How Serving Students with Disabilities Became a Priority Mission at UW-W

Paul Lauritzen rides a bike through campus.
The late professor Paul Lauritzen

(UW-W Press Release) After Paul Lauritzen arrived on the Whitewater State College campus in the fall of 1964 to start a special education program in its college of education, he soon found himself providing informal services for students with disabilities through the admissions office. 

One day he took a call: “I have a student who uses a wheelchair. Can I admit them?” 

Lauritzen said yes — mostly on determination and faith that the campus would make that student their own.

Lauritzen had kindred spirits in many places on campus.  

One of them was Patrick Monaghan, an assistant chancellor and budget manager who helped Lauritzen apply for grants, a principal source of funding for support services and staff. Also in the Chancellor’s Office was Chuck Morphew, a vice chancellor and advocate whose wife, Jane, used a wheelchair as her primary source of mobility from having contracted polio.

With their support, dedicated services for students with disabilities began in 1968.

Then, during the 1970-71 academic year, a force of nature rolled across campus. John Truesdale — by all accounts a “character,” “a tireless advocate” and “a wonderful human being” — arrived to work at Whitewater through a joint project with the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which was founded the same year. He began the college’s Disabled Student Services office, which served about 10 students. 

“That’s something that I think this campus can be very proud of for a number of reasons,” said Truesdale. “Number one being that — well before there was any legal requirement to provide students with disabilities access to programs and services — UW-Whitewater had been doing for quite some time. And, in fewer than 30 years, the university was nationally recognized by student affairs professionals as one of the best programs of its kind in the nation.”

Truesdale and Monaghan succeeded at stitching inclusion for disabilities into the very fabric of the campus mission statement, which is the university’s spiritual governing principle. In 1973, campus administration adopted a mission for serving students with disabilities at UW-Whitewater, and the UW System Board of Regents approved it. That set the stage for new possibilities.

These days it isn’t uncommon to see a wheelchair user hop from their chair into the driver’s seat of a vehicle, disassemble their chair, toss it in the back and drive away. Truesdale promoted the teaching activities of daily living through physical therapy. 

“That’s where you learn to be as independent as you can,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to get a degree and not be able to work. We were going to provide services to help you live and work in a community just like everyone else.”

Truesdale is also credited with starting adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, and even coaching the team for eight years. Curb cuts and ramps for wheelchairs began to appear on campus and around the city well before it was required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. 

Wade James Fletcher, a business major who graduated in 1978, remembers how his wrestling coach, Willie Myers, worked with Truesdale to help keep the campus accessible. Myers had written his graduate thesis on how to prioritize removing architectural barriers to provide access to an institution.

“At UW-Whitewater, Willie was also the director of facilities management,” said Fletcher. In the winter, as part of a work-study project, Warhawk wrestlers worked to clear the snow and ice from sidewalks so that students with disabilities could safely and easily get around campus.

Truesdale’s department grew from a staff of one to more than eight professionals and 50 student employees. The mission to serve students with disabilities has been included in all updated campus mission statements and endorsed actively by every UW-Whitewater chancellor since 1973. 

Looking back, Truesdale credits the success of the Center for Students with Disabilities to colleagues across campus — from faculty who see that an accommodation for a disability can improve learning for all students to the facilities worker who shovels the sidewalks.

By the 1990s, UW-Whitewater was recognized as a best-practices campus and a national model. The program was serving more than 300 students when Truesdale left in the early 2000s. Elizabeth Watson, who served as the director of the Center for Students with Disabilities for the majority of the time since Truesdale retired, remembers her first day as director, when former Chancellor Richard Telfer walked into her office. Telfer then was in transition from provost to becoming chancellor, and he wanted to meet Watson.

“He walked into my office to say ‘hi’ and it was about 20 minutes into the conversation before I realized this was someone important,” she said. “He said, ‘Do you think you could recruit 50 more students (with disabilities) a year?’”

