News & Events

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

The Common Council at its February 6 meeting spent over an hour interviewing the seven individuals who had applied to serve out one of the two unexpired terms resulting from the passing of at-large member Jim Allen and the resignation of District 1 representative David Stone. Three of the applicants had served previously on the council, two of whom were chosen to fill the vacant seats. Each of the candidates was asked a standard list of eight questions, including their reasons for seeking a seat, their qualifications, and their perspectives on items such as council transparency and budget decisions.

Curtis Knull and Patrick Singer applied to serve as the representative for District 1 until April, 2025. After the interviews the council voted by secret ballot and appointed Singer to the position. Though he has continued to actively participate in city government, currently by serving as chair of the Community Development Authority, Singer chose not to seek reelection to the council in 2021. He had served for 14 years, initially representing the 5th District, and beginning in 2013, in one of the two at-large positions.

Joseph Kromholz, Carol McCormick, Greg Majkrzak, Michael Smith, and Keith Staebler applied to serve as an at-large member until April 16, 2024. Majkrzak, who served previously representing District 5, and Staebler are the two candidates who will appear on the April 2 ballot for the same seat. Although candidates for an interim position are allowed to run for the permanent seat, Council President Neil Hicks expressed the opinion that it would be best not to chose one of those individuals, as he offered them the opportunity to withdraw their applications. Neither did so. Again using secret ballots, the council chose McCormick to fill a role that will be expected to include attendance at only four regular council meetings. She decided not to run for reelection in 2023 after representing District 1 on the council for six years.

After taking the oath of office Singer and McCormick were immediately seated at the council table to participate in the remainder of the meeting.

Councilmembers expressed appreciation that so many individuals were willing to serve in the interim positions, and Hicks encouraged all of them to consider getting involved by applying to serve on a board or commission.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater announced its 2023 winter graduating class.

The following students who consider Whitewater to be their home earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at winter commencement, held December 16, 2023:

Patrice Achu graduated with the following degree: Business Administration – DBA

Lucas Ackman graduated Cum Laude with the following degree: Media Arts and Game Development – BS

Kenna Breckon graduated with the following degree: Elementary Education – BSE

Case Calhoun graduated Summa Cum Laude with the following degree: Mathematics – BS

Gia Donofrio graduated Cum Laude with the following degree: Communication – BA

Ian Drays graduated with the following degree: Physical Education – BSE

Devin Fitzer graduated Cum Laude with the following degree: Information Technology – BBA

Anthony Gamboeck graduated Cum Laude with the following degree: Finance – BBA

Lucas Gonzalez graduated with the following degree: Physical Education – BSE

Bennett Grzeszczak graduated with the following degree: Finance – BBA

Jaylah Harris graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Elementary Education – BSE

Hawk Heffner graduated with the following degree: General Business – BBA

Taylor Jacque graduated with the following degree: Mathematics – BS

Cally Julson graduated Summa Cum Laude with the following degree: History – BSE

Ben Kloskey graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Geography – BS

Brett Knowlton graduated with the following degree: Finance – BBA

Natalie LaBreche graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: English Literature & Language Arts Education – BSE

Anthony LaPoint graduated with the following degree: Sociology – BS

Rylan Maly graduated with the following degree: Finance – BBA

Meg McGinley graduated Summa Cum Laude with the following degree: Elementary Education – BSE

Rachel Mickelson graduated Summa Cum Laude with the following degree: Accounting – BBA

Katlyn Miller graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Early Childhood Education – BSE

Trevin Oertel graduated with the following degree: Environmental Safety and Health – MS

Benjamin Oldenburg graduated with the following degree: Mathematics – BS

Molly Parrish graduated with the following degree: Applied Arts and Sciences – BAAS

Evan Shaw graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Geography – BS

Shelby Starrett graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Art Education – BSE

Zeke Steuerwald graduated with the following degree: Certificate – School Business Management

Brandon Terwilliger graduated with the following degree: Music – BM

Brooks Tiedeman graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Elementary Education – BSE

Jacob Veeder graduated with the following degree: Supply Chain Management – BBA

Chloe Welak graduated with the following degree: Supply Chain Management – BBA

April Wright graduated with the following degree: Liberal Arts – AA

Conner Young graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: Legal Studies – BS

Shaun Young graduated with the following degree: Environmental Safety and Health – MS

Andrea Zimmermann graduated with the following degree: Psychology – BS

Mark Zimmermann graduated Magna Cum Laude with the following degree: History – BSE

Approximately 620 students crossed the stage to receive their degrees at the ceremony, held at Kachel Fieldhouse in the Williams Center.

The graduating class included three international students, 64 military veterans and 141 nontraditional students, defined as undergraduate students who are 25 years of age or older. In addition, 74 self-identified students with disabilities received degrees.

