Summer Swoosh Basketball Training with Joe Carollo and UW-Whitewater Women’s Basketball Members is for students in 4th through 9th grade. The program will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 10 through August 9th (with no classes July 22-28). Boys will train at Whitewater High School from 12:30-1:45 pm and girls from 1:45-3 pm.
Visit Whitewater Parks and Recreation page for more details (www.wwparks.org).
Band students from Whitewater and Fort Atkinson High School traveled to Memphis and New Orleans over their Spring Break! This trip provided amazing opportunities to experience the birthplace of America’s music- Jazz! Students had three wonderful concerts, at Metairie Manor, historic Jackson Square, and Kenner Discovery health and sciences academy! They received a private performance in the historic Preservation Hall and enjoyed dinner and dancing aboard the Natchez Dinner Cruise. So much history, culture, and Cajun food were enjoyed!
The City of Whitewater may soon have a new tool in promoting economic development within the community.
Last week, Governor Scott Walker nominated two areas of the community to be named as Economic Opportunity Zones (EOZ).
“This new EOZ program allows for private investments to be made, with significant tax benefits, in lower income communities like ours that need a boost to their economy,” said Larry Kachel, Chair of the Whitewater Community Development Authority (CDA). The CDA nominated three Low Income Census Tracts for the EOZ designation. Two of the three were selected by Governor Walker and forwarded on to U.S. Treasury Department for review and final certification, along with 118 proposed zones statewide.
The two proposed EOZs include the portion of the City located in Walworth County, east of Franklin Street and the portion of the City located in Walworth County west of Franklin Street and north of Main Street. To view the EOZ map, 
“Adding the EOZ designation to our economic development toolkit puts us in an even better position to attract new business and jobs to our community,” said Dave Carlson, Executive Director of the Whitewater CDA. The Whitewater CDA also has a revolving loan fund (RLF), a Capital Catalyst fund that provides grants and loans to startup businesses and the ability to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to stimulate development.
The Whitewater Community Development Authority is the economic development organization for the City of Whitewater. It exists to encourage and help people and businesses invest in the City while creating jobs, increasing the tax base, and improving the community’s quality of life.
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Article by Nate Parrish
The Whitewater High School baseball team opened the 2018 season with a win over Brodhead at home by a score of 11-2 (Box Score ). Hunter Martin picked up the win in his first varsity outing by going 3 innings with no hits, 4 walks, and 2 earned runs. James Dedrick came in relief in the 4th inning surrendering 2 hits but no runs on 5 walks. The bats started out a little slow but got going as the game went along scoring 1 run in the 2nd inning, 2 runs in the 3rd and 8 runs in the 5th to break open the game. Jimmy Duval was 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI’s, Dylan Pease was 2-3 with 3 RBIs and Jordan Curtis was 2-4 with an RBI. Whitewater banged out 9 hits during the game. Coach Pease said he was happy to get the first one out of the way and walk away with a win but the team will need to cut down on the walks and hitters need stay off bad pitches early in the count to meet some of our goals. The next game will be Thursday, March 29 at Brodhead High School with 1st pitch at 4:45 pm.
Rock Valley Conference is in its first season having 10 teams and is no longer split into a North and South. The conference is deep this year with 3 teams ranked in the Division 2 Preseason top 10 with other teams looking to make a run at the Conference Title. The conference favorites are Beloit Turner, who lost in the State Tournament last year, Jefferson which lost in Sectionals, Evansville which returns a large percentage of its line up and finished 2nd in the conference last spring along with Whitewater which returns five 1st or 2nd team all-conference players. There are also a number of other teams that bring back experienced players that will want to have a say in how things shake out. It should be an exciting season in the Rock Valley Conference.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team’s doubleheader against Ripon originally scheduled for Saturday has been moved up to Friday, March 30, at 3 p.m. at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium due to anticipated inclement weather in the Whitewater area.
The No. 2 ranked Warhawks recently finished their spring break trip to the RussMatt Invitational in Central Florida with a 6-2 record.
To review the start of the Warhawk baseball season, head over to the UWW Baseball Schedule page at UWWSports.com.
Born in Whitewater on July 30, 1925 to the late Emma and Charles Kitzman, she is survived by her children, Eleanor Kay (Dean) Amhaus, Richard (Laurie), and Robert (Kathleen). Jeanette was also the much-loved grandma to Rena, Andrew, Christopher and Nicholas, and great-grandma to Doran and Adara.
The seventh of nine children, she and her siblings shared a life-long passion for cut-throat card games and a love of music. After her retirement from UW-Whitewater in the late 1980’s, she became an avid quilter and expert nickel slot machine player. The last surviving member of her large family, she was also preceded in death by her husband of almost sixty-eight years, Eugene.
A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 29, at the Congregational Church 133 S. Franklin St. Whitewater, WI., with the viewing at 10:30. Burial to follow at Hillside Cemetery, Whitewater, WI.
Memorials to the Congregational Church would be appreciated.
The family would like to thank the staff of Allay Hospice of Waterford, WI.
The Nitardy Funeral Home, Whitewater, WI is assisting the family, www.nitardyfuneralhome.com
Whitewater FFA and FFA alumni will be holding their annual spaghetti supper on Tuesday, April 3 from 5 pm to 8 pm at the MPR room in the high school. Goodwill donations will be accepted. The funds raised will be used for funding FFA projects.