“We left our comfort zone,” said Watson, as her staff began making recruiting visits to secondary schools. Some of the students they met had been told they never would go to college. 

“These students became Warhawks. With CSD services and a campus-wide community, they went on to earn degrees.”

Victor, the service dog of communication major Elizabeth Fideler, enjoys a nap during commencement, held on Saturday, May 19, 2018.

Meanwhile, Telfer and other administrators supported CSD with funding and put Watson at the table during architectural and design decisions. This was a revelation for Watson, who had been used to fighting for the spoils before coming to Whitewater. Accessibility, she said, is expensive. But the commitment was there.

“The university is creating thousands of disability advocates as they translate their college experience into the working world,” said Watson.

Over the years, the scope of the CSD mission has expanded to include services for students who are Deaf and hard of hearing, as well as students who have learning, psychological, chronic health and vision disabilities. The connections around campus extend into each of the colleges and to Warhawk Athletics. The center serves more than 1,200 students a year. And, in 2021, UW-Whitewater was named a Top 5 Mobility Friendly Campus in the nation by Mobility Magazine.

“It’s amazing to think about how the program has given so many graduates who happen to have disabilities the opportunity to live and work in Wisconsin communities,” said Truesdale. “And how UW-Whitewater has succeeded in carrying out its unique mission to develop and provide services for students with disabilities.”

Seeing Stroke Symptoms, Michelle’s 911 Call Helped Save Jim’s Life (Do You Know the Symptoms?)

Jim Schmaling and his wife.
Jim and Michelle Schmaling

Article reproduced from UW Health, with permission of Jim Schmaling

A 50th wedding anniversary is a highly momentous occasion for any couple, but for Jim and Michelle Schmaling of Whitewater, WI, reaching their golden anniversary on April 13, 2021 was extraordinarily meaningful.

About five months earlier, Jim and Michelle were out walking their dogs one early November afternoon when Jim, now 73, suddenly started to lag behind his wife.

“Are you ok?” asked Michelle, after looking back at her husband.

“I’m not going to make it,” was Jim’s frightening reply. Michelle was further alarmed when Jim could not follow her directions to look to his left.

Michelle didn’t realize it right away, but Jim was having a stroke. A large clot in the back of his head was interrupting the flow of blood to the brain, killing millions of neurons each minute and putting Jim’s quality of his life in great jeopardy.

Instinctively, Michelle called 911 right away – a simple but life-saving act that set the stage for a series of events that ultimately led to Jim’s amazing recovery.

Nikki Storm, the Schmaling’s younger daughter, happened to be working that afternoon in the Emergency Room at Fort Memorial Hospital in Fort Atkinson, just 10 miles from Jim and Michelle’s home.

“My co-worker Carole handed me the phone, saying it was my mom,” says Nikki, a health unit coordinator in the ER. “Mom was frantic and out of breath and said my dad was coming to our hospital in an ambulance because he suddenly became disoriented and could not follow her instructions.”

Daughter immediately suspected a stroke

Working in an ER, Nikki immediately suspected a stroke, alerting everyone who needed to know that her dad’s ambulance would arrive shortly. Doctors, nurses, imaging technicians and other staff prepared accordingly to ensure no moment was wasted.

Fort Health Care emergency physician Eric Snell, D.O., met Jim at the door. After observing and examining Jim, Dr. Snell agreed that a Level I stroke was almost certainly the diagnosis. Due to COVID-19 hospital visitation restrictions, Michelle had been keeping in touch from home. (That very month, Jim and Michelle both tested positive for COVID about two weeks apart.)

Brain scans made Jim’s stroke diagnosis official. As not much time had elapsed since his first symptoms, Jim was eligible for a clot-busting intravenous treatment called alteplase or TPA.
Seeing how large Jim’s clot was, Dr. Snell called UW Med Flight, knowing that UW Health – one of just five comprehensive stroke centers in Wisconsin – offered the highest level of medical resources to treat Jim. With Med Flight on the way, Michelle and her other daughter, Laurie Wilson, hopped in the car for the short drive to Fort Atkinson so they could watch Jim’s flight take off for Madison.

