care of yourself with the same dedication with which you’ve been caring for your loved one.
See the Show ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Cultural Arts Center Gallery will be open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend to view the show in-person before the show closes on Sunday afternoon. Please review the hours and safety information posted online at whitewaterarts.org
If you haven’t already, please take a look at the virtual show, the award winners, and the video presentation where the judges review all of the awarded photographs.
Viewers’ Choice Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have until the wee hours of Sunday, July 26 to cast your ballot for the Viewers’ Choice Award. Voting will be open until 7 a.m. that morning and will be announced on the website that afternoon. A link to the online voting page may be found on the Virtual Show page which is listed above.
Here’s looking forward to seeing you (in person) next year!
Retired Middleton Senior Center Director Jill Kranz has been collecting and wearing costume jewelry for over 50 years. She has antique jewelry, items purchased at comiccon, when she travels, and often what is unique and interesting. Join her when she highlights some of her collection over Zoom.
When the Wisconsin Safer at Home order was put in place, Jill started sharing her jewelry on Facebook as a fun way to help folks get through the day. Through half of March and all of April, Jill highlighted some of her various collections each day.
During our Zoom meeting, Jill will show us two of her many jewelry boxes and five small collections of jewelry, including a collection of Mickey Mouse and Disney jewelry! Register online at https://schedulesplus.com/wwtr/kiosk/ or call the office. A link to zoom will be sent to you.
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (July 24, 2020) – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville announces its Dean’s List, honoring those full-time students who earned high honors in the spring 2020 semester.
Students earned the honors at the three campuses: UW-Platteville, UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County and UW-Platteville Richland. Those students earned the high honors while making the quick transition from in-person classes to alternative delivery in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture and the College of Liberal Arts and Education require grade-point averages of 3.75 and above for Dean’s List honors, while the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science requires students to reach at least a 3.50.
UW-Platteville has been named the best public institution in Wisconsin for annual return on investment for the fifth consecutive year by Payscale and was just named the best public university in the country for getting a job, according to Zippia.
UW-Platteville, founded in 1866 and located in Southwest Wisconsin, is home to approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students. For more information on the university visit www.uwplatt.edu.
Students from this area on the Dean’s List include:
Whitewater, WI
Autumn Bultman, Elementary Education Emily Heckert, Animal Science Sydney Treder, General Engineering
Per a press release issued by UW Whitewater – The following students were selected as recipients of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater University Writing Awards.
Whitewater, Wisc. — Veronica Johnson, majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, has received the Distinguished award in the Group Projects category or categories for the piece titled An Evaluation of Real-Time Captioning Applications in Simulated Classroom Environments.
Whitewater, Wisc. — Jessica Boegel, majoring in psychology, has received the Superior award in the Critiques or Reviews category or categories for the piece titled Brokeback Mountain Final.
“Each year, instructors nominate outstanding work in a wide variety of genres ranging from essays and research papers to business emails, poetry and personal reflections,” said Elizabeth Hachten, assistant dean of the College of Letters and Sciences. “This year, the Writing Awards Selection Committee’s task was particularly difficult as we received a record 56 submissions. In the end, 22 students were chosen to receive awards in nine categories: creative writing, expository essay, group projects, journalistic writing, professional writing, personal reflection, research paper, reviews and critiques and first-year writing.”
“We congratulate this year’s winners on the effectiveness of their writing and encourage them to continue polishing their skills in the years to come,” said Hachten.
By Lynn Binnie Whitewater Banner staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
The Whitewater Unified School District School Board has had several long, weighty meetings in the past two weeks as they have wrestled with difficult decisions about how to safely open the school year in the midst of a pandemic. It’s evident that the administration and board members are not united in their understanding of the decision that they made at their July 27 meeting, and are likely to clarify and/or revise that decision in their meeting this Monday, August 10. Below we will attempt to summarize the developments beginning on July 27.
