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Thank you from Washington School’s Annual Family Fun Night Event

Washington Elementary School recently held its annual Family Fun Night event featuring raffles, silent auction, bingo, games, activities such as a dunk tank, Kona Ice, and more!

This annual fundraising event, sponsored by Washington School’s PATT, raised more than $4,800.00.  Proceeds from this event will help fund field trips, student organizations, assemblies, as well as supplies and equipment needed for the school.  We had an amazing turnout and couldn’t have had this success without all of our donors/sponsors.

Thank you to this year’s donors & sponsors!

For a list of sponsors, 

WHS Girls’ Soccer ties Edgerton

From Coach McCrea:

On Friday, May 18, the Whitewater Whippet Girls’ Soccer traveled to Edgerton for a conference match against the Tide. The Whippets, holding a 5-2-0 Rock Valley Conference record, were looking to solidify a third-place regular season conference placement with a win and goal margin to outpace Evansville for the spot behind conference-leading McFarland and second-place Big Foot.

The Tide found the goal in the fifth minute of play to take a 1-0 lead. The coaching staff made some player moves to account for Edgerton’s speed on the flanks and slow down the Tide’s pressure. In the 30th minute, Sierra Brunner scored on an assist by Kacie Carollo. In the second half, Whitewater dominated possession but lacked accuracy on its shot selection leading to a 1-1 tie with the Tide and a fourth place, out of nine, finish.

Whitewater now, 5-2-1, plays McFarland on Monday at Madison College for the first game of the RVC tournament. Play will continue on Thursday when Whitewater will travel to meet the winner of the Big Foot-Evansville match.

Friends of Whitewater Aquatic Center and School District Food Drive

The Friends of Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center (WAFC) is thankful to all of the students from Lincoln Elementary School, Washington Elementary School and Lakeview Elementary School who brought in two canned food donations for the Whitewater Food Pantry in conjunction with receiving a free day-pass to the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center.

“One of our goals is to encourage people of all ages from Whitewater to use the great fitness center and swimming pool that we have right here in Whitewater. The Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center is a treasure, and we are glad that so many children participated in the food drive that will also benefit other people in our community,” said Ron Binning, President of the Friends of WAFC.

Banco Insurance Agency will also donate a pizza party to one class from each school that had the most participants in the food drive.“Banco Insurance Agency is pleased to participate in this great community project that benefits everyone involved,” said Kasey Reed, Treasurer of the Friends of WAFC.

The Friends of WAFC is made up of members of the community who support the WAFC to maintain and improve the services provided with the goal of bettering the lifelong health and fitness of the citizens of the Whitewater area. 2016-17 was a transition year for the Aquatic Center, as Whitewater Parks and Recreation took over running the building. Many wonderful additions happened this year, with new fitness equipment installed, painting, new carpeting, and audio-visual equipment.

The Friends of WAFC transitioned to help with the Family Partnership Fund, which makes the pool and fitness room available to everyone in the community, regardless of income. Families that wish to use the center but cannot afford the fees may apply for financial assistance to join. In addition, the Friends Group worked with the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs to provide towels for members to use in the center. Also, donations were made in memory of a Whitewater resident, making it possible for low-income people to access swim lessons at a reduced price. The Friends group also assisted with a new sign that sits near the tennis court to help direct people to the center.

All membership fees and donations to the Friends of WAFC are processed through the Whitewater Community Foundation, a partner in managing the funds that the Friends raise and distribute to the Whitewater Aquatic Center.
Friends of WAFC can be reached via email at friendsofwac@gmail.com.

Local Tennis Player Reese Brantmeier Selected to Represent USA

Reese Brantmeier (3rd from right in back row) pictured with her Team USA teammates.

Reese Brantmeier, a 13-year-old 8th grader at Whitewater Middle School, and daughter of Scott and Becky Brantmeier of Whitewater, was recently chosen as one of 6 top juniors to represent the U.S. in the qualifying rounds of Junior Davis and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas (16-and-under) and World Junior Tennis (14-and-under), the world’s premier junior team competitions. The events were played April 26-28 in Mexico City.