Just before he was taken from the Emergency Room to the helipad, Jim looked at Nikki, who took her father’s hand.

“Dad, you’re in good hands,” she said. “They’re going to take good care of you.”

Jim’s speech was slurred, but three words came out in return: “I love you.” Nikki darted across the street to meet up with her mom and sister. All three had lumps in their throat as the Med Flight helicopter whisked Jim into the sky.

“I knew he’d get excellent care at UW”

“It wasn’t easy watching him go, because I’d no longer be with him,” Nikki says, “Still, I knew he’d get excellent care at UW.”

Another good sign, Nikki thought, was learning that the Med Flight physician flying with her dad, Dr. Wade Woelfle, was someone she knew through work.

“Dr. Woelfle works mostly for UW Med Flight, but he also works part-time at our ER here in Fort Atkinson,” Nikki says. “He and I have worked several night shifts together, which made the whole situation more comforting.”

Triggered by Dr. Snell’s call from Fort Atkinson to Madison, UW Health’s stroke team prepared immediately for the likelihood that Jim would undergo a mechanical thrombectomy, a minimally-invasive clot-removing procedure performed by a team consisting of a neurosurgeon, anesthesiologist and an endovascular physician, nurse and technician, among others.

Fortunately, Jim remained stable during the 13-minute flight to Madison, staying awake and lucid enough to understand everything Dr. Woelfle or the Med Flight nurse said. By 4 pm, the helicopter had landed at University Hospital, where Jim was wheeled into the Emergency Department.

Knowing that Jim had a large brain clot, UW Health physicians ordered CT perfusion imaging, which shows how much of the brain is damaged and how much can be saved.

“Most of Jim’s brain was still looking good,” says UW Health neurosurgeon Azam Ahmed, MD. “Given the size and location of his clot, we moved ahead with the mechanical thrombectomy. Similar to a cardiac catheterization, we go in through the femoral artery in the groin, guiding a small catheter and instruments through the arteries until we reach the brain,” says Dr. Ahmed. “Once we reach the right place, we ‘fish’ the clot out,” he says. “It’s like using a stent on a stick.”

The procedure was over shortly after 6 pm, and Michelle was back in Whitewater as the UW Health team repeatedly updated her by phone.

Great relief after clot was removed

“The nurses were awesome,” says Michelle. “Once they told me the clot was out and Jim was doing OK after the procedure, I felt a great sense of relief,” she says. “Once he was in a room, the nurses took all my calls and answered all my questions.”

Jim spent the next four days recovering at University Hospital. On Thanksgiving 2020, he was transferred to UW Health’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Madison for nine more days of physical, occupational and speech therapy. Aside from some vision disturbance in his left eye that ultimately resolved, Jim was doing quite well by the time he came home in early December. He has no memory of the stroke or the four days in the hospital, but nobody considers that a bad thing.

“Most patients improve after we perform a thrombectomy,” says Dr. Ahmed. “About half of them – including Jim – recover dramatically. They arrive in a bad way, unable to speak or move on one side. A few days later, they walk out of the hospital. It’s kind of a Lazarus-like procedure, and when you see people like Jim leave functionally independent, you know you’ve done some good for someone that day.”

Dr. Justin Sattin, a UW Health neurologist who took the original call from the Fort Atkinson hospital, says the entire process worked like a well-oiled machine.

Time is the greatest enemy

“When it comes to strokes, UW Health’s system of care really stands out,” says Dr. Sattin. “Time is out greatest enemy, and we are set up to jump into action on several fronts. Our Access Center, Med Flight team, Emergency Department, our ability to share images among hospitals and our ability to use video to observe and communicate with some of our distantly-located patients all contribute to this capability. Each piece is vital to the task of getting people like Jim here as safely and quickly as possible so Dr. Ahmed and his colleagues can do their amazing work.”

