Tag Archives: fond du lac school district

We Gave Away iPad Minis?!?

AutismRibbon

Monday Morning

We had 17 members at the beginning of Monday’s meeting but that number grew to 18 after we inducted our newest member, Dr. Caron Daugherty.  Dr. Daugherty was sponsored by Bonnie Baerwald and is the Dean of General & International Education at Moraine Park Technical.  Caron hails from the Ozarks region of Missouri but seems to have adapted well to Fond du Lac and Wisconsin.  We also had our guest speaker, Shannon Schultz from the Fond du Lac School District at Monday’s meeting.  Gary Miller is organizing an InterClub to the Evening Club for Wednesday night, December 17th to support our Club member Steve Millin, who will be the program that night.  Check your calendars and let Gary know if you can attend.  Happy Bucks were offered by Pete Vercouteren who is glad to be back and hopeful that Barb’s hospital encounters are over, Gary Miller for his helping out at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, Bonnie Baerwald for getting her outside Christmas decorations up on Sunday before the rains came, Sharon Kollman for being thankful she’s back from the warm beaches of Florida and finally Vickie Goldapske for fun deer camo with her family this past weekend.  Chris Serres was the 50/50 Raffle winner and she drew the Three of Clubs, another non-winner.  Next week’s pot will be $31 with 49 cards left in the deck and nine pay cards.

Shannon Schultz, Fond du Lac School District

Shannon Schultz joined us on Monday morning to talk about the benefits of the iPad Minis that our Club has donated to a number of students in our community.  Shannon is the Autism Program Support Teacher for the Fond du Lac School District and is in her fourth year in this role for the school district.  Shannon has been an educator for 18 years, 15 of those in the Fond du Lac District.  Shannon works with children and young adults in grades kindergarten through age 21that are on the autism spectrum.

Our Club has donated a number of iPad Minis to autistic students in both the Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac School Districts over the past several years as part of the Past Governor Messer’s Project.

Shannon used two of her students as examples of how the iPad Minis are used by these students to function in everyday life, from a communication device to a scheduler that helps a high school student get ready for school and get to his job helping to serve breakfast at school, without someone helping him every step of the way.   The specialized apps that are available for the iPad Minis provide these students with a new whole world.  With the rate of autism now at 1 in 65, there is plenty of need for these kinds of instructional aids.

STEM Academy Reports Progress & Success

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Monday Morning

We had a nice turnout of 18 members and eight guests at Monday’s meeting back at the Retlaw Hotel. Joining us were our guest speaker, Steve Peterson along with three students of the FDL STEM Academy and four of their parents. Bonnie Baerwald announced that the Club Satellite meeting on July 3rd will be BackYard Bar & Grill at 12:15PM. Everyone’s welcome to attend. Charlene reminded everyone that our Annual Summer Picnic is this week Wednesday. Glen Treml had a “Happy Buck” for another grandchild on the way in November. John Cooper was the 50/50 Raffle drawing winner. John drew the Nine of Spades so he wasn’t a winner. The drawing on July 7th will have 19 cards with five pay cards and a pot of at least $456. In a second drawing Vickie Goldapske and Sharon Kollman each won a Walleye Weekend Miller Lite Polo. Congrats to all the winners.

Fond du Lac STEM Academy – Steve Peterson

Steve Peterson, CEO of Mid-States Aluminum, joined us on Monday as a representative of the Board of the FDL STEM Academy/Institute.

The Fond du Lac STEM Academy is the result of a partnership established between the Mercury Marine Corporation and the Fond du Lac School District. This partnership is far more than the traditional concept of a corporate partnership in which a the company provides resources for the school but has little actual involvement in the operations of the school. The mission for the Fond du Lac STEM Academy as stated in the charter grant application is: To develop innovative, passionate learners by providing a rigorous and challenging project-based curriculum grounded in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Our goal is to encourage ingenuity and creativity using real-world, hands on experiences. All students will develop strong team skills including collaboration, critical thinking, and flexibility, along with individual skills of self-reflection, persistence, pride, and resiliency. These skill sets will create future, highly employable citizens, armed with the 21st-century tools necessary for local, national, and global marketplaces.The STEM Academy is located at Franklin School and has a capacity of 100 students, with 80 students enrolled for the 2014-15 school starting in September. The STEM Academy includes grades 3, 4 and 5.

The STEM Institute started in 2013 and is also housed at Franklin School. The Institute has capacity for 150 students and has an enrollment of 100 students for the 2014-15 school year. The STEM Institute covers grades 6, 7 and 8. While there is nothing currently in place to continue this STEM concept at the High School level, the STEM advisory board is looking for ways to continue this learning philosophy at that level.

The three students that came along on Monday morning each gave a brief testimonial on why they like STEM and what some of their experiences have been.