The North/Central American and Caribbean Final Qualifying rounds consisted of three days of round-robin play, with each matchup consisting of two singles matches and one doubles match. Reese won all her singles and doubles matches to contribute to the Win for the USA team!

WMS Word Masters Challenge Winners

The WordMasters Challenge™ is a vocabulary competition based on completing analogies. Whitewater Middle School has received the final cumulative results from this year’s events.

Congratulations to the top scoring students for the 2017-18 school year. They are: Caleigh Yang, Sophie Walton, Zuri Goldsmith, Henry Mortimer, Liz Ngabo, Jack Cohen, Reese Brantmeier, Madison Strickler, Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman, and Savannah Hill.

Special recognition and a medal go to Caleigh Yang for having the top score at WMS and proving that it does pay to study the words.

WHS Baseball honors Seniors, drops pair vs McFarland

Article and Photo by Nate Parrish

A night after completing a regular season sweep over Jefferson the Whitewater High School baseball team ran into a buzz saw as McFarland swept both games of a doubleheader by scores of 14-10 and 9-0 eliminating Whitewater from the conference title race. Whitewater had several chances after falling behind 9-2 and 11-4 in game 1. They crawled back to 11-10 after 6 innings but McFarland scored 3 in the top of the 7th to put the game out of reach. Whitewater left 9 runners on base and hit several lineouts to end innings with runners on base that could have changed the tide. McFarland had 7 extra base hits and Whitewater committed 3 errors that proved costly. In the second game, Whitewater was held to three hits as McFarland collected 10 hits in a 9-0 final. Coach Pease was very disappointed in the overall performance “We came out flat and fell behind but got back into the game late, just could not get a couple key hits to keep an inning going in that first game. We need to play defense better and pitch better, if we make a couple plays early in the game it changes the momentum, once McFarland got going the hitting became contagious, give them credit for hitting the ball well but we need to do a better job across the board.”

Seniors Jimmy Duval, Bryce Parrish and James Dedrick were recognized for their 4 years in the program as  Whitewater celebrated Senior night. All three were Freshmen when Coach Pease took over as Head Coach and they were a big part of rebuilding Whippet baseball. All three Seniors are 4-year letter winners with Jimmy and Bryce 4 year starters and James a 3 year starter. All three have had various all-conference recognition and are Team Captains this year. Coach Pease would like to thank the Seniors for their leadership and what they have meant to the program. Coach Pease said “All three will hold a special place with me, not just because of the first kids to go all 4 years with the Coaching staff but the type of individuals they are. They are just really good kids that show up and work hard every day to get better and it has been a pleasure to not only coach them but get to know them, they have bright futures ahead of them”.

Box Score (Game 1)

Box Score (Game 2)

Loos Custom Homes to develop 13 lots on the northwestern side of Whitewater

At Whitewater’s City Council meeting Loos Custom Homes of Johnson Creek, through Gremar LLC, announced their purchase of 13 vacant lots on the Northwest side of the City of Whitewater. The Council settled on a Developers’ Agreement for construction to begin this year. The agreement was explained to Council by Public Works Director Brad Marquardt.

“We appreciate the effort the Greater Whitewater Committee put forth to attract single family housing to the Whitewater market, they were very instrumental in bringing Loos here,” Common Council President Patrick Singer said before the meeting. “We want to thank Cory and his team for being willing to invest in our community I think they’ll find a lot of demand so hopefully they can get these built quick and filled.”

The Greater Whitewater Committee, Inc. (GWC) with the help of 25-35 professionals (local bankers, realtors and city officials) created the subcommittee called the Single-family Housing Taskforce. The goal of the task force was to work with the City of Whitewater to market the available lots in the city to housing developers in the area, with the ultimate goal of building more single-family homes in Whitewater. An invitation was sent to approximately 50 developers to attend the Single-Family Housing Taskforce meetings. Loos Custom Homes Director of Land Development Cory O’Donnell responded positively and attended every meeting held. “This will be a great project for Loos Custom Homes and Whitewater,” said O’Donnell. “Since the taskforce sent us a letter asking to join them I knew we would make something work to develop in this beautiful city.”