Jim’s case also illustrates how valuable people like his wife, Michelle, are to preserving a stroke victim’s quality of life. As soon as she knew something was wrong, she didn’t flinch.
“Sadly, some people don’t call 911 the way Michelle did,” says Dr. Sattin. With a stroke, there simply is no time to wait it out, sleep it off or even call your primary care doctor. Millions of brain cells die each minute and they cannot be brought back, so recognizing stroke signs and symptoms is absolutely critical to preserving the patient’s ability to function independently.”
Less than two months after coming home from the Rehabilitation Hospital, Jim returned to work. With his vision fully recovered, he also was able to resume driving by April 2021.

“He is back to his usual joking self,” says his daughter, Nikki. “To remember how he looked the day of the stroke and see him now, you really wouldn’t have a clue that anything happened.”

For a couple that just celebrated 50 years of marriage, no material gift could exceed the value of Jim’s remarkable recovery from a major scare just five months earlier.
“We are extremely lucky to reach this great milestone together, knowing that the outcome could have been very different,” says Michelle. “We have so many people both at Fort Memorial and UW Health to thank for making this such a happy occasion.”

BE-FAST: How to recognize stroke signs and symptoms

Each letter in “BE-FAST” stands for an important stroke sign or symptom. If a person shows even one of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately.
B – Balance
E – Eyes
F – Face drooping
A – Arm weakness
S – Speech difficulty
T – Terrible headache

WAA Hosts 12th Annual Fran Achen Photography Competition/Exhibition

(WHITEWATER – May 31) The ever-popular Fran Achen show is back! Join us for our twelfth annual competition and exhibition. The exhibition will take place July 1-25th in both a physical and virtual format.

Amateur and professional artists are invited to exhibit their photography at the 12th Annual Fran Achen Photography Competition. This show is open to all photographers and will be broken down into two categories: “Youth/Teen” (under 18) and “Adult.”

The Whitewater Arts Alliance Board and staff are excited to announce that the 2021 Fran Achen Photography Competition will return to its traditional in-gallery display format. In addition, all of the photographs will appear in the online virtual show.

The Awards Presentation Program and Opening Reception for the Fran Achen Photography Contest will be held live and in-person in the Cultural Arts Center Gallery on Sunday, July 11 with awards to be announced at about 2 p.m.

KEY DATES

Entries & Fees Due: Thursday, June 17th by 11:59 p.m.
Photo Drop-Off: Monday, June 28th, and Tuesday June 29th from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Awards Announcement: Sunday, July 11th at 2:00 p.m. in the Cultural Arts Center Gallery
Viewers’ Choice Award Announcement: Sunday, July 25
Photo Pick-Up: Sunday, July 25th from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

AWARDS

BEST of Show Award: ($125)
Second Place Award: ($100)
Third Place Award: ($75)
Outstanding Youth Award: ($50)
Local Interest Award: ($50)
Viewers’ Choice Award: ($50)

To fill out an entry form and/or to view more details about the show, please visit this link: www.whitewaterarts.org/fran-achen-2021.

Jeff McDonald, chair of the show and former Whitewater Arts Alliance Board Member, said,

The Fran Achen show is truly one of the highlights of the year. Fran Achen was an exceptional photographer, and his catalog of images continues to inspire. This show, organized in his honor, is an excellent opportunity to showcase the outstanding work created by both established and aspiring area photographers. I am always excited to see the many ways these artists interpret the world through their images. Viewing each year’s collection is a real treat.”

A Note About Our New COVID-19 Policy:

In conjunction with the City of Whitewater and the Centers for Disease Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines, the WAA Board recently voted to lift the capacity limits which have been in place during the COVID pandemic. Masks are now optional for fully vaccinated persons; however, masks are still required for those that have not been fully vaccinated.

*We continue to request that persons who have symptoms of COVID-19, persons who have been a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, or persons who are waiting on test results not enter the gallery at all, even with a mask.