A total of 50 students participated in the university’s Hired Before Graduation campaign, which celebrates students who landed a job, earned acceptance to graduate school or started their own business before commencement.

All those associated with the Whitewater campus and anyone from the community are invited to FREE SPAGHETTI MEALS. This is held every Monday, from February 12 through May 20, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The location is the Congregational United Church of Christ, 133 S. Franklin Street, Whitewater, WI. There will be sit-down meals and fresh or frozen carry-outs available. The menu is spaghetti pasta, two Italian meatballs, and your choice of sauce either marinara or alfredo, with Parmesan cheese and Italian spices. This is coordinated by Congregational UCC and First English Lutheran Church, Whitewater.

By Chris Lindeke
Marketing and Communications Manager
University Marketing and Communications

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Campus Garden, an initiative providing healthy food for a diverse population and educating students for more than 10 years, has been named a recipient of the 2024 Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents Diversity Award.

The award recognizes individuals, departments, programs, units and/or teams for their exceptional efforts in fostering greater equity and diversity across their institutions and communities.

“This program has brought together students, staff, faculty and community members to support and serve individuals and families of the UW-Whitewater campus and surrounding community for a decade,” Provost John Chenoweth wrote in a letter of support for the garden.

“By incorporating sustainability methods into the program, it ensures that practices will not only promote healthy lives, but also nurture and protect the environment for generations to come.”

The Campus Garden, overseen by the university’s sustainability office, addresses food insecurity in the area to contribute to the well-being of underrepresented populations, first-generation students, and economically disadvantaged individuals. The program has donated more than 25,000 pounds of produce and has served an estimated 35,000 patrons in Whitewater and the surrounding areas.

The garden has also educated UW-Whitewater students — often those who come from a disadvantaged background or who grew up in urban areas where there is little to no produce grown — about environmental sustainability and lifelong gardening skills.

The Campus Garden team will be recognized on Feb. 9 at the Board of Regents meeting in Madison.

“We’ve had a lot of students come in of all races and backgrounds — they come in with almost no idea of where their food comes from,” said Wes Enterline, UW-Whitewater’s sustainability director. “There’s always a lot of trepidation and fear when they first get out to the garden — there’s a lot of bugs and other elements floating around.

“Once they start getting hands on and sampling some of the produce and some of the other herbs that we have out there, I think it kindles this curiosity. That’s where you see a light come on in their eyes, when they get out there and start learning a little bit more about it.”

Enterline founded the Campus Garden in 2013, five years after he was hired as sustainability coordinator at the university.

In 2008, after earning his second degree from UW-Whitewater — a B.S. in sociology with a minor in environmental studies and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — Enterline was hired for the job he proposed to Chancellor Richard Telfer and his executive staff as part of recommendations he made for a class presentation.

“It was the cultural ecology and sustainable development class that I took my last semester here with Eric Compas — that was the class where we did the greenhouse gas inventory and created recommendations, and one of those was to hire a sustainability coordinator,” Enterline said. “The job came out of that class work.”

Over his 15-plus years heading up the sustainability office, Enterline has created and developed a comprehensive campus sustainability program that addresses campus operational improvements, community engagement and academic integration.

Enterline paired the success of the Campus Garden with the Whitewater City Market to add to an operation already yielding hundreds of pounds of produce. Each Tuesday night during the market’s outdoor season, student interns bring the garden’s produce to the Whitewater Community Food Pantry, which serves a heavily Latino population of the city. While they’re downtown, where the city market is located, the students solicit additional donations from dozens of produce vendors and bring shopping carts loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables back to the pantry.

Over the years the Campus Garden collaborated with the city market, more than 12,000 pounds of fresh produce have been donated.

“One of the things we’ve been trying to do intentionally is have the students who grow the food go down and help at the food pantry during some of the open hours and share information about the produce,” Enterline said. “We’ll try to share recipes and other things. That gives them an opportunity to really feel that appreciation firsthand … the patrons or the clients of the food pantry can say thank you directly to them.”

Add the donations made to the Warhawk Pantry, which was founded in 2018, and the Campus Garden team provides fresh, healthy food for thousands of UW-Whitewater students and community members.

“The Campus Garden program and its hundreds of student workers and volunteers have learned to appreciate the power of leveraging the connections between seemingly disparate efforts,” said Kristine Zaballos, co-founder of the Whitewater City Market and the Warhawk Pantry and assistant director of University Marketing and Communications at UW-Whitewater. “They learned that the community depended on the fresh produce they provided, and showed up week after week knowing that they were making a difference.”

After taking on most of the leg work when the Campus Garden started, Enterline has built a staff of student interns that handles the day-to-day labor, including maintaining the garden and on-campus greenhouse. He tries to turn the positions over annually to provide the experience to as many students on campus as possible.

