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Monday, March 10, 2014

Lets take a look at progress that is being made

Our college project managers are getting to know their students more and more each week.  The students are really enjoying themselves and the work that they have been getting done.  See for yourself from our college project managers.

“The basics of how water is processed not just in Southeastern Wisconsin but everywhere is what my group is discussing. The concepts my group is discussing deal with understanding the basics of where water comes from. They are going to be explaining this to 3rd and 4th graders. They want their point to come across as simple as possible. They will be discussing where our water comes from, how it goes from large bodies of water, to sanitized drinking water in our homes. They are creating a slide show that will show how this happens and at the same time describe each step of the process. 

I think that everything my group is explaining is well thought out and relevant to the topic of where water comes from. Everything pertains back to where water comes from and the importance of that water in Southeastern Wisconsin. 

The project is progressing great. Each week more and more ideas are sorted across the table to come up with the best ideas for their project. I feel with each and every week they want to show that they know what they are talking about and sometimes can cause conflict with more discussing and less doing. I feel though they are understanding that they will have to work together and start doing more with their slide show and stick with their ideas and not change them. Each person in the group has something to contribute. Whether it is coming up with ideas, to working on the slide shows, or drawing up a sketch of what they should talk about next. They all work together great and are improving each and every week I see them.” 

-Joel Guidinger

 “At the Wisconsin Conservatory for Lifelong Learning, there are two projects being worked on. One, a board game, is a presentation for elementary school students, while the other, an animated video, is a presentation for middle school students.

The board game is coming along well. At the last session I attended (I was unable to make the March 11th session), the group had made progress on laying out the idea for the board, along with coming up with a handful of trivia questions to integrate into the game. I can only assume this progress continued during the session on the 11th.   As I had been assigned to work with the board game group, I’m not sure as to how far the animated video group is. I’m looking forward to seeing their progress at next week’s session.”

-Nick Lister

At this last meeting, the students I work with were perusing the web sites of the Global Water Center and Jones Island, two places which they'll be visiting with Lead to Succeed in the coming weeks. In addition to touring both facilities to learn about what they do there, the students will be conducting interviews for their ongoing project highlighting the perspectives of various people working in water-related careers. We came across some interesting information. I was already aware that Jones Island was where MMSD made Milorganite, a commercially-available organic fertilizer. However, I learned something new about our local water history: Milwaukee's own Jones Island was the oldest municipal water treatment plant in the country!

 This information is relevant to the group project because it is a source of local pride that they may have previously been unaware of. Hopefully, interesting tidbits like that can drum up a little extra enthusiasm about the field trip and water-related career opportunities in general.

 The group project is progressing nicely so far. Two meetings ago, I worked with students to map out a timeline and division of labor to help manage the project and break it down into stages and specific duties. Then, I talked with Alex - one of the students who is interested in working with the photography portion - and we brainstormed some options for exhibition spaces to stage an auction of the photos they will be shooting. We came up with several possibilities, a few of which were conveniently located in the school's neighborhood. I also offered to teach the students how to cut mat-board frames for the photos once they have the prints, since I have a mat-cutter I can bring from home and plenty of experience with it.”

-Christopher Miller

Working along with the high schoolers at my project site we have been able to find out a lot of information about water and what is actually in the water we drink. They have been quite engaged and  interested in getting the word out through their blog so people know exactly what is going on with the water we not only get out of the tap but the water bottles we purchase.

This information is relevant because my team is creating a blog and trying to inform the community about what they are drinking  and what additives are in the water and why it is important for everyone to stay hydrated.   We are on track with our blog and thankfully have had a team that is hard working and excited about learning more about water!”


-Kimberly Schmidt

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