News & Events

A reader who suggested not to use their name shared this photo of crocuses (alternatively, croci) which was taken on March 28. They titled it, “Surprised by Spring on Main Street,” and said the sight “totally surprised” them while walking their dog.

— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share.  Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com or click on “submit a story” near the top right of our homepage.  Thanks for thinking about this!

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

Due to the pandemic, and the varying degree to which teams throughout the world could meet in person and get access to their equipment, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) suspended all in-person play for the regular 2021 season and implemented a fully virtual set of competitions for teams that were able to participate. Internationally, 3,075 teams (about three-fourths of all existing teams) were able to register and participate in these competitions. Many schools, even some in Wisconsin, did not allow their teams to register due to restrictions on extra-curricular activities. Ferradermis, Whitewater High School’s team, has been able to meet in person in small groups since the beginning of November. We also had a group of students who chose to remain fully virtual and were integral parts of the administrative and CAD teams.  

For the traditional Chairman’s, Woodie Flowers, and Dean’s Lists awards, Ferradermis was grouped with the other 29 participating Wisconsin teams. During Spring Break, students took part in virtual interviews with judges for both Chairman’s and Dean’s List. Chairman’s focuses on all non-robot parts of a team including community outreach, diversity, and impact on students during the previous five years. Administrative Team Members Anderson Waelchli, Carson Ellenwood, and Molly Zimmermann put together a 7-minute presentation around the theme of, “staying connected,” for Chairman’s which they delivered prior to a 5 minute Q & A session with the judges. Team members can nominate one mentor for the Woodie Flowers Award, and this year the students selected co-head coach Dilpreet “Chief” Randhawa, who has been with the team since it first formed five years ago. Mentors nominate up to two sophomore or junior students for Dean’s List; this year the candidates for Dean’s List were Elijah Grall and Anderson Waelchli. Wisconsin will be holding an awards ceremony in mid-May to announce the finalists, who will advance to compete on an international level.  

Ferradermis chose to participate in two of the three virtual competitions hosted by FIRST, declining only the Game Design Challenge. For the Innovation Challenge, teams had to, “Identify a problem or opportunity and design a solution to help people (or a community of people) keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement.” A team of students worked from January through March with the guidance of mentor Allison Conrad to develop a modular set of playground equipment which can grow with a child. They researched their customer base by surveying our elementary students, connected with an actual playground equipment company that provided background and eventually reviewed their design, used CAD to develop their design, and then produced a 3D printed model. This past weekend, they delivered their two-minute business pitch to the judges for their product, Rec-Creation, which was then followed by a three-minute presentation, and ten minutes of Q & A. Participating team members included Reilly Aschenbrener, Carson Ellenwood, Andrew Rollette, Anderson Waelchli, Gwen Yeager, and Molly Zimmermann. Ferradermis will be judged as part of the Argon Group, which is made up of 30 randomly assigned teams from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, and Turkey. BadgerBOTS, the team from Middleton who helped Ferradermis get started five years ago, is the only other Wisconsin team in this group. Four teams from the Argon Group will be named semi-finalists and will then present again to a new group of judges, competing against the semi-finalists from all other groups, with 20 teams eventually being named finalists.

The third virtual competition, Infinite Recharge at Home, was divided into two parts. Teams first had to submit technical information on their robot for the traditional judged machine awards, and then they could qualify for the Skills Challenge. Students created a technical flyer describing the robot under the guidance of mentors Nick Ackerman and Dilpreet Randhawa. This past weekend, a student team of Reilly Aschenbrenner, Elijah Grall, Andrew Rollette, and Lauren Rollette completed a seven-minute presentation and five minutes of Q & A with judges. Students are now working on submitting video clips of the robot completing various skills challenges including the Hyperdrive Challenge (where the driver must navigate four specific paths as quickly as possible), the InterStellar Accuracy Challenge (where the robot must score power cells from four different distances in under five minutes), and the Power Port Challenge (where the robot collects power cells from the floor and the team scores as many points as possible in one minute). Ferradermis will be judged as part of the Oxygen Group for Infinite Recharge at Home; this group is made up of 30 randomly assigned teams from 16 states, Turkey, and Mexico. Ferradermis is the only Wisconsin team in this group.

Ferradermis is excited to have the opportunity to participate in an in-person off-season competition on June 19. The Lakeshore Robotics Coalition in Manitowoc is hosting Wisconsin teams in June over the course of four days, with up to 14 teams competing each day. Each team will only be allowed to travel with 10 people (7 students and 3 mentors), and one of those members must serve as a volunteer at the event to further limit the number of people in attendance. Remaining team members and mentors will gather at the high school to watch the live stream of the event and feed scouting information to the team in Manitowoc. The winning alliance from each day along with the captain of the second place alliance will get to return for a championship day on July 10. The students are excited for the opportunity to get “wheels on carpet” for the first time since March of 2020. Go, Ferradermis!

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

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was generated in response to readers who wanted to know more of the particulars regarding an alleged assault and related underage drinking incident in early March. ‘The Banner’ requested and reviewed police reports relating to the incident. As we reported on March 11, a male who is no longer enrolled at UW-W was cited with disorderly conduct (assault) and underage presence in a licensed establishment. The Banner found nothing particularly newsworthy about the assault investigation, but did research the age requirements for bartenders. No editorial position regarding existing underage drinking regulations is intended.

Further examination of a Whitewater incident that occurred after bar time the night of Thursday March 4 brought to light the fact that in Wisconsin 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds can tend bar in an establishment restricting attendance to those age 21 and above.

