News & Events

A free documentary screening Honor in the Air is scheduled for Saturday, May 4 @ 10:30 a.m., Hoard Historical Museum, 401 Whitewater Avenue, Fort Atkinson.

FILM SYNOPSIS

This documentary is a story of inspiration, dedication, valor and love, following the life of one soldier while recognizing an entire generation.

As the 50th anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam draws near and our nation is called to remember an incredibly unpopular war, we bring you the story of a humble man who became a decorated aviator and hero. Scott served five tours of duty during the Vietnam war as an Army helicopter pilot, first flying slicks and later, gunships.

Scott’s skills, daring, and decorations stand as a testament to his valor and include 136 documented Air Medals, Vietnam Republic Medals, Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and Distinguished Flying Crosses, all with oak leaf clusters. He and a fellow Top Tiger pilot, Howard M. King, developed a low approach autorotation technique to counter tail rotor failure and taught it to other pilots in their unit. The army still teaches this technique to all helicopter pilots in their standard training today.​

It was while in Vietnam that Scott met, fell in love with, and married his wife, Du Duong “Tess”. Scott went to war because he loved his country, the United States of America. During his five tours of duty, he fell in love with Vietnam, too. Scott survived five tours of active duty in Vietnam only to be killed by a suicidal drunk driver while on his way from his home in Wisconsin to the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania. To those who knew him, his legacy lives on.

Further information about the project may be found below and here.

Editor’s note: This announcement was provided by Penny Alwin.

A Banner Service: Garage Sale Ads

As a result of a reader’s comment that it’s hard to find garage sales in Whitewater now that we no longer have a weekly shopper, the Banner staff agreed to begin a complimentary “consolidated” garage sale posting that will be published by Thursday morning for the upcoming weekend’s sales. This announcement will only be for garage sales (a sale of miscellaneous household goods, often held in the garage or front yard of someone’s house) in the city and school district boundaries. We will not be accepting, for example, ads for cars or other items that are not part of a scheduled garage sale. There will be a limit of three times per year for a particular property. 

Those wishing to place a notice must send the information to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com by Wednesday at 6 p.m. You may include a brief description of the items that are for sale, the hours and days of the sale, and of course your address. A few photos may also be included if desired; we prefer jpg format if possible.

Update: Today is Culver’s annual scoop of Thanks Day! You can purchase a single scoop today for just $1, and Culvers then donates those single dollars back to our FFA chapter, so it’s a great way to help yourself and your local chapter at the same time. Tonight is also an FFA night at Culvers so they will be contributing a portion of their proceeds from 4-8pm to our chapter as well. #TheWhippetWay #1Family This Thursday on May 2nd from 4-8 PM, will be the annual FFA Culver’s Night. How it works is FFA members volunteer to help serve food to hungry customers and the FFA gets a portion of all proceeds generated that night. Hope you can come and help support your local FFA. Thank you. Editor’s note: The above announcement was submitted by Quinlan McCarthy.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will celebrate the achievements of its graduates on Saturday, May 11, and Tuesday, May 14, as proud families and friends gather for the 2024 spring commencement ceremonies on the Whitewater and Rock County campuses.

On the university’s Whitewater campus, a total of 1,437 May and August graduates will cross the stage on May 11 to receive their degrees. The morning ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m., recognizes 613 undergraduate and 151 graduate students from the College of Arts and Communication, the College of Business and Economics and the School of Graduate Studies.

The afternoon ceremony begins at 3 p.m. and recognizes 516 undergraduate students and 152 graduate students from the College of Education and Professional Studies, the College of Integrated Studies, the College of Letters and Sciences, and the School of Graduate Studies. An additional five degrees are not specific to any college. The ceremonies, which last approximately two hours each, will be held in the Kachel Fieldhouse at the Williams Center.

Included in the graduates crossing the stage on May 11 will be 102 students who are veterans, 9 international students and 200 nontraditional undergraduate students, defined as undergraduate students who are 25 years of age or older. In addition, 187 self-identified students with disabilities will receive degrees.

Five graduates of the university’s LIFE Program, which provides a complete college experience for young adults between the ages of 18-25 who have an intellectual disability, will cross the stage during the afternoon program — including one who is earning an advanced certificate.

