The students had a great learning opportunity that brings their 7th grade Social Studies curriculum to life.
Highlights of the trip included a bicycle tour of DC’s memorials at night, visits to the African American and Holocaust museums, and a Broadway show.
To see full details and photos of their adventures, check out the trip blog at wmsindc2018.blogspot.com.
The City of Whitewater learned today that it has received Federal approval for two proposed Economic Opportunity Zones (EOZs) in the community. The EOZ designation, which will provide an additional economic development tool in the City of Whitewater, was created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which Congress passed late last year and President Trump signed into law.
“We’re very excited at the quick approval of our two EOZ nominees given by US Treasury Secretary Robert Mnuchin,” said Dave Carlson, Executive Director of the Whitewater Community Development Authority (CDA). Governor Walker had included Whitewater’s two nominees as a part of a broad list of 118 sites statewide which were forwarded to Secretary Mnuchin in late March.
“This has the potential to spark some much needed growth in our community,” said Larry Kachel, Chair of the Whitewater CDA. “The EOZ program will allow certain investment gains to be redirected, with significant tax savings, into economic opportunity funds which will make investments in communities like Whitewater.” Investors will be able to earn permanent tax savings on the original capital gain based on how long they keep it invested in the economic opportunity fund.
“The details of how the program will operate still need to be ironed out in Washington D.C., but we are excited to be adding this new program to our economic development toolbox,” said Carlson. “We’ll begin working right away with developers who may wish to do projects in Whitewater based on the addition of this new incentive.”
The two Whitewater EOZs include the portion of the city in Walworth County east of Franklin Street and the portion of the city in Walworth County west of Franklin Street and north of Main Street.
Timmerman Auditorium in the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Timothy J. Hyland Hall hummed with nervous energy during the Midwest High School Pitch and Warhawk Business Plan competitions on April 4, 2018.
For the second year, the evening led off with the high school pitch competition—the only event of its kind in the Midwest where aspiring young entrepreneurs receive feedback from judges and vie for cash prizes. The competition was developed to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in high school students while advancing their business model development and professional presentation skills.
Each student or team had six minutes to present their business idea to the panel of judges, who asked follow up questions, provided feedback, and evaluated the presentations for content and delivery.
Claire Darmstadter from Sun Prairie High School, Mike Henry from Parker High School, and Mathew Hall from the Elkhorn Area High School earned first, second, and third places, respectively. Madeline Eggert and the team of Margaret Mroch and Diamond Orin, all from the Elkhorn Area High School, also presented their plans.
The high school pitch event was followed by the collegiate Warhawk Business Plan competition, which was started in 2007 to help UW-Whitewater student entrepreneurs transform their ideas into startup businesses. The finalists ranked in the top three split $2,250 in prize money to help advance their start-ups.
Entrepreneurship major Sam Lepak and business partner Evan Laird were awarded first place for their start-up Pintful, entrepreneurship major Ben Breitenbucher was awarded second place for Breit Innovations, and communication major Daniel Kry came in third with his pitch for SpecClips.
Sharing the judges’ regard for the aspiring entrepreneurs, Kevin Kaufman, Director of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Whitewater, said, “I was thoroughly impressed with the preparation, presentation skills, and innovation shown by all of the competitors in the pitch competitions.”
Fellow judge Jim Lindenberg of Lindy Enterprises added, “These young adults are already seasoned veterans, and they are going to be very successful people in the future. I can’t wait to read about their success in years to come.”
First launched by the UW-Whitewater CEO student organization in 2007 and originally modeled after the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, the annual Warhawk Business Plan competition supports student entrepreneurs by not only awarding cash prizes, but ensuring they have a fundamentally solid business plan and are prepared to explain their startup idea to prospective employees, investors, and customers.
UW-Whitewater CEO’s mission is to inform, support, and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and to seek opportunity through enterprise creation. This successful student organization offers access to invaluable resources, such as the UW-Whitewater Launch Pad and UW-Whitewater Incubation Program, as well as exceptional education and networking experiences.
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!
On March 7, 2018, Scouts gathered in Madison for Wisconsin Girl Scout Advocacy Day at the State Capitol. Whitewater HS Junior Morgan Radaj was one of four chosen out of 66,000+ Girl Scouts in Wisconsin to speak about the impact that GS has had on her life.
Congratulations to Sophie Walton, 8th grader, daughter of Russ and Kim Walton of Whitewater, for winning the CESA 2 Regional Scripps Spelling Bee on February 28 at Whitewater High School. Her final winning word was claustrophobic. She now advances to the 2018 Badger State Spelling Bee on Saturday, April 24 at Madison College.
Congratulations also to Andrew Rollette, 8th grader, son of Jeannine Volbright of Whitewater and Jeffrey Rollette of Chicago, as he was recently chosen as a qualifier for the State National Geographic Bee. Andrew will now travel to Madison on April 6 to compete with other top qualifiers from around our state.
We wish both of these students the best of luck as they take on these new challenges and are very proud to have them representing Whitewater!
Twenty-three students participated in the National History Day regional competition, which took place at UW-Madison on Saturday, February 24, 2018. Whitewater advanced nine students to the state competition in three categories: Senior Paper, Individual Exhibit, Individual Website, and Group Website. The NHD Regional had schools from across South Central Wisconsin. Whitewater High School also had five students who were listed as alternates to the State competition in their respective categories.
National History Day is an academic enrichment program for students in grades 6-12. Students select topics connected to an annual theme and complete their own in-depth research on the topic. This year, the annual theme is “Conflict and Compromise”. Students present their conclusions by creating museum-style exhibits, media documentaries, research papers, interactive websites, and dramatic performances.
