News

(WHITEWATER- April 1, 2021)  The Whitewater Community Foundation is now accepting applications for the Spring Community Action Grant Cycle.  Grants will be awarded to local non-profit organizations actively working to support the Whitewater community.  

Interested organizations can find more information here and should fill out an application form.

In the Spring of 2020, with the onset of COVID-19 and the resulting loss of jobs, the Foundation awarded Community Action Grants totalling $21,175 to the following organizations to reimburse them for funds expended in response to the needs of community members struggling with meeting their basic needs:  The Whitewater Food Pantry, The Community Space, Bethel House, First United Methodist Church, St. Patrick Catholic Church, and the Whitewater Rescue Squad.

The deadline for submitting applications is April 30, 2021.

Please spread the word to groups trying to effect positive change in the Whitewater area. We look forward to working with leaders who are striving one goal at a time to make our community a greater place to live, work, and learn.

About WCF: The Whitewater Community Foundation’s mission is to “Enhance quality of life in the Whitewater area via educational, cultural, charitable or benevolent expenditures” through scholarships and community action grants. To donate and support the continuation of the Whitewater Banner, simply send a check made out to Whitewater Community Foundation to P.O. Box 428, Whitewater, WI, 53190, or donate online at whitewatercommunityfoundation.org by hitting the “Donate” button on top of the contact page. For tax purposes, the Whitewater Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Corporation. 

(Whitewater High School submission) The faculty at Whitewater High School has chosen sophomore Kindyl Kilar to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar this year!  The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY) is a dynamic hands-on program designed to recognize and develop leadership potential in outstanding sophomores.  Each year, every high school in the state is invited to nominate one student to attend the local seminar based upon that student’s leadership potential.  The 2021 Seminar is scheduled to take place virtually June 12 – 13. 

Jackie Carper, HOBY Alumni, current Director of Recruitment for Wisconsin and member of Pi Sigma Epsilon – a marketing organization at UW-Whitewater will be awarding Kindyl a $225 scholarship to pay the fee for the seminar.  Congratulations Kindyl!

HOBY website:  https://www.hoby.org/

Jeff Bierman writes, “The Eagle frequents this tree in Hillside Cemetery.”

Our thanks to Jeff Bierman for generously sharing his photography.

A March 25, 2021 article from NPR, titled “Once Imperiled, America’s Bald Eagle Populations are Soaring,” includes this information:

“The number of bald eagles in the lower 48 U.S. states — a population once on the brink of extinction — has quadrupled in the last dozen years to more than 316,000, federal wildlife officials say, despite steep declines in other American bird populations.

A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found there are more than 70,000 breeding pairs of the iconic raptor in the contiguous U.S. In the late 1960s, there were fewer than 500.

The turnaround is a “historic conservation success story,” said newly confirmed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at a news conference Wednesday……

A report by the National Audubon Society found that two-thirds of North America’s bird species are at increasing risk of extinction due to a warming climate.”

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

The State Joint Finance Committee visited the Young Auditorium on April 9 for a well-attended public hearing on the biennial State budget. It was the first of only three in-person hearings around the state, and reportedly was the first time in many years that the committee had not scheduled a hearing in Madison or Milwaukee. This perceived oversight was noted by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. A final, virtual hearing, is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28. Individuals wishing to provide input can also do so via the dedicated portal available at: www.legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments or via email at budget.comments@legis.wisconsin.gov .

The committee was welcomed by Chancellor Dwight Watson and City Manager Cameron Clapper. A number of Whitewater residents

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Photos courtesy of Tom Ganser

Below is the statement provided by City Manager Cameron Clapper on behalf of the City of Whitewater and the League of WI Municipalities.