Charles was born in Eldred, Illinois where he spent his childhood. After high school, he served in the Navy at the end of World War 2. He obtained his B.S. degree at the University of Montana in Missoula and his M.S. and EdD degrees at Montana State University in Bozeman. He taught high school science in South Dakota and Wyoming. He was a professor of Biology and Science Education at UW-Whitewater from 1960 until his retirement in 1989.
He is survived by a sister, his wife Clarice, his children Marcia, Richard and Kerry and 3 stepchildren Susan, Nancy and Gary.
A memorial service will be held later this year in Montana.
Article by Laura Masbruch
Team 6574, Ferradermis, a second year FIRST Robotics Team from Whitewater High School, qualified for the FIRST Championship in Detroit at this weekend’s Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee. There are extensive hurdles that any team must pass to qualify for the Championship, much less a second-year team. Those challenges could not be overcome without other FIRST teams demonstrating the best the organization has to offer.
Ferradermis was founded in 2017 when then Whitewater High School seniors Justin Brantmeier and Roberto Soto, along with teacher Laura Masbruch reached out to other local teams for help. Their first contact was Team 3692, the Rock N’ Robotics club based at Janesville Parker. The Janesville mentors helped the trio navigate into the world of FIRST, and a connection with the Whitewater Makerspace helped make the reality of a team seem possible. Team 1306, Badger BOTS, based in Middleton, led by President and 2017 Dean’s List winner Grace Fanson, immediately jumped in to help. 1306 provided extensive background help and tips on forming and administering a team, as well as advice on how the competition worked. 1306 additionally lent a full drive train for 6574 to use to familiarize the new competitors with the base of a robot to help develop controls and electronics and programming knowledge, as well as scouting support and replacement parts at the 2017 Seven Rivers Regional in LaCrosse.
But help for the new competitor was also provided by other FIRST teams. Two of 6574’s lead mentors are alumni of Team 1259, Paradigm Shift, of Pewaukee. In a fortuitous bit of foreshadowing, at the 2018 Wisconsin Regional this past Friday, 6574 experienced reliability issues across multiple components of their robot, leading to a number of match losses due to the robot shutting down. Numerous teams at the event jumped in to help, lending hands, materials, and parts to get the robot working. Team 2202, BEAST Robotics, of Brookfield, lent a broken 12V pneumatic solenoid to the team that functioned flawlessly after a quick repair. Team 1259, over all three days of the regional, worked to ensure 6574’s continued progress, sending their own students, tools, and components including a replacement gearbox component for the intake mechanism. 1259 mentor Dale Noll, and his son, Ben Noll, provided a combination of electrical and mechanical expertise and support in order to ensure the robot performed at its best. Team 2574, RoboHuskies, of Saint Anthony, Minnesota, lent mechanical hardware and tools on the first day to ensure the team was able to fully integrate newly made parts intended to upgrade the robot. After the team noticed a stripped screw terminal on a motor controller, Team 3418, RoboRiot of Sheboygan County, jumped to offer two spare motor controllers in order to ensure 6574’s conveyor system would function through the eliminations.
All of this help from other teams contributed to 6574’s strong bounce back on day two. The team’s drivers were now able to fill up the vault entirely by themselves with time to spare, cleanly winning all three Saturday qualification matches with the support of their alliance members, as well as a match replay of their last match. Knowing the troubles 6574 suffered on Day 1, and confident in the repairs the new team made to their bot, 1259, the top seed at the Wisconsin Regional, invited 6574 to join their alliance with 2481, Roboteers, of Tremont, Illinois, for the playoff round. That alliance swept through the playoff rounds to claim the Wisconsin Regional, undefeated.
The help of other teams, however, did not end there. Post-match photos courtesy of 1259 were taken and circulated. Team 537, Charger Robotics, out of Sussex, immediately offered their help in preparing a shipping box for 6574 to send their robot to the Championship. So, 6574 Ferradermis goes to the Championship—-but takes parts of many other teams with them, courtesy of the guiding principle of FIRST: Gracious Professionalism in action.
Ferradermis would like to thank the Whitewater community as well for their endless support. The welcome home on Saturday night courtesy of the Whitewater Fire Department was nothing short of fantastic. The department provided team members with a phenomenal cap to a phenomenal day. The Whitewater Unified School District’s support of the young team is also impressive with an immediate assurance that the trip to Detroit would be possible. Ferradermis also thanks our numerous community sponsors without whom none of this would have been possible: Generac, Whitewater Manufacturing, HSI Rentals, anonymous community members, the Kiwanis Breakfast Club, LS Power, First Citizens State Bank, Basin Precision Machining, Hudapack, The Knights of Columbus, and the Salverson Family. Funding from these local sponsors in addition to grants from Pentair, the Argosy Foundation, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction have provided a solid funding foundation for the team.
If you would like to learn more about the team, visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/ferradermis or on the Web at ferradermis.org. The team is always looking for additional adult mentors to help advise on CAD, electronics, or mechanical work. If you are interested in helping sponsor the team or sharing your expertise as a mentor, please contact Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org. To learn more about FIRST or this year’s competition, visit firstinspires.org/robotics/frc. The team is open to all Whitewater High School students at the start of each school year. Go, Ferradermis!
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater gymnastics team will celebrate its 2018 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association championship with a fire truck ride through Whitewater on Saturday, April 28.
The Warhawks will depart from Perkins Stadium at 11 a.m. and be driven through downtown Whitewater.
Fans are invited to line Main Street and cheer on UW-Whitewater as it celebrates its fifth national title in the program’s history.