Groundbreaking is planned to start in August of this year for the 13 lots purchased. O’Donnell said after the initial 13 there is an option to purchase 20 more lots. Development of the 20 more could start as soon as 2019. “First Citizens State Bank is happy to be part of a project that will help meet the needs of our customers and our community,” First Citizens State Bank President Jim Caldwell said. “We hope the project creates local jobs, increases patronage to local businesses and increases revenue to our local governments.” Caldwell also said local realtors have told him the demand for single-family housing is high, but the shortage of those homes in the city has made it difficult for families to move. The task force had its first meeting in November 2017. Over the course of six meetings, the task force was able to develop a plan to increase the amount of single-family housing in the City of Whitewater. The first two meetings consisted of identifying why there was a lack of housing in the city. The meetings informed everyone involved what developers needed to begin construction on the land.

“After the first meeting, it became clear there is a need for more marketing of Whitewater to the surrounding areas and to potential developers for positive projects,” GWC President/CEO Jeffery Knight said. “Whitewater has so much to offer and we’ve shown Cory that, now we need to show others.” Knight also mentioned the amount of land potential Whitewater has to offer developers. He stressed the need to market Whitewater and how the task force achieved that goal. Each successive meeting after consisted of working together to create a plan for Whitewater single-family housing and that led to the Loos Custom Homes’ purchase. Guest speakers attended each meeting to inform the task force of the need for single-family housing or the roadblocks to building in the City that may occur. Guest speakers included: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Economics professor Russ Kashian, Advisors from Ehlers and Associates, Whitewater Neighborhood Services Director Chris Munz-Pritchard, Whitewater Public Relations Specialist Kristen Mickelson and Whitewater Finance Director Steve Hatton. Each meeting ended with a discussion of the next steps and what action needed to be taken to make the City of Whitewater even more successful than what it already is. “This partnership will benefit everyone, and the city will have more homes for its workforce,” GWC Chairman Larry Kachel said. “The GWC couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this task force.”

For more information about the Single-Family Housing Taskforce and the GWC contact Jeffery Knight at jpk@knightpublicaffairs.com or 920.728.0662.

Weather forces changes to two events

Due to rain, wet grass, and colder temperatures, today’s Jazz in the Park concert will be held at Whitewater High School. It is FREE for all, and will be great music!

We hope to see you and your families there.

The FBLA car wash is canceled due to weather conditions.

Willow Brook Golf Course’s Junior Golf Program Registration

Willow Brook Golf Course’s Junior Golf Program starts on June 11th. Lessons will be held on Monday mornings 8:00 am to noon. The program is open to ages 8-17. $50 per participant. A sign-up event will be held Monday, May 21st from 5:00-7:00 pm. Registration can also be done through mail or stop by the clubhouse during regular business hours. More information can be found on their website here: http://willowbrookgolfwhitewater.com

Ron Binning will be in charge of this year’s program. Questions can be sent to willowbrookww@gmail.com or call 262-473-3305.  For a flyer with details, 

Sen. Johnson visits with students at UW-Whitewater

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) experienced the excellence of UW-Whitewater first-hand on Friday when he met with a group of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater economics students who took part in the finals of the national Fed Challenge Competition in Washington, D.C.

The team was the first-ever from a Wisconsin university to advance to the finals and competed against regional winners Harvard University, Pace University, Princeton University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

“I want to thank Sen. Johnson for visiting our campus and spending time with our outstanding students,” Chancellor Beverly Kopper said. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Senator Johnson to the power of a UW-Whitewater education, which provides students with exceptional experiences both in and out of the classroom, giving them the skills to be leaders in their chosen fields and their communities.”

Sen. Johnson held a listening session at the Mary Poppe Chrisman Success Center and was especially interested in hearing from students.

“I always appreciate when our leaders come to our campus to speak with our students,” Thomas Kind, Whitewater Student Government president said. “Sen. Johnson brought up a lot of great things to students, including the importance of being able to argue your opinions and, if someone else has a better argument, being willing to change your mind. I think it is an extremely important quality to understand the skills that develop a person and prepare them for what their future will hold.”

Chancellor Kopper presented Sen. Johnson with a copy of a book that commemorates the 150th anniversary of UW-Whitewater. The campus began a year-long celebration of its Sesquicentennial on April 21. For more information, visit www.uww.edu/150.