(Whitewater High School submission) Whitewater High School is proud to announce that Carson Ellenwood has been named the Class of 2021 DAR Good Citizen!  Fort Atkinson DAR Representative, Nancy Olson, presented Carson with a certificate on April 16 to recognize his outstanding qualities of dependability (which includes truthfulness, loyalty, and punctuality); service (which includes cooperation, courtesy, and consideration of others); leadership (which includes personality, self-control and ability to assume responsibility) and patriotism (which includes unselfish interest in family, school, community, and nation); to an outstanding degree. Congratulations Carson!! 

“I am so honored to be named the WHS Class of 2021 DAR Good Citizen! I would like to thank the faculty for their nomination and all of their guidance throughout my high school years. I would also like to thank the community that has helped me so much along the way. Your kindness and compassion inspired me to be the person that I am today. Thanks again for the honor and the wonderful years in Whitewater!” said Carson Ellenwood.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Ferradermis Advisor and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

Ferradermis, Whitewater High School’s FIRST Robotics Team, has been named the Skills Competition Finalist (2nd place in their group of 30 teams) for Infinite Recharge at Home! When you rank all of the teams in the world together who submitted for the challenge, Ferradermis ranks #71 out of 1,302 teams.

FIRST divided all of the teams who opted into this competition into groups of 30, naming each group for an element. Ferradermis competed in the Oxygen Group with teams from 16 states, Turkey, and Mexico. Teams first had to submit technical information on their robot and complete a virtual presentation and interview with a panel of judges before they were allowed to enter the skills portion of the competition. Teams then could select any three of five challenges to record on video and submit for judging. Ferradermis elected to participate in the Power Port Challenge, the Interstellar Accuracy Challenge, and the Hyperdrive Challenge.

For the Power Port Challenge, the team was given 1 minute to score as many points as possible by shooting power cells (yellow dodgeballs) into the circular inner port (3 points) and hexagonal outer port (2 points) of the power port. The team was only allowed to use 3 power cells during the challenge, and only 2 team members could retrieve the power cells and return them to the robot. Many team members took turns practicing as the human players for this challenge, but eventually, team members Drew Swartz and Sterling Truesdale set record time rebounding and delivering the power cells back to the robot while drive team members Reilly Aschenbrener and Elijah Grall operated the robot. Ferradermis’ final video submission showed the robot completing 10 cycles of 3 power cells in 60 seconds hitting 29 out of the 30 power cells in the higher scoring inner port, with the 30th cell hitting the lower scoring outer port. The final score of 89 tied for 12th place in the world.

The Interstellar Accuracy Challenge required that the robot shoot 3 power cells from 4 different distances in less than 5 minutes. Ferradermis was one of 93 teams in the world to score a perfect 45 points on this challenge.

The final part of the skills challenge submission required driver Elijah Grall to traverse four different obstacle courses (barrel race, slalom, bounce, and lightspeed circuit) in the fastest time possible. Elijah’s final time was 49.6 seconds total, placing the team in the top 12% of teams in the world for this challenge.

Ferradermis’ combined final score for all 3 skills was 438.87 out of a possible 450. Many team members spent countless hours fine tuning the robot, running the video camera, and resetting course markers over the course of the skills competition. It was truly a team effort! 

For a list of the winners and finalists from all groups, visit the FIRST blog. It is interesting to note that the teams are listed in numeric order by their team number with a smaller number generally meaning an older team. Ferradermis is the 5th youngest team on the list.

Ferradermis thanks all of its generous community sponsors for making this experience possible.

(University of Wisconsin-Madison submission) On April 17, The Alpha Chapter of Wisconsin Phi Beta Kappa President Seth Pollak led the induction of 229 University of Wisconsin-Madison students into membership of Phi Beta Kappa, with past president Catherine Stafford.    Whitewater residents Nick Kuzoff, Noah Miller and Connor Steinke were inducted.

Pollak is a professor of psychology professor and Stafford an associate professor of Spanish at UW-Madison.   The induction ceremony took place remotely with over 400 participants including inductees, their families, and friends. These initiates embody not only academic excellence but demonstrate by completed coursework breadth of study in the liberal arts and sciences beyond minimal degree requirements. Approximately 5 percent of the Letters & Science senior class is inducted into the liberal arts and science scholar society.   The 2021 Phi Beta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to Enrico Fermi distinguished Professor of Physics Sau Lan Wu, who was nominated by senior Yan Qian.   