Monday, July 27 Regular School Board Meeting: The administration proposed to begin the school year with a “fall instructional model” that would be primarily “virtual” for the first four weeks. Under the plan, 1/4 of the elementary students would each attend in-person learning with 4-8 students on the days of Tuesday – Friday from 12:30 – 3:00 p.m. 4K students would be in school two mornings or afternoons per week. Middle School and High School students would only attend a single orientation session during the first week of September, and then be online for the rest of the month. Special arrangements would be made for ELL students, those who are at risk, and those who are unengaged by online learning. All students from 4K through high school will be provided a Chromebook. Families without Internet would be provided a hotspot. Meals will also be provided for those students needing them on days when they are not present in school. Each Friday the district would report on data such as positive COVID-19 cases in the counties. On September 28 the Board would make a decision about whether to proceed to a second step in the plan for the month of October.
The board listened to approximately fifteen citizen comments, with opinions on the proposed plan being very mixed. A number of parents spoke of their strong desire for their children to return to fulltime in-person instruction on September 1.
The board on a 5-2 vote accepted an amended motion which accepted the administration’s recommended model for two weeks instead of four weeks. It was indicated that by the end of that period the board would decide whether conditions were right to proceed towards full face-to-face instruction. Although it was stated that the board would need to meet frequently in the coming weeks, there was no decision on when a plan for the second portion of September would be approved.
Wed., July 29 Special School Board Meeting: This meeting was scheduled primarily to address items that had been on the agenda for July 27 but had been postponed. However, it had been indicated that the board would also revisit their decision on reopening. The item did not get added to the publicly noticed agenda, and consequently the board was unable to discuss the fall instructional model.
July 31 Memo to parents: Parents were notified by the District Administrator of the fall instructional model that would be in place for September 1-11.
Mon., August 3 Special School Board Meeting: This meeting’s agenda included an informational presentation regarding the fall instructional plan, but it was indicated that no board action would be taken. District Administrator Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty stated that she recognized that everyone involved is feeling frustration, urgency, and respectful anger, but it was her belief that “we’re all in this together,” and “it’s not us vs. them.” She reported that a staff survey conducted after the July 27 board meeting found that of the 199 staff responding, 93% said that they would return to school for in-person instruction for the first two weeks based on the adopted plan. 89% said they would return if a “hybrid AB model” was selected thereafter, with 78% saying they would return if a fulltime in-person model was adopted. Thus far 200 online registrations had been received for the fall, with 72% of parents indicating that they planned for their children to participate in the model.
Dr. Pate-Hefty indicated that Jefferson County has hired an epidemiologist who has provided guidance for school reopening. Neither Rock or Walworth County has provided any such guidance. Jefferson County recommends that school not reopen on an in-person basis if the county COVID test positivity level for the past two weeks exceeds 8%. Some counties and/or school districts are using a 5% threshhold. Once the level drops below 8%, it is recommended not to return to school unless the level continues to decline and remains under 8% for 14 days. Walworth County’s positivity level was reported as 8.6% for the period of 7/12-25. Dr. Pate-Hefty indicated that if a teacher or student in a classroom receives a positive test result, that person will have to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days, and the class will be shut down for three days, regardless of the use of facial coverings. If there are three cases in a building, the entire building will have to go to virtual learning for three days, and contact tracing would take place. It is also possible that the county could order the entire district to close down in certain circumstances.
Well over an hour of citizen comments were heard, including from many teachers and other staff members. A number of teachers expressed a desire to return to fulltime instruction as soon as it is safe to do so, but most did not feel that that time has yet arrived. A number of the comments expressed the opinion that parents need to know the instructional plan for more than two weeks at a time, and must have advance notice when a change is being made. There were also comments to the effect that two weeks’ experience of an instructional model would not be sufficient time inform a new decision. It was after these comments were received that the board appeared to be uncertain as to exactly what had been decided on July 27. Member Thayer Coburn’s understanding was that the board planned to give a month’s notice for any change, and he thought that the board would meet in mid-August to decide on the plan for the second half of September. Although the agenda did not allow for any decisions to be made, there appeared to be support for revisiting the board’s direction at its special meeting on Monday August 10, at which time an epidemiologist update, consideration of the Jefferson Country matrix, and timeline clarification are on the agenda.
