News & Events

Submitted by: Lisa Dawsey Smith, volunteer for Downtown Whitewater, Inc.

On Saturday 11/06/2021, a group of University of Wisconsin Whitewater students joined Downtown Whitewater, Inc for a Greek Day of Service and fall downtown cleanup. Students were tasked with collecting refuse, pulling weeds from sidewalks, cleaning up fallen leaves, sweeping sidewalks, curbs, and gutters in an effort to keep our stormwater system free of trash and leaves. 

As a volunteer-led organization, Downtown Whitewater, Inc hosts a number of downtown cleanups throughout the year including several collaborations with UWW. We are thankful for our student and non student volunteers who are dedicated to making our downtown a vibrant community center. Community members wishing to become more involved with our volunteer opportunities are always welcome to reach out to us via email at director@downtownwhitewater.com or call our office at (262)473-2200. 

• 

• 

• 

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the City of Whitewater Public Works Department.

The City of Whitewater’s compost site will close for the season at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. The site will remain open this Saturday from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. until the posted closing date of November 17, 2021.

Additional Opportunity for Leaf and Yard Waste Collection
For those who miss the bagged leaf pickup deadline (November 8 – 12/November 15 – 19), a dumpster will be located at the Department of Public Works (150 E. Starin Rd.) between November 22 – December 3. This will be an additional opportunity to dispose of leaf and yard waste only, NO BRUSH. City of Whitewater residents only will have access between 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. We ask that you please empty your bags (Bio bags do not have to be emptied) or containers into the dumpsters and take them with you when you leave.
*Please note the City of Whitewater will be closed on Thursday, November 25, and Friday, November 26.

Residents requesting brush collection should call 473-0560 to make an appointment for pick up on Tuesdays.

For additional questions or concerns, contact the Streets Department at (262) 473-0560. For other requests, visit
https://www.whitewater-wi.gov/RequestTracker.aspx.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by Sustainability at UW-W.

One of the best things about the Halloween season is pumpkins! From pumpkin picking and painting to pumpkin seeds and pies, these festive fruits are beautiful, tasty, and versatile.

You may have collected some pumpkins whose lives are coming to an end. If you’re looking for a place to dispose of your pumpkins after Halloween, look no further. Come and compost your pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns in the Campus Garden!!

Location of the Compost Site: https://goo.gl/maps/YAA99db1HaB13m386

On Wednesday, November 3rd from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., our interns are hosting an event open to both the campus and the community. Whitewater residents are welcome to bring their old pumpkins to the compost site at our Campus Garden. We’ll have interns stationed at our compost site to explain the benefits of composting and give you a chance to smash your pumpkin!

Why Compost?
Composting is nature’s way of recycling organic materials. It is a process that allows organic matter to decompose and form compost—a nutrient-rich soil amendment (said more plainly, a fabulous natural fertilizer).

Composting organic materials provides many environmental benefits including: (1) reduces waste sent to landfills
(2) reduces greenhouse gas emissions
(3) reduces the amount of water in landfills, where it must be monitored to avoid groundwater contamination.

Photo Credit: UW-WHITEWATER PHOTO/TEAGAN TRUSKOWSKI

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by Walworth County.

The Walworth County Board of Supervisors will conduct a Public Hearing on the 2021 Redistricting Plan for Walworth County on Tuesday, November 9^th at 3:30 p.m. in the County Board Room of the Walworth County Government Center, 100 West Walworth Street, Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

An informational presentation and general discussion of the 2021 Redistricting Plan will occur at this meeting and public input will be accepted at this time.

The business meeting of the County Board of Supervisors will also be conducted and the Board will discuss and possibly act on the Plan.

Banner note: The agenda is available here. The county indicates that due to the continuing public health emergency “all individuals are strongly encouraged to watch the meeting streaming live.” Individuals wanting to provide a Public Comment can do so remotely by telephone, but must contact the County Administrator’s Office at 262-741-4357 on the day of the meeting and at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting to obtain instructions.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by UW-Whitewater.

Pilar Melero, professor of Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, will receive the 2021 University Lifetime of Service Award from the State Council on Affirmative Action on Friday, Oct. 29, at the annual diversity awards program at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. Recipients include state agencies, educators and other individuals whose efforts resulted in more inclusive workplaces, equity in healthcare, community-building and mentoring for young people.

According to an announcement from the state Department of Administration, Melero was chosen “for dedicating her more than 20-year career in education, educating and advocating for the LatinX, Chicano, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ communities as well as serving as a mentor, resource and ally to all students and staff around equity and gender issues.”

Melero, a UW-Whitewater alum from the Class of 1988, double-majored in Spanish and journalism, then embarked on a journalism career at newspapers in Waukesha, Milwaukee and El Paso, Texas. As a journalist, Melero wrote bilingual articles, wrote for an African American newspaper and covered women’s issues and Latino issues.

“It was a milestone the first time I got published in an English-language newspaper,” she said. “English is my second language. I used to cover school districts. I had to read a lot of documents. I did a lot of asking. I was prepared for the writing but not for the reporting itself.”

She became a writer and columnist for her hometown newspaper, the Waukesha Freeman and for the Milwaukee Journal. From covering smalltown school districts, she went on to write about issues as diverse as unequal access to housing and organic farming. In a reporting project on women in Waukesha, Melero interviewed the director of the local women’s center. The interview stuck with Melero.