The mission of the Whitewater Arts Alliance is to promote the visual and performing arts through an alliance of artists, individuals, educational resources, and organizations to promote creativity and diversity that will serve to educate and enrich the lives of the residents of the Whitewater community and surrounding areas.

Cora Linos Signs Letter of Intent to Play Volleyball at Beloit College

With her parents and sister looking on, Cora Linos signed her letter of intent

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

With about two dozen of her family, friends, teammates, and Whitewater High School staff looking on, Cora Takoda Linos on Thursday, May 27 signed her letter of intent to play collegiate volleyball at Beloit College. Linos is a varsity letter winner in volleyball, soccer, and basketball and a ’21 valedictorian.

In the 2020-21 volleyball season Linos was varsity captain and was selected Most Valuable Player on the team that was Conference and Regional Champion. She was also named to Rock Valley Conference First Team All-Conference as well as Honorable Mention All-State by the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Assocation. Her career ranks #1 for all-time assists (2038 assists), #1 all-time aces (184 aces), #4 all-time digs (841 digs), and #7 all-time blocks (111 blocks). In 2021 she was feated with the Joan Domitrz Above and Beyond Award and the WIAA Female Scholar Athlete.

Academic recognitions include Rock Valley Conference Top-10, Rock Valley Conference Academic Excellence Award, AP Honors Scholar, National School Choral Award, and she is a member of the National Honor Society. Beloit College has awarded her a Presidential Scholarship.

Both of Cora’s parents, James and Jean Linos, are graduates of Beloit College. Jim was her coach in various times in middle school, high school, and club volleyball. Cora already played club volleyball on campus at Beloit last season. She described Beloit’s DIII volleyball team as being in a rebuilding phase. She told the audience that she’s looking forward to making Beloit College her home for the next four years.

Cora with her volleyball teammates and coach Kathy Bullis (first on the left)

Last Bugle Call – Honoring Veterans Who Passed Away Since Last Memorial Day

Reminder: the American Legion is holding a short Memorial Day Observance in Hillside Cemetery on Memorial Day, 31 May, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The location will be in the vicinity of the flagpole in the southern section of the cemetery. Coincidentally this is the same area Memorial Day observances were held before the American Legion Building was constructed 51 years ago.

Home page photo: U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.

Joanne Triebold Himebauch and Vicki and Jeff Hagstotz are Hometown Heroes

(Whitewater Unites Lives submission) Joanne Triebold Himebauch and Vicki and Jeff Hagstotz are WUL Hometown Heroes, “For creating and distributing 163 May baskets for the community, including the residents of Fairhaven.”

Joanne Triebold Himebauch is a Hometown Hero
Vicki and Jeff Hagstotz are Hometown Heroes

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 

No. 5 UW-Whitewater Baseball Earns Spot in Regional Title Game, Today @ 11

By Chris Lindeke
Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Box Score

UW-Whitewater Regional Web Page

The No. 5 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team will play for the NCAA Whitewater Regional championship, clinching its spot in the title game with a 9-4 victory Sunday against Texas Lutheran at Prucha Field at Miller Stadium.

The Warhawks (40-6 overall) will face No. 10 Adrian (Mich.), which defeated UW-W 3-2 earlier Sunday, at 11 a.m. Monday. The winner of Monday’s game will advance to the NCAA Division III World Series, which begins this week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Against Texas Lutheran (30-14), UW-Whitewater jumped out to a 7-0 lead through 4 1/2 innings and held off the 24th-ranked Bulldogs, who drew to within 7-4 thanks to three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and one more in the seventh.

Pinch hitter Ben Wilkins knocked a two-out, two-run triple to right center in the top of the ninth inning to give the Warhawks a pair of key insurance runs. Hayden Fox pitched around a one-out walk in the bottom of the frame to send UW-W to the regional championship game.