Professor of Astronomy and Dean of the College of Letters & Science Eric M. Wilcots was inducted into membership in Phi Beta Kappa and gave keynote remarks. Undergraduate fellows and seniors Jinan Sous, Xiyu Yang, and Jessica Kuzniewski warmly welcomed new members.   Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic society honoring the liberal arts and sciences. Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, ΦΒΚ stands for freedom of inquiry and expression, disciplinary rigor, breadth of intellectual perspective, the cultivation of skills of deliberation and ethical reflection, the pursuit of wisdom, and the application of the fruits of scholarship and research in practical life.    Phi Beta Kappa has 290 chapters at leading colleges and universities in the United States. The Society sponsors activities to advance the humanities, social sciences, and the natural sciences in higher education and in society-at-large.   Recordings of the ceremony will be available on the Phi Beta Kappa site on May 1st, https://pbk.wisc.edu  

 

(Walworth County submission) Walworth County Public Works is seeking volunteers to help with the removal of invasive plant species at County parks.

On Friday, April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon, volunteers will assist the Lake Geneva Conservancy and Walworth County Public Works with the removal of buckthorn and other invasive species at White River County Park, 6503 Sheridan Springs Rd. in Lake Geneva.

Volunteers can also pitch in on May 8 at Natureland Park in Whitewater. Efforts will again focus on the removal of invasive plant species.

Those interested in volunteering should contact Walworth County Volunteer Services Coordinator Colleen Lesniak at (262) 741-4223, clesniak@co.walworth.wi.us.

For anyone interested in learning about groundwater-fed wetlands, the Kettle Moraine Land Trust (KMLT) is hosting a Seeps, Springs, and Fen Wetlands educational workshop on May 8 at Natureland Park. KMLT’s Greg Rajsky will describe various wetland types, explore wetland functions, and introduce attendees to some of the special species that inhabit the wetlands at Natureland Park. Contact rachel@kmlandtrust.org to register.

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

New Whitewater Common Council member Lisa Dawsey Smith was sworn in at the April 20 Whitewater Common Council meeting along with newly re-elected council members Carol McCormick and Brienne Diebolt Brown, as well as Greg Majkrzak, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term last year.

The Common Council also elected officers, appointed Council members and citizens to fill vacancies on various City Committees and Commissions and made plans to offer a “hybrid” option for public meeting participants as early as this June. City meetings have been held electronically since last March as part of COVID-19 pandemic protocols. The hybrid option would allow individuals, either committee members or observers, to chose between attendance in person or electronically.

Fourth District Council Member Lynn Binnie was unanimously re-elected as Council President. Council Member-At-Large Jim Allen was elected to serve as Common Council President in Binnie’s absence. New Neighborhood Services Director Chris Bennett and newly appointed Imbedded Police Crisis Intervention Officer Amanda Akridge were welcomed. Akridge, a social worker who previously worked as a Milwaukee Police Officer, will be working full-time to assist Whitewater Police under a program initiated and funded by Walworth County to measure the impact of having a more “human services” approach to policing.

In other business the Common Council took official action to close the last of its existing Tax Incremental Finance Districts (TIDs), authorized a consulting contract to manage an $859,366 grant that will partially fund construction of a new water tower, and laid out a schedule for potential formulation of new TIDs which will include an early May joint meeting of the Common Council, Community Development Authority and City Plan Commission.

TIDS are a commonly used economic development strategy that allows municipalities to fund infrastructure and other improvements with the property tax revenue generated by future development within their boundaries. The City of Whitewater has been prevented from creating new TIDs because of the existence of multiple TIDS created, but not closed, over a 20+ year period. The City plans an aggressive public outreach effort over the next several months to gain the understanding and support of citizens and other stakeholders as potential new TIDs are developed.