Thursday, August 6: The school district, the city, and the university took part in an online Town Hall. In her comments, Dr. Pate-Hefty stated that the district would be using a virtual hybrid model from September 1-30, and the board would be making a decision at its September 14 meeting regarding the plan beginning on October 1. A Banner staff member submitted a request for clarification on that statement, which was conveyed to Dr. Pate-Hefty but not addressed in the town hall. After the meeting the Banner received an email from her indicating, “There was confusion on the motion. We had to clarify last week and will also be clarifying at this week’s meeting. The intention was to pass the plan for one month, however, they will review that every two weeks. Sorry for the confusion.” However, on Friday, in response to a request for further comment, Dr. Pate-Hefty told the Banner that after listening to the video of the July 27 board meeting, it was confirmed that the board had only authorized the virtual hybrid plan for two weeks. She indicated that the board would be clarifying their plan at the August 10 meeting. Added at 8:45 a.m. on 8/9: Also on Friday, in an email to the Banner, Casey Judd, School Board President, stated, “Upon rewatching the July 27th meeting, the motion was to approve a two week plan with a review at that time….Clearly the Administration needs to have a plan beyond the first two weeks. The biggest issue here is that the board only approved a two week plan and we can make that clear on Monday when we approve the timeline. The board will review the two week plan that we approved, along with any other recommendations that administration wishes us to consider at the August 10th meeting.”
Monday, August 10: The board will hold a special online meeting at 6:00 p.m. As is indicated above, the agenda includes an epidemiologist update, consideration of the Jefferson County matrix, and timeline clarification.
Joan Marie Wagie was called home by the Lord on July 23 , 2020, following a brief illness. Joan passed away in her Adult Family Home in Janesville, WI.
Joan was born on February 13, 1947, in Whitewater, WI to Walter “Butch” and Jean (Ebert) Wagie. At 18 months old Joan had measles, which led to a high fever that caused complications resulting in intellectual and physical developmental disabilities. She lived at home with her family until 11 years old at which time she was placed in various facilities and homes that could better address her special needs. Her family was always there to visit and support her through the years. Joan was a true example to all who knew her that we can find joy and meaning in our day no matter what our circumstances happen to be.
Joan was preceded in death by her parents, two nieces Stacie Lee Rogers and Nicole Marie Wagie and her great niece Payton McKinney. She is survived by her brother William “Bill” (Jane) Wagie and sisters Dorothy (Stan) Waga, Eileen (Fred) Laatsch, Mary (Russ) Rogers and Betty (Dave) Schelb. Joan is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews and cousins. Private services will be held with her family in attendance at a future date. Internment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Whitewater.
Joan’s family would like to thank Dawn and the Aptiv home care staff for their compassionate care and the Aptiv Day Service program for the activities they provided her which added quality to Joan’s life. They also thank Agrace Hospice service for helping care for Joan in her illness. Joan’s family is also very grateful to Father Mark and St. Patrick’s church.
In lieu of flowers Joan’s family would like to suggest a donation to Agrace Hospice of Janesville, Saint Patrick Catholic Church of Whitewater, the Alzheimer’s Association, or to a charity of your choice.
Photos provided by Whitewater Fire Department; photographer unknown
At 3:34 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, the Whitewater Fire Dept was dispatched to a report of a barn fire on Scharine Rd, later updated to be 2 sheds. Upon arrival, crews encountered heavy fire in both sheds with a grain dryer shed also catching fire. Numerous other structures were threatened and crews were initially hampered by down wires on 2 sides of the structure .Crews were on scene for about 2.5 hours and were able to save the grain dryer and most of the dryer shed. All other exposures were protected including a grain bin very close to the fire. 2 sheds and numerous pieces of farm apparatus were lost in the blaze. The cause of the fire is believed to be a skid steer in one the structures. Damage estimates are not available at this time. We would like to thank the following Fire Departments/Agencies for their assistance. Lauderdale LaGrange, Town of Delavan, City of Delavan, Darien, Troy Center, Elkhorn, Lake Geneva, Milton, Hellenville and WE-Energies.