Starting pitcher Donovan Brandl earned the win, striking out four over five-plus innings to moe to 7-1 on the year. Connor Moroder tossed the next two innings, and Ben Muscatello pitched a scoreless eighth before giving way to Fox in the ninth.

The Warhawks started the scoring in the top of the second inning on a two-out, run-scoring single through the left side by catcher Ryan Norton. In the third, Brandl hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded for an RBI, and left fielder Matt Korman hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 advantage.

In the fourth, second baseman Sam Vomhof hit an RBI double off the wall in left field, and third baseman Tucker Criswell drove a two-run homer deep out to left field to make it 6-0.

Centerfielder Zach Campbell added another run in the fifth with a run-scoring double down the left field line.

Texas Lutheran put a pair of runners on base with two outs trailing by three in the eighth, but Muscatello induced a flyout to end the threat.

In the first game of the day against Adrian (35-8), UW-Whitewater trailed 1-0 after the Bulldogs plated a run in the top of the fifth, but took the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run single through the left side by shortstop Nick Santoro.

Adrian retook the lead in the top of the ninth with a pair of runs. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch runner Eric Hughes was thrown out on a close play at the plate trying to score on Norton’s fly ball to right field.

Connor Spear took the tough-luck loss on the mound, striking out seven over eight innings of work and falling to 6-1 on the year.

Santoro led the offense with three hits, and Korman tallied a pair of doubles and one run scored.Brandl and Wilkins also added hits.

Kyle Hunter Recognized for A “Best Book Cover of April”

Kyle Hunter

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

Kyle Hunter, son of Lyle and Dawn Hunter, is a free lance book cover designer. He often creates covers for Gray Wolf Press authors.

Literary Hub recognized Kyle’s design of the cover for Let Me Think, by author J. Robert Lennon, in an article titled, “The 11 Best Book Covers of April.” Literary Hub describes itself as follows, “Literary Hub is an organizing principle in the service of literary culture, a single, trusted, daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of contemporary literary life.” The winning cover is reproduced below, together with the comments from Literary Hub about Kyle’s work.

Two books featuring Kyle’s covers were also featured in an April article titled, “Here is Fiction as an Escape Room, Packed with Mysteries,” in The New York Times. Once again, Let Me Think was one of the featured books, together with Subdivision, also written by J. Robert Lennon. Both books are published by Graywolf Press. Kyle wrote to his parents, “Two of my all-time favorite covers just showed up in The New York Times! I worked on these right at the beginning of the lockdown. Maybe it shows.” The cover of Subdivision is also shown below.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is let-me-think-683x1024.jpg
J. Robert Lennon, Let Me Think; cover design by Kyle G. Hunter (Graywolf, April 6)

Comments on Lit Hub: It’s pretty rare to see a book cover with this much text on it, never mind the titles of all the stories in the collection, so this is worth including for that reason alone. What I want to know but cannot figure: what shape emerges when you connect all the dots?” A reader named John answers the question this way, “The let me think cover makes a rotary telephone. Thank you microsoft paint.”

This Week’s City Meetings

City of Whitewater Common Council – Tuesday @ 6:30 p.m.
This will be an IN-PERSON MEETING as well as a VIRTUAL MEETING
Agenda includes amendment to charter ordinances regarding CDA; approval of liquor license pursuant to Alcohol Licensing Regulation Committee recommended agreement with conditions for GAC Enterprises, d/b/a Pumper’s and Mitchells; agreement with Bird Rides, Inc. (e-scooter rental); discussion regarding open council position; Negotiation of sale of property near roundabout (Lot 2 of Certified Survey Map No. 4054) to Midwest WI, LLC – Dollar General
Citizens are welcome (and encouraged) to join us in person, or via computer, smart phone,
or telephone. Citizen participation is welcome during topic discussion periods.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/92732435228?pwd=WnpCTE9NT0txVnFEU3VqZDhKMlJsZz09
Passcode: 342502
Or Telephone:
Dial
US: 1 312 626 6799 or 1 929 205 6099
Webinar ID: 927 3243 5228
Passcode: 342502