The police report indicates that the man and a woman that he is accused of striking were both underage and had been in a tavern before the incident occurred.. The young woman was employed as a bartender at the establishment but was in the tavern as a customer at the time.

Municipal citations for “underage presence in a place prohibited” which require a deposit of $376 were issued to the assaulted woman and the man. A citation requiring a deposit of $691 was issued to the tavern owner for “licensee sell(ing) alcohol (to an) underage person.”

We asked Whitewater Police Chief Aaron Raap about the impact of underage bartenders here in Whitewater and although he was not “overly enthusiastic” about the policy he did not think that preventing underage bartenders alone would have a significant impact on underage drinking in the city. We also asked a WI Tavern League spokesperson to comment on the issue. Pete Madland advised us that, “Thousands of Wisconsin college students have helped pay for college by tending bar.” He added that “Technically an 18-year-old can be the owner of a Wisconsin tavern” and added that past efforts to raise the required age for bartending have failed.

City Attorney Wally McDonell and an attorney for the WI Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) were both asked if the City could pass an ordinance requiring city bartenders to be 21 or older. Both replied that the state law would most likely prevent the City from doing so.

SSM Health to adjust visitor policy for hospital, local clinics

Requirement helps to keep patients, visitors and employees safe

Janesville, WI – As SSM Health slowly begins to resume more normal operations, visitor policies will soon be adjusted. These changes affect SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Janesville and Dean Medical Group Southern Region WI Clinics in Janesville, Edgerton, Evansville, Stoughton, Fort Atkinson, Whitewater and Delavan.

Effective March 8, the following visitor guidelines will be in place:

SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Janesville

• One visitor (ages 18+) to accompany patients, per day.
• Two visitors (ages 18+) will be allowed for pediatric patients, per day.
• Visitors are not allowed for patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 or are under investigation for a COVID-19 infection.

Exceptions to the visitor policy will continue to be made during special circumstances, including end of life, and must be arranged with a nursing leader.

Hospital inpatient visiting hours will be 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Visitors must enter via the front doors and complete a health screening before being approved to go to a patient room. Visitors must also perform hand hygiene and will be required to wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as directed by our caregivers. Visitors are encouraged to remain in the patient’s room to limit movement in the facility. The Prairie View Café will be open for carryout meals only.

Dean Medical Group Southern Region WI clinics

• 1 support person per patient (ages 16+).
• 2 support persons (ages 16+) for pediatric patients (ages 0-18).

Dean Medical Group patients will be encouraged to bring a support person only when needed. Visitors must pass established COVID-19 screening protocol, wear a face mask which covers both the nose and mouth and practice social distancing.

Louisa Answers the Call
Tuesday March 23, 1:00 p.m
Virtual or at Starin Park

March is Women’s History Month, and Jill Fuller will be with Seniors in the Park, virtually, to talk about Louisa May Alcott. Before she became famous as the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott left Concord, Massachusetts to serve as a nurse in the Civil War. In this presentation, we will explore this pivotal experience in her life and how it ultimately led to her famous novel.

Jill Fuller is a librarian, writer and historian. She is a member of the Louisa May Alcott Society and the co-host of Let Genius Burn, an upcoming podcast on Louisa May Alcott’s life. You can find her at www.jillfuller.com or on Instagram @jill.full. 

Sign up for the virtual presentation or to watch the presentation at Starin Park on our zoom by calling 262-473-0535, emailing dweberpal@whitewater-wi.gov or going online to https://schedulesplus.com/wwtr/kiosk/. The deadline is Monday, March 22 at noon. Zoom link will be sent out Monday afternoon.

(Middle School press release) The Whitewater Middle School Theater, in collaboration with WHS Players, will be presenting, 10 Ways To Survive Life In Quarantine, by Don Zolidis, on Thursday, March 18^th, and Friday, March 19^th, at 7:00 p.m.  The show will be presented on Zoom, and is free to all viewers.  The viewing link will be posted on the middle school website at 6:55 p.m. both evenings.   

Have you been wondering how others have been handling their time in quarantine?  Well, this show gives us a snapshot of just how things are going, and how our various characters are coping.

Cast members include middle and high school students, London Altreuter, Lucy Davis, Adalynn Frye, Danny Fuller, Miles Hutchison, Maggie Jay, Ben McCulloch, Hailey Peterson, Aldo Rodriguez, Madison Strickler, Anderson Waelchli, Carter Waelchli, and Ella Willman.  The show is directed by Liz Elliott and Alyssa Orlowski. 

Please consider supporting our cast in our first ever virtual production!

Photos courtesy of Tom Ganser

(SSM press release) – SSM Health is continuing its COVID-19 vaccine community outreach efforts with an on-site, mobile vaccination clinic for pre-registered individuals on Tuesday, March 16. This is not a walk-in clinic.

Educators from the Whitewater Unified School District, School District of Fort Atkinson and UW-Whitewater will receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during this day-long event. In addition, Madison College (Watertown and Fort Atkinson campuses), and employees from other area school districts, also will be vaccinated.

“We believe vaccinating educators is a key component to getting our state’s children safely back to school full time and SSM Health is honored to partner with school districts to administer the COVID-19 vaccine,” said SSM Health WI Regional President Damond Boatwright.

SSM Health has enough vaccine supply to vaccinate school district staff members, while still prioritizing those ages 65 and older. We continue to closely follow guidance issued by Wisconsin DHS and are collaborating with public health officials in the communities and counties we serve.

To date, SSM Health has administered more than 111,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin. We are committed to vaccinating as many individuals as safely and efficiently as possible.