News

The “Whitewater Unified School District Welcome Wagon” is available to those living within the district. The program is designed to welcome new families into the district. 

Editor’s note: the following information and graphic have been supplied by the Whitewater Unified School District.

If your family is new to Whitewater or you know of a family who moved here and is looking to learn more about our town and school district please contact our district’s Family/Community Engagement Coordinator, Molly Fuller at mfuller@wwusd.org. She will be able to get them a Welcome Wagon gift bag filled with everything they need to know to feel part of our WUSD family!

Editor’s note: the following information has been supplied by Whitewater Unites Lives.

Miguel Aranda is a WUL Hometown Hero, “For co-founding and serving as co-advisor of the Dream Scholars, which provides financial support for undocumented university students; for his contributions with the City of Whitewater Task Force on Hispanic/Immigrant Involvement, the Community Involvement & Cable TV Commission and the Whitewater School Board; for his leadership in Voto Latino, a group that engages, educates, and empowers Latinos to be agents of change; and for bringing the Mexican Consulate to Whitewater to learn more about how our community can improve and to provide Consulate services to our community.”

Miguel chose to have his picture taken at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Little Red School House, which symbolizes the importance of education for all people. Miguel, who is the University Center Financial Manager at UW-W, strongly believes in education for all, especially children.

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 

Whitewater High School’s Robotics Team Ferradermis took to the field on Saturday, July 24, for one last summer off-season competition and came away champions. Laser Robotics hosted the second ever Laser Lights event at Kettle Moraine High School with 12 robots participating.

Drivers Elijah Grall and Reilly Aschenbrener and Human Player Jazmin Cederberg went 10-2 in their 12 qualification matches, leaving them seeded #1 and able to make the first pick in the alliance selections. Competition Logistics Captain Shane Kinson then invited Team 1259 Paradigm Shift from Pewaukee High School to join our alliance. The final member to join our alliance was Team 6823, USM Robotics, the Wildcats from the University School of Milwaukee.

Behind some great autonomous shooting and a fantastic end-game, the Ferradermis-led alliance defeated the #4 ranked alliance in the best of three semi-finals. The semi-finals were forced to a third match tie-breaker after the #4 alliance implemented an excellent defensive strategy.

The finals matches featured all three teams from the alliance that won the Unofficial State Championship in Manitowoc on July 10, with Paradigm Shift playing on the Ferradermis alliance and Team 8002 The Knack from Lake Country School and Team 6421 The WarriorBots from Muskego High School leading the opposing alliance. The #2 alliance was joined by Team 1792 Round Table Robotics from Oak Creek High School. The Ferradermis alliance quickly defeated the #2 alliance 160-134 and 166-137 in the best of three series to claim the Laser Lights title. Ferradermis also won the inaugural 2019 Laser Lights event. The event did not happen in 2020 due to the pandemic.

A highlight of the day for Ferradermis was having two future members spend all or part of the day with the team. Freshman Onyx Thompson and eighth grader Chacha Binagi were able to spend time in the pit and plan match strategies alongside senior Shane Kinson. The team is looking forward to meeting more new members during boot camp which begins on Saturday, July 31. If any Whitewater High School student is interested in attending the six boot camp sessions, please reach out to Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org.

Ferradermis would like to thank all of the volunteers who made the event possible including alum Gwynne Sahyun for doing field setup on Friday and field reset all day Saturday and alum Rosie Aschenbrener for serving as one of the referees on Saturday.

The new game for the 2022 FIRST Robotics Season will be unveiled on Saturday, January 8, 2022.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

Residents of Fairhaven came out to take in the annual parade through their parking area on Thursday, July 22. Thank you to Tom Ganser for the photos of the event.

By Tom Ganser

John Chenoweth was the featured speaker at the Whitewater Rotary Club meeting on July 13, 2021, at 841 Brewhouse.  Rotarians were also able to attending the meeting virtually, an alternative now offered to members.

Chenoweth began his new role as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on July 1, following his appointment as Dean of the UWW College of Business and Economics.

Chenoweth provided an update on the enrollment challenges UWW faces resulting from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for students and faculty.

He noted that for many new UWW students, a portion of their senior year in high school and their first year in college was largely conducted online so they have never really experienced traditional campus life.  Chenoweth stressed the continuing importance of understanding what kind of college experience students want, both academically and in terms of campus life.

For many faculty, turning to online education opened the door to gaining experience in new technologies that they now can employ to complement face-to-face classroom instruction and that continues a decade long growth of online instruction.

The enrollment in graduate programs that increased due in part to new opportunities afforded during the pandemic, including working from home, is beginning to normal.

Chenoweth shared the approval of two new UWW programs leading to a bachelor’s degree in cyber security and a master’s degree in marketing.

He also noted searches underway for UW-W Chancellor; deans of the College of Education and Professional Studies, the College of Business and Economics, and the College of Integrated Studies (UW-Rock County); and the President of the University of Wisconsin System, currently former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson.

It’s time again for #FlashbackFriday with the Whitewater Historical Society!

This week’s image features a familiar University of Wisconsin-Whitewater scene: the Halverson Log Cabin. Built in 1846 by Norwegian immigrants Gullik and Dorothea Halverson, the cabin was originally located approximately six miles south of Whitewater in Richmond Township. Though the family moved to town in 1861, abandoning the cabin, the building was moved to the Whitewater Normal School campus in 1907. Over the years, the cabin was utilized for social gatherings among students and faculty, as well as a learning center. It still stands on campus today and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society collections!

(1619P, Whitewater Historical Society)

The Whitewater Historical Society collects, preserves, and interprets the history of Whitewater and the surrounding area.

Be sure to join us next week for more from the Society’s collections. Please “like” us on Facebook, and check out our website at whitewaterhistoricalsociety.org!​ 

The following information has been provided by the Dwight Foster Public Library

The Library hosts a monthly group of genealogists that meets the 4^th Wednesday of the month at noon in the FCCU Community Room, 209 Merchants Avenue, Fort Atkinson. They are resuming meeting on Wednesday, July 28. This group offers suggestions on what has worked in research, useful sites for information and ways to organize what is found. There is a core group of researchers who are always willing to help newcomers or casual researchers. Members of the group have worked on personal genealogy, as well as, projects for family and school reunions. Occasionally the group invites a speaker on a topic of interest.

Interested parties are welcome to drop-in to any meeting or come on a regular basis. Contact Amy Lutzke at (920) 563-7790 for additional information.

The image on the homepage, “Geneology #1” by mattlemmon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.