“She told me her dream would be that every women’s center in the world would be closed because they were no longer necessary,” said Melero. “That was the most beautiful statement I had ever heard.”

In Texas, Melero was asked to teach a Spanish course, and noticed how much she loved working with the students. She attended the University of Texas-El Paso for her master’s degree and then UW-Madison for her Ph.D. before returning “home” in 2003 to teach at UW-Whitewater and to build upon the legacy of courses in diversity she had found there as an undergraduate.

Along with her teaching duties, Melero and her colleagues developed new programs in diversity studies, renovated others and created curriculum. Like the foundation of a building, this work is almost invisible, but everything rests upon it. She credits the teams of curriculum builders she worked with saying, “They did their own mentoring with me. They mentored me with collegiality and support.”

“The biggest milestone workwise is with my team in Race and Ethnic Studies,” said Melero. “We developed minors in Asian/Asian American Studies, African American Studies, Latinx/Latin American Studies and American Indian Studies.”

“We did it all as a team,” she added. “(A milestone was) coming back to my alma mater where I first got exposed to diversity courses and to be able to continue that evolution and the legacy of all of these people (faculty).”

As an undergraduate student at UW-Whitewater, Melero found a home. Her academic family included Carlos de Onis, a professor of Chicano Studies and Spanish; and Spanish instructors Aldo and Adriana Busot. Before that, she remembers Doug Evans, a teacher and advocate at Waukesha South High School. If not for Evans’ early mentoring and guidance, she likely would not have attended college at all.

Evans saw the young Melero’s academic ability when others didn’t, she said. Evans was so tall and lanky that he practically had to fold himself into his tiny office, especially on the day he and Melero’s parents crowded into that office to plan her college application process.

And as Melero walks to the podium of the State Assembly chamber in the Capitol to receive the award for a lifetime of achievement, she will retrace the steps of Roger Pulliam, a beloved mentor who was the first person to receive the award. Pulliam, in multiple roles through decades of service, infused first-generation college students with confidence, and especially those students from underrepresented communities. Pulliam was a mentor for Melero when she was an undergraduate studying Spanish and journalism. He was still there to encourage her to return as a faculty member.

“Whitewater is not a job,” said Melero. “Whitewater is my home.”

Editor’s note: The following was provided by Lori Heidenreich for Delta Kappa Gamma – Whitewater Chapter.

The Delta Kappa Gamma-Whitewater Chapter had a presentation on Thursday, October 21, 2021 from the Ferradermis Robotic Team from Whitewater High School.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by Dalee Water Conditioning.

Dalee Water Conditioning is proud to announce that it has recently acquired Markee Water Conditioning of Walworth County.

Markee Water owners Frank and Mary Gauger, along with their son Rob, have decided to retire from the water treatment business.

The acquisition reaffirms Dalee Water’s commitment to providing the best service to Walworth County and the surrounding area, where the company has been treating water since 1947.

“We’re looking forward to servicing Markee’s existing customer base in the same professional manner, and also to providing additional services such as rental water softeners, Iron Curtains, RO systems, and automatic salt delivery,” said Dave Kertscher, owner of Dalee Water Conditioning.

Established in Whitewater by the Dalee family in 1947, Dalee Water maintains the region’s most complete and experienced water treatment team, providing expert service and sales to residential and small commercial customers.

Dalee is proud to provide water treatment services with products that are made in the U.S.A., and they offer a variety of water softening and filtration solutions, as well as service and repair to any make or model.

Dalee serves the local communities of Whitewater, Elkhorn, Delavan, Lake Geneva, Fontana, Walworth, Burlington, Palmyra, Eagle, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Sullivan, and surrounding areas.

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the Young Auditorium.

’Letters Home’ Offers A Powerful Portrait of the American Soldier Experience
Young Auditorium – Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30 PM | Tickets $24.25 (12 & under $15.50)

A must see for veterans, military members and supporters, Letters Home is a moving
theatrical production that brings to life actual letters written by soldiers serving in the Middle East. Young
Auditorium presents this highly relevant performance on Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30 pm.
Produced by Chicago’s Griffin Theatre Company, Letters Home puts the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq front and
center, using actual communications from American soldiers as the source material for this eye-opening
performance. Written under the most difficult of circumstances these letters evoke emotional responses
regarding the disorientation of training, deployment day, separation from family and loved ones, as well as
actual combat and occupation duties. Without politicizing, Letters Home gives audiences a powerful portrait of
the true soldier experience. This production is inspired by the New York Times op-ed article, “The Things They
Wrote,” and the subsequent HBO documentary, Last Letters Home.

“Extraordinary, Deeply Moving! The emotional impact of this 90-minute journey is profound.”
—Chicago Sun Times

Tickets for this, and all 2021-2022 Young Auditorium season performances can be purchased online at
http://www.youngauditorium.com, or by connecting with the UW-Whitewater Ticket Services department.

UW-Whitewater Ticket Services
950 West Main Street – Whitewater, WI 53190

• located inside the Greenhill Center of the Arts –
  (262) 472-2222 | Monday – Friday 9:30am – 3pm

*This engagement is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by
the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from Wisconsin Arts Board.
Masks will be required for attendees of this performance. Please visit the Warhawks Are Back! website, which outlines operating practices for the UW-Whitewater campus. Modifications of these practices should be anticipated. UW-Whitewater will continue to use information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State of Wisconsin, county health departments and the University of Wisconsin System to guide the decision-making processes across campuses.