Tag Archives: UW-FDL

Best Place to Get in Touch with Nature

gottfried_prairie_arboretum

Monday Morning

There were 19 members at our Monday meeting plus one guest. Our guest speaker was Tracy McDermott.  Happy bucks came from no one. Everyone was unhappy.  Special thanks to our greeters, Marlin and Chris. Dan handled the invocation and our guest speaker, Tracy did the humor. For the second week in a row, we have a Dr. Waffle Award winner. John was the ticket winner. He drew the eight of clubs for no money. Next Monday’s 50/50 Raffle will have 42 cards in the game including the six pay cards with a pot of about $105.

Tracy McDermott, Gottfried Prairie & Arboretum

Tracy is the executive director of Gottfried Prairie and Arboretum. It is a non-profit entity with no funding from either UW Campus or Fond du Lac County. The project began in 1990 when a group of student and staff approached Dean Bradley Gottfried with an idea to establish a prairie on campus. The majority of land surrounding the campus was open lawn. In 1992, the first 20 acres of native grasses and wildflowers were planted by volunteers. Since then, the prairie has grown to an additional 22 acres. It includes a formal arboretum; interpretive hiking trails a bike trail, a shelter, two native display gardens and a wildlife pool. All projects have been funded with private donations and grants. They have added 4.5 acres representing eight types of Wisconsin forest communities. At one time, most of Fond du Lac County was covered by prairie – native grasslands that were home to bison, prairie chickens, bobolinks and other wildlife. Arboretum is named for Bradley Gottfried, former dean of UW Fond du Lac and a major force behind the project. The arboretum is a public park that is open to the public. The luminary holiday walk is Sunday December 13 from 4:30 to7:30 pm. The annual snowshoe hike is the 3rd week of January. For more information go to their web page.

Kiwanis Happenings – February 9, 2012

Monday Morning
We had 17 members and 10 guests at Monday’s meeting. Joining us were our guest speaker, Lynn Hill from MPTC along with numerous recipients of over $1,300 donations from the Youth Services Committee. Receiving donations were:

Marlin Towne was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew a Ten of Clubs, a $10 winner. There are now 36 cards left in the deck, four of which are pay cards. Still lots of money to win and four cards to do it with.

Lynn Hill, GED Academy-MPTC
Lynn Hill, Instructional Technology Testing Specialist at MPTC, joined us on Monday morning to tell us about the GED Academy at MPTC. The GED Academy is a 40-hour accelerated program developed as a fast-track alternative way for students to get their GED. The accelerated format is designed to help students complete the entire GED process or get closer to finishing all requirements. The state-required orientation, instruction, careers classes, and testing materials are all included. Orientation and instruction are free. The GED testing fees are $15 per test for five tests for a total of $75. Moraine Park also offers a High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) program for students who thrive in a classroom setting. Instructors assist students through course-work, and there are no timed tests. Each student is required to attend six hours each week. Three of those hours must be on Friday morning and the other three hours are flexible. The HSED covers the academic subject areas of reading, math, writing, social studies, science, civics, and health. Students must meet certain academic criteria as determined by required pretesting. Registration is required for both the GED Academy and HSED programs.