Irvin L. Young Memorial Library Board of Trustees Meeting Agenda Board of TrusteesWednesday @ 6:30 p.m.
Agenda includes library building project
ONLINE
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87579824936?pwd=V04xZi9nSzVvSzB3TEtjV0dUSjFBUT09
Meeting ID: 875 7982 4936
Passcode: HrRi6z9W
Dial1 312 626 6799 US


City of Whitewater Landmarks CommissionThursday @ 3:30 p.m.
Agenda includes Effigy Mounds Preserve – Report on application to WSHS Preservation Office to disturb a burial
mound site (clean-up of storm damage to Preserve); Availability of grant funding; Major concerns to be addressed regarding the Effigy Mounds Preserve and its maintenance and possible assistance from outside agencies; Meeting with Chris Bennett and Building Inspector regarding Local Landmark properties
Virtual Meeting Arranged and Hosted by Olivia Pratt
Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/229083613
You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (872) 240-3412
Access Code: 229-083-613
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting
starts: https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/229083613


Two Whitewater Submissions Earn Best in Show Honors at the Best of the Midwest Media Fest

Article Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Banner Volunteer

Greg Stewart accepted a Best in Show award on behalf of Whitewater High School during the Best of the Midwest Media Fest Awards Show on Thursday, May 27, for the video production of the 2020 WHS Commencement Ceremony. The fest’s purpose is to recognize producers working in the field of community media.

This year, 56 judges evaluated 194 programs that were entered from five states including Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Kansas, awarding 16 of those programs Best in Show in various categories. Award levels included Best in Show, Award of Excellence, Award of Achievement, and Merit Award. The WHS graduation video was recognized as Best in Show for an amateur production by a school.

The video celebrated the WHS Class of 2020 who had a creative, non-traditional graduation celebration during the pandemic with their senior car parade through a staff-lined school parking lot, a horn-honking yard sign delivery, individual online tributes, an opportunity to walk across an outdoor stage to receive their diploma (and a free personal graduation cake courtesy of the Sweet Spot), and a virtual ceremony.

The graduation video was produced by teachers Kate McNulty and Laura Masbruch with extensive video editing done by McNulty, Masbruch, John Houwers, and Kloe Devitt. Stewart and retired band director Don Deal contributed to the audio editing. Video footage, drone footage, and still photography were provided by Andy Rowland, Tom Ganser, Masbruch, Houwers, and Stewart. Performances and speeches in the video were given by Class of 2020 members Lauren Harkness, Abby Grosinske, Josie Hintz, Cassidy Laue, Brianna Zimdars, Caroline Crowley, Hailey Murphy, Mina Truesdale, and Emma Van Daele, as well as Principal Mike Lovenberg.  Angela Hoag provided the sign language interpretation. Thank you to all of the members of the Class of 2020 who provided photos and videos for the diploma pass and the cap toss and the staff members who provided photos and videos of well-wishes for the graduates.

The school would again like to thank Nelson Bus (Dave Nelson, Chris Arnett, Beth Babcock, Joe Melito, Stephen Kessler, Kelsee Tipton, Karl Ludeman, and Matt Hounsell) for their work positioning the school buses one afternoon in May, 2020, to form the large 2020 in the central office parking lot, which became a highlight of the video. 

The 2020 graduation video can be found at https://youtu.be/an2YCAyh6FU with the bus portion beginning at 52:50.

The Best of the Midwest Media Fest Awards Show was also a big night for Whitewater High School alumni, as Michael Hilliger won a Best in Show award at the professional level for his “Gems of Whitewater” series. Haley Dieter received an Award of Achievement at the professional level for the “Whitewater Strong PSA” produced for Whitewater Community TV, and Zach Popke and Andra Matthews received Merit Awards for their Whitewater Community TV productions of “Parades of the Past” and “Amphitheater Grand Opening” respectively. Congratulations to all!