By Jeff Angileri UW-W Director of University Communications angilerj@uww.edu
White clover blossoms spread carpetlike as Emily Peters and Ashley Roscoe walk one of the grassy trails through the prairie at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Nature Preserve. As student workers, they know the prairie well — they pause to pull the occasional weed and to indulge their sense of wonder.
A movement in tall grass next to the trail catches Ashley’s eye and she pounces, untroubled about grass stains to her bare knees. She cups her hands around an unseen quarry but comes up with only clover blossoms. She sifts again, and there it is. A frog, tan and tiny as a fingernail, scrambles to get away. After inspecting the frog and showing it to Emily, Ashley lets it go. It burrows into grasses, incognito once again.
Off the trail, bright prairie flowers and wavy grasses taller than a person extend down a slope toward a pond as two cranes fly above. Almost as invisible as the frog and interspersed with the beauty is a small blue flag marker. Approaching it, the students kneel, pull back plants competing for sunlight, and reveal a small swamp milkweed. This is the reason they are here.
Milkweed is like a tree of life to the monarch caterpillar, and it benefits many other pollinators as well.
“Over the past year, we did our campus Sustainability Month based off of pollinators,” said Emily, a biology major from Sussex, who then was a student worker in UW-Whitewater Sustainability. “We did an ‘Importance of Pollinators’ display in the library and other events. Much of it was to promote a (honey)bee hive, which we now have on (the far eastern edge of) campus, but also other pollinators in this area because so many of them are at risk.”
In the unforgiving arithmetic of nature, pollinators equal our survival. In June 2019, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue declared a “National Pollinator Week” to raise public awareness about crashing pollinator populations. Pollinators — bees, butterflies, myriad other insects, birds, bats and even animals — are a vital part of agricultural production for the global food supply.
Emily led the effort to win a Monarch Waystation designation for the prairie from Monarch Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education, conservation and research for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators.
“I found the Monarch Waystation program a while ago,” she said. “I was looking into them because of the campus garden, but then I saw that they do the grant program for reconstruction of prairies for pollinators. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s perfect!’’
To earn the designation, she applied for a grant and won a contribution of several hundred plants representing a $1,000 in-kind donation to the university. Emily remembers traveling to campus as a child with her mother, then a nontraditional student working on an art degree. Winning the contribution for the place which became a second home when she was a child felt especially good.
“Because of the size of our prairie, we were able to get 400 milkweed plants,” said Emily, who coordinated the planting and marking of the plants. “They were from a nursery in Broadhead, so they are local genotypes as well.”
While common milkweed was already abundant on the prairie, the new plants will add to the wealth for pollinators and further the restoration effort.
“Monarchs are the one recognizable figure that everyone wants to help,” said Wesley Enterline, sustainability director in the campus Facilities, Planning and Management Office. “But by helping monarchs, you end up helping a lot of these other pollinators at the same time.”
Emily now is a restoration intern for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. She plans to continue her plant management work in the fall as Ashley, now a sustainability intern at UW-Whitewater, develops trail maps and interpretive signs to tell visitors about the prairie habitat. Both will work with Josh Kapfer, an associate professor of biological sciences, who will advise Emily on plant selection and Ashley on interpretive information for her signs.
Ashley, who has taken over checking on the milkweed plants, also runs a stream monitoring program and works in the campus garden. Both Warhawks are links in a chain of dedicated student workers who leave their mark at the university by helping to monitor stream quality, grow food, harvest and sort prairie seed and create and staff educational programs.
“I want to do government conservation work,” said Ashley. “I would love to do full-time GIS (Geographic Information System) work collecting data, but I want to be in the field. I think government conservation work will let me do that. Working for the National Park Service would be insane — that would be incredible.”
Enterline said the current prairie restoration, which is located east of the Nature Preserve’s pond, is about 30 acres, leaving around 50 more acres for restoration. The prairie has become an outdoor classroom for many campus academic classes and projects. Cross-country runners practice on the trails. The public is welcome to experience its trails as well.
“The management plan will be an ongoing thing,” he said. “Ten years in the life of a prairie is nothing. This will outlast all of us, hopefully.”