Last summer, interns Grace Morey, Julia Schultz and Derek Wallis handled operations for the sustainability office. The group generated a program record 2,786 pounds of produce for donation.

Schultz, who will graduate this May with a degree in environmental science with emphasis in natural sciences, has been working in the sustainability office since the start of the spring 2023 semester. The Franklin native works primarily with the campus greenhouse, an area that becomes critical during the winter months, where she conducts volunteer sessions for students.

Enterline paired Schultz with UW-Whitewater Dining Services to create a Babylon Micro-Farm, which generates produce that goes directly to the campus dining halls. The project helped her gain hard and soft skills that will benefit her in the future.

“He always wants people that want to gain skills through him, which I think is the coolest part,” Schultz said. “I feel like that’s what internships are all about — getting those skills for a future job. I’ve always wanted to do the plant side and hydroponics … he’ll take anything that you want to do and try and do it to the best that he can.”

Wallis earned his associate degree from UW-Waukesha before transferring to UW-Whitewater, citing the ability to work one-on-one with professors and instructors and the environmental science major as his reasons for choosing to become a Warhawk.

Starting out as a volunteer, Wallis was hired to the intern team last spring. He worked through the summer and fall and continues to assist in the sustainability office to see a couple of projects through to completion.

“It’s therapeutic — not just the garden work, but the nature preserve work,” said Wallis, a Sussex native who will graduate this May. “Taking a break from technology and all the stresses of our modern world and doing something with your hands is very relaxing. I encourage a lot of my friends, especially around finals weeks, to come out and take a break from coursework, technology and everything, and just have some time to unwind.”

By earning the Universities of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents Diversity Award, UW-Whitewater’s sustainability office will receive a $7,500 award.

Editor’s note: The following press release was received from Wisconsin Makers.

Wisconsin Makers is offering a four-session class on ChatGPT in February and March.

“Introduction to ChatGPT: Unleashing AI in Your Everyday Life” will take place at 7 p.m. on four consecutive Thursdays starting Feb. 15 at the makerspace, located at 200 E. Clay St. in Whitewater. Each weekly session will be one to two hours in length.

ChatGPT is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool that is transforming how humans interact with technology.

“Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a creative mind or just curious about artificial intelligence, this four-week course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge to harness the power of ChatGPT in your daily life,” said Wisconsin Makers Board of Directors President Al Jewer.

“This course is perfect for anyone interested in AI, looking to enhance his or her tech skills or seeking new ways to boost productivity and creativity,” he added. “No prior experience with AI is needed.”

The syllabus is as follows:

• Week 1: Dive into the basics of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence. Understand how these technologies work and get hands-on experience with simple interactions.

• Week 2: Explore the practical applications of ChatGPT. From crafting emails to generating creative content, discover how AI can be your personal assistant.

• Week 3: Delve into advanced features and customizations. Learn how to tailor ChatGPT to your specific needs and interests.

• Week 4: Interactive workshop and sharing session. Share your experiences, showcase your projects and learn from fellow attendees.

Instructing the class will be Nick Stratton, owner of Hotends.com in Whitewater. The company makes innovative J-Head hotends, the portion of the 3-D printer that extrudes the filament.

To register, contact Al Jewer at (630) 430-9498 or wisconsinmakersinc@gmail.com. The course fee is $50, with payment on the first night. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and seats are limited.

Wisconsin Makers is a nonprofit regional makerspace (community workshop) offering an affordable, collaborative and educational environment that inspires people of all ages to become innovators by unlocking their skills through continual experimentation and training. Work areas/equipment include: 3-D printing, laser engraving, machining, welding/fabrication, electronics, blacksmithing, woodworking, ceramics/pottery, jewelry making, arts/crafts, quilting/fabric arts, matting/framing and more.

For more information about the makerspace, classes or memberships, visit Wisconsin Makers’ Facebook page at @wisconsinmakers or call Jewer at (630) 430-9498.

Editor’s note: The Banner appreciates having permission to use the image on the homepage by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

In a press release dated February 5, The City of Elkhorn Police Department stated that, “Law enforcement officials continue to actively investigate the early morning double homicide that occurred at the Sports Page Barr…on Thursday, February 1, 2024.

Officials have been focusing efforts on an investigation lead that developed over the weekend which identified a person of interest. The person of interest has been taken into custody on an unrelated matter as officials continue their investigation.

In order to protect the integrity of this investigation, no further information is available at this time. In addition, any person of interest is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.

Any person who may have information is asked to call the Walworth County Communications Center at 262-741-4400. You may also remain anonymous and contact Walworth County Crime Stoppers at 262-723-2677 or electronically by using P3 tips (http://www.p3tips.com)”