The commencement speaker for the morning ceremony on the Whitewater campus is Scott Wrobbel, who earned a BBA in accounting in 1980 and enjoyed a long career at Arthur Andersen and Deloitte before serving on the board of directors of American Family Insurance, Johnson Financial Group and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management and holding board and leadership roles at the Children’s Wisconsin Foundation, the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, and the Andalusia Education Foundation.

The commencement speaker for the afternoon ceremony on the Whitewater campus is Crystal McClain, who earned a B.A. in social work in 2003 before earning a master’s degree in social work, serving as a state-certified advanced practicing social worker, and in 2010 establishing Revive Youth & Family Services, which specializes in serving at-risk youth through four group homes and one foster home, where she remains the owner and chief executive officer. In 2018, the Milwaukee Business Journal named McClain to its 40 Under 40 list.

The student speaker for the morning ceremony is Dylan Riley. Riley, who is graduating in just three years with a BBA in finance and a minor in political science, studied abroad for a semester through the American University of Rome, Italy. He will be returning to campus in the fall to pursue an MBA.

The student speaker for the afternoon ceremony is Ty Jahnke. Jahnke, who first earned his B.S. in human performance in 2023, and is graduating with a Master of Science in Applied Kinesiology, aspires to a career in collegiate coaching, but will first answer a call of duty in the military.

The commencement ceremonies on the Whitewater campus will be broadcast live online by UWW-TV, the university television station.

The graduation ceremony for more than 88 College of Integrated Studies students at UW-Whitewater at Rock County will be held on Tuesday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Wells Cultural Center.

The commencement speaker is Nick Dimassis, director of the Beloit Public Library.

The student speaker is Cassandra Breyman, from Janesville, who is earning her AAS and is enrolled in the online B.S. in social work on the Whitewater campus.

During the ceremony, the Outstanding Alumni Award will be presented to Lori Stottler, the clerk-treasurer of the City of Janesville. She earned associate degrees in arts and sciences and political science from the Rock County campus in 2016.

The Excellence in Teaching Awards and the faculty and staff who are retiring will also be announced at the Rock County campus ceremony.

Visit uww.edu/commencement for more information about UW-Whitewater’s commencement ceremonies.

Congratulations to the WHS Music students who performed at the WSMA [Wisconsin School Music Association] State Solo/Ensemble Festival on the UW-Whitewater Campus last Saturday! Nineteen events received a 1st rating and eight events received a 2nd rating. Results can be found here  Congratulations to all students who made it to State! 

Editor’s note: This announcement was provided by Karen Tordera.

Whitewater resident Caryl Yasko is featured in a documentary entitled, “Pioneering Women Muralists of Hyde Park,” which was recently screened in the 14th Annual New Hope Film Festival in Pennsylvania. The film features the history of public art in Chicago’s Hyde Park and those it describes as the city’s five most prominent women muralists in Chicago Public Art Group’s history, including Caryl.

Caryl states that the documentary, “… features me in 1972 painting my first public mural in Chicago, ‘Under City Stone.’ The filmmakers came to Whitewater to film me in an interview for this documentary. Whitewater’s mural, “Prairie Tillers,” appears briefly in the film.”

As shown in the image above, Yasko returned to Chicago in 2015 to restore the mural. This story describes that project.

The Prairie Tillers mural (shown above) was originally created by Yasko in 1980 on the east exterior wall at 119 Center Street in Whitewater. She restored the mural in 2004.

Editor’s note: Article by Lynn Binnie, Whitewater Banner volunteer staff, whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

Congratulations to NCWIT Wisconsin Award Winners Rae Breisath and Ace Hudec and NCWIT Wisconsin Rising Star Erison Dreksler! The trio was honored during a ceremony at Milwaukee School of Engineering on Sunday, April 28. All three are members of the Whitewater High School FIRST Robotics Competition Team Ferradermis where Hudec is the Programming Subteam Lead, Dreksler is the Electro-Mechanical Subteam Lead, and Breisath is a member of the Programming Subteam.

The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award recognizes high school students for their computing-related interests and achievements and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education.

NCWIT [National Center for Women & Information Technology] is a nationwide, non-profit community of more than 1,600 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations that draws on social science research at all levels of the tech ecosystem to identify and promote interventions to correct underrepresentation in computing education and the tech workforce. NCWIT strives to ensure the broadest spectrum of people can contribute to the innovations that shape all of our lives. 

Article Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Computer Science Teacher and Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Tori Breisath