German Students Visit Moraine Park

Willkommen! As part of our ongoing exchange program with Darmstadt, Germany, Moraine Park Technical College welcomed 17 German students and two German instructors to campus last week. Every year, Moraine Park faculty, staff and students serve as host families to their German counterparts. In addition to attending classes at Moraine Park and interacting with students, the guests have previously participated in several exciting events such as the Green Lake Harvest Days Festival, a Mecan River canoe trip, an overnight stay at Blue Harbor Water Resort, tours through Mercury Marine, visits to Fox Lake Correctional Facility, trips to Michels Corporation and Kohler, and other experiences, which change each year to provide new opportunities. The German students are also able to present to classes and share their knowledge, culture, and career fields.

The students and faculty were welcomed with a meal prepared by Culinary Arts students at Moraine Park. In May, Moraine Park students will visit Germany! For more images of our German visitors as well as our own students' travels to Germany last summer, visit our Facebook page. 

London and Paris! Spring Break 2013!

Several students depart for London next week, with a day-trip excursion to Paris included with their travels. While only four students were able to share in the experience last year, this year Ms. Danielle Domenosky grabbed the reins and has orchestrated a great itinerary for the 15 travelers. While the first day includes money exchange, getting settled in the lodging, and grocery shopping, the students will have opportunities to become proficient with London public transportation (London's infamous Tube). In addition, they will visit British classics, such as the Changing of the Guard, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, Camden Lock open market and the London Eye. The trip is not all tourism and historical sites -- Danielle has also reviewed the students' program emphasis areas (most travelers are Cosmetology students) and arranged program-specific activities for the students, which in the past has included visits to a London court room, waste-water treatment facilities, IT specialists, and the police department (shadows for the bobbies).

Safe travels to the group from Moraine Park Technical College as they prepare for their departure. We hope to have a student posting blog entries. Updates soon!

Service-Learning Updates

Classes start Monday, and several faculty are lining up their classes to work with community orgnizations through a variety of service-learning models Moraine Park employs to serve both the students and our community connections. It seems our "Community Connections" tag line, one of the College's Goal Statements through 2016, is catching on.

UW-FDL is hosting their "Community Connections" Fair Wednesday, Feb. 6, from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. This event is open to the public, and our faculty and students are welcomed to attend if interested. In addition, the Beaver Dam campus of Moraine Park showcases their community connections for service-learning on Thursday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Contact Amy Patterson for more information related to that event.

In addition to the service-learning projects getting underway over the next few weeks through our campus, we are piloting a new tracking database to allow us to more accurately realize the service footprint Moraine Park, our faculty, our staff, our students and our college community are making within our local civic communities. A few of us will be working with the database this semester with plans to roll it out to the campus community in the fall semester. 

The college is also a member of the Wisconsin Campus Compact, and this organization allows us additional resources and opportunities for connecting with community, educational, organizational and statewide partners for service for our students. This statewide organization is a leader and innovator in service-learning and volunteer events for its membership. 

We look forward to posts that highlight the impact our faculty and students make in the community over the next 15-16 weeks.

Morocco--Culture and Culinary

Thomas Endejan, Culinary faculty for Moraine Park, is in Morocco this first week of January 2013. Researching Moroccan cuisine and culture, Tom will lead a group of MPTC students to the North African kingdom in 2014. We will post another blog with more pics and stories from him next week.

In these pics, you see him forming and baking flatbread and showcasing the very common and popular Moroccan dish, tagine.

Service-Learning: Sassu Enterprises

MPTC Service-Learning: Business Instructor Julie Dilling's Students Make Community Connection

While service-learning opportunities at Moraine Park are increasing in number, this link provides an example as to why this type of curriculum has value. Kudos to Ms. Julie Dilling and the time, effort, dedication, and service she modeled for her students. This fundraiser for and promotion of Sassu Enterprises was a success for all involved parties. Thank you, Julie!

Additional displays of the event are on the second floor of the A building at the Fond du Lac campus.