The school event is the first step in a competition cycle that can take students from school level to the regional, state, and national competitions. At each level of competition, students share their work with their peers, historians, educators, and professionals in related fields as they compete for special awards and the opportunity to advance to the next level of competition.
Participation continues to grow with more than 500,000 students participating annually across the nation. The National History Day program in Wisconsin is coordinated by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) sponsors an annual award called Aspirations in Computing. This award honors young women in grades 9-12 active and interested in computing and encourages them to pursue their passion for technology. This year, we have two Whitewater High School students who will be recognized at the banquet at Alverno College on Sunday, April 22.
Gwynne Sahyun has been named a Wisconsin Winner, and Marina Cano has earned a Wisconsin Honorable Mention. Marina also received an Honorable Mention last year. Both girls are members of Ferradermis, the WHS FIRST Robotics team, as well as the high school computer programming team. Marina recently started a girls’ coding group at Washington Elementary as well. The Wisconsin NCWIT affiliate recognizes around 40-50 girls total statewide each year. Awardees will get cool prizes, gadgets, and can apply for scholarships to several Wisconsin university programs. The Wisconsin award winners and honorable mentions will receive an engraved award for both the awardee and her school.
For more information on the award, you can visit https://www.aspirations.org/aspirations-community/wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater College of Business and Economics was recognized for the excellence of its Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management at the 36th annual LEAD Awards on February 8, 2018. In the category of Degree Program with Emphasis on HR, 150 programs were nominated and the top 15 were ranked. UW-Whitewater’s BBA in human resource management placed third in this elite group.
The LEAD Awards program is an exciting part of HR.com’s annual conference. Each year this conference draws esteemed executives and experts from around the country, and the awards celebrate exceptional leadership and innovations in developmental programs by organizations, education programs, and individuals.
UW-Whitewater’s award-winning Human Resource Management major features core credits from the College of Business and Economics’ respected BBA and 24 credits of courses that align with the standards of the Society for Human Resource Management. All students must complete a capstone course that integrates the HRM content from previous courses and builds critical thinking skills.
Program Coordinator and Associate Professor Kelly Delaney-Klinger explained, “The SHRM Competency Model has been very helpful for identifying learning objectives, both for individual courses and the overall major. Having students participate in hands-on activities, research and client-sponsored projects greatly improve learning in the courses. These activities also boost students’ confidence in their ability to perform as an HR professional.”
A relatively new addition to the program is a required e-Portfolio. HRM students all must create an electronic portfolio, which is intended to collect and demonstrate what students learned throughout their HR courses. Students must present their e-Portfolios to HR professionals during the capstone class.
Regarding the e-Portfolio component of the HRM program, Management Department Chair and Professor Jon Werner shared, “This has been an important tool for helping students integrate their knowledge and experiences. It is evident the competency-based curriculum, capstone course and e-Portfolio prepare students to effectively present themselves as HR professionals when they graduate.”
Werner adds, “In the marketplace, the program’s success is ultimately measured in terms of job placement and career advancement. We have seen, on average, that 94% of the graduates of the BBA in HRM are working in their field of study within six months of graduation.”
Dean John Chenoweth was pleased with the LEAD award distinction, which helps highlight the competencies-based model and e-Portfolio component.
Chenoweth explains, “The UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics places great emphasis on assurance of learning goals. We want to ensure our graduates are prepared to transition successfully from college to career, and that they have acquired the skills and business knowledge they need to succeed. The SHRM Competency Model used in the human resource management program allows faculty to map student outcomes onto the expected learning outcomes of the college.”
Human resource management is one of 14 undergraduate majors available from the AACSB-accredited UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics.
An elite team of economics students from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater joined Chancellor Beverly Kopper at the UW System Board of Regents meeting in Madison on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, following their national finish in the College Fed Challenge.
The students are members of the team that competed against some of the world’s most prestigious universities at the 14th Annual College Federal Reserve Challenge in Washington, D.C., in December. UW-Whitewater is the first-ever Wisconsin university to advance to this national event after defeating Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and Marquette University at the competition held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in order to become regional champions.
Advancing to the national event, the UW-Whitewater team competed in finals held at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. This event served as the capstone to five district competitions held around the country, and UW-Whitewater competed against regional winners Harvard University, Pace University, Princeton University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Pace University took first place in the national competition, which encourages students to learn about the U.S. economy, monetary policymaking, and the role of the Federal Reserve System. Harvard University took second place, and UW-Whitewater joined Princeton University and Virginia Commonwealth University in receiving honorable mentions.
Managed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the College Fed Challenge is an academic competition designed to bring real-world economics into the classroom. Teams analyze economic and financial conditions and make a recommendation for monetary policy. They are scored based on a 15-minute presentation and a 15-minute question-and-answer session with judges.
The UW-Whitewater Fed Challenge team met with the Research, Economic Development, and Innovation Committee on the UW-Madison campus as part of the Board of Regents February meeting. Attending were Fed Challenge team members Mark Ellis of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Alejandro Esquivel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Taylor Griffith of Lake Elsinore, California, Ronald Tittle of Crystal Lake, Illinois, and Alexandre Vieira of Brookfield, Wisconsin, along with non-presenting team members Casey Russell of Belleville, Wisconsin, Alujjage Pasan Samaranayake of Gonapola Junction, Sri Lanka, Sean Spangard of Crystal Lake, Illinois, and faculty members Yamin Ahmad, Stuart Glosser (emeritus), Nick Guo, and Eylem Ersal, who serve as team coaches.
