The Chamber, Superior-Douglas County Area News Newswire

Rachel's Challenge is coming to Superior

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Monday November 23^rd, 2009 students at Superior Middle School will have the opportunity to experience Rachel’s Challenge, one of America’s largest character development programs and one that has already transformed millions of lives worldwide.

Monday students will participate in an assembly, followed by a peer training session.

That evening the public is invited to attend a presentation with the speaker from Rachel’s Challenge as they conduct a powerful session with parents and community leaders from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Who is Rachel Scott?

Rachel Scott was the first person killed at Columbine High School in April 1999. Her acts of kindness and compassion coupled with the contents of her six diaries have become the foundation for one of the most life-changing school programs in America. That program, Rachel’s Challenge will make its way to Superior Middle School, Monday November 23^rd, 2009.

According to information at www.rachelschallenge.org, powerful video / audio footage of Rachel’s life and the Columbine tragedy holds students spellbound during a one hour school presentation that motivates them to positive change in the way they treat others. A 1.5-hour training involving both adults and student leaders that shows how to sustain the momentum created by the assembly follows this. The assembly creates the “want to” or desire for positive change. The training session teaches the “how to” and ensures that the positive impact will continue.

While we have not had any instances of this type of behavior in our community – the positive message that Rachel’s Challenge brings can only strengthen our community and student body and attempt to keep this type of tragedy from ever occurring – especially due to peer pressure or discrimination. Students are able to recognize how a chain reaction of kindness and compassion can change their lives and vision of their future.

This event is free and open to the community, donations of food items for the local food shelf would be appreciated and will be accepted at the door. This session is similar to the assembly program and ends with a specific challenge for parents and community leaders, showing them how they can reinforce the decisions their youth are making. Rachel’s Challenge has impacted entertainers, politicians, sports celebrities, educators and even two Presidents’ of the United States. However, students are the target audience and they have proven that they will respond with positive words, attitudes and actions.

Start a chain reaction!

Brighten Up the Holidays!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Get your creative juices flowing and help light up Superior and Douglas County for the Holiday Season by entering the annual Chamber Ambassadors Residential Holiday Lighting Contest. All residents of Douglas County are eligible.

There are five categories: Country Choice (Open to Douglas County residents who live outside of the City of Superior and Village of Superior); Ambassadors Choice; Best Use of Lights; Spirit Award (Lots of holiday spirit--not necessarily tons of lights and decorations) and the Master's Division. Any entrant who has won in any division in the past two years will be entered in the Master’s Division.

Enter online at www.superiorchamber.org, e-mail your information (name, address, day and evening telephone numbers) to jano@superiorchamber.org or call the Chamber at 715-394-7716. Entry deadline is December 2.

Judging will be December 5, 6, 7 and 8 between 6:00 and 10:00 PM. Awards will be presented and signs erected at the homes of the winners on December 10.

For each entrant in the contest, the Ambassadors will donate $5 to the Superior Middle School Clothing Closet for homeless students in the Superior School District.

Last year there were 28 entrants. Let’s double that number this year and help make the Holiday Season brighter for everyone!

Center City Park Garden Design Contest

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

If you have driven past Center City Park at the intersection of Belknap Street and Tower Avenue in Superior, you can’t miss the new Park entrance sign and the updated landscaping. However, there is more to come, and you can be a part of it!

The Superior Parks & Recreation Division and the Business Improvement District invite interested organizations and individuals (excluding professional landscape firms) to submit a Garden Design Plan for the large annual bed in the Park.

The contest officially kicks off today, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. You may download contest materials at www.ci.superior.wi.us or pick up a packet at the Parks & Recreation Division in the Government Center at 1316 North 14^th Street, Second Floor, Superior) through Wednesday, January 6, 2010. The design is due by 4:30 PM on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, with the winner announced on Wednesday, January 20, 2010.

A panel of experts has been recruited to judge the competition. Criteria will include originality of the garden design, balance and scale of the garden to the setting, choice of plant materials (annuals only) for an urban setting, east of maintenance and cost analysis.

So sharpen your pencils, open up your gardening manuals and catalogs, and start designing!

Membership Listing Updates & 2010 Advertising

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago information was sent out to Chamber members regarding updating your membership information as well as great advertising opportunities for 2010.

If you haven't already done so, please fill out the membership information sheet and fax to (715) 394-3810 or send to the Chamber office or login to Members Only.

This information allows the Chamber staff to accurately make referrals to our members and potential customers. The information you provide is published in the Relocation/Membership Directory as well as on the Chamber website. Please be sure to look over your business listing information sheet and make any updates or corrections.

Relocation/Membership Directory (print ad sheet)
The Relocation Guide and Membership Directory are combined into one fabulous marketing tool. If you haven’t had the chance to view it, go to our website http://www.superiorchamber.org/relocation/guide.asp and take a look. The relocation section is 4-color with 2-color directory pages. Choose one of our premium full-color ads to increase your market awareness or an ad to list your featured products. Or simply highlight your company by placing emphasis on your name in the Alphabetical and Categorical sections by upgrading to a Bold or a Bold & Logo listing. Not only will these upgrades separate you from the pack, but we will also print your listing in a special COLOR for a more eye-catching appearance. The Directory is printed as well as available on the website, so ultimately you get two for the price of one. This publication continues to be a key resource for local and non-local consumers to find YOU!

New Website
That’s right, we are in the process of designing a new and even better website scheduled to launch on January 4th, 2010! Sometime shortly after the new website goes LIVE, we will be hosting a number of presentations with speakers from Weblink International, Inc. explaining our website traffic and why your business really needs to be part of it. You truly will be impressed by the numbers and definitely won’t want to be left behind! Be sure to budget some advertising dollars now and watch for your opportunity to attend one of these presentations!

eNewsletters (print ad sheet)
Another great advertising avenue is our three “eNewsletters”. Be a banner ad month sponsor, coupon sponsor or simply place an ad highlighting your product, services or event. The M2M (Member to Member) eNewsletter, is emailed bi-weekly on Monday’s to over 1,200 Members and their employees. The Community Happenings eNewsletter is also emailed bi-weekly on Wednesday’s, distributed to nearly 1,000 individuals throughout Douglas County and beyond and continues to grow each day. Or the Tourism eNewsletter, emailed at the beginning of each month to 700 individuals from all over who traveled through our area and signed up to keep informed of what’s going on in Douglas County, with great potential to visit again.

The Connection
At the request of our Members, this year The Connection was an online publication in place of the printed piece we had produced in the past. As a result, The Chamber saved a ton of trees and our Members enjoyed reading the digital publication right from their desktops giving them the choice to print if so desired. This quarterly newsletter communicates valuable Chamber information while providing a spotlight on current business/community topics. Look for a new design in 2010 with a number of advertising opportunities available to keep your name at the fingertips of your consumers. Underwriting positions are still available for members who wish to support our efforts. We look forward to helping keep you informed.

The Chamber is sensitive to your bottom line in these economic times so, we will maintain the same prices we have for the past three years. We believe that you will find the value in advertising in the Relocation/Membership Directory and Electronic Advertising. To ensure the proper amount of production time for the 2010 Publications, we need your information and ad copy returned to us by December 1st. Please call The Chamber today with any questions.

WITC Superior

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Colleges become very popular places when the economy turns sour. Displaced workers, particularly those in troubled industries, renew their quest for knowledge, often out of necessity, when job opportunities become scarce. Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College is no exception. The WITC system – which includes campuses in Ashland, New Richmond, Rice Lake and Superior – is experiencing higher than usual demand as the fall semester approaches. Fifty career programs are offered. “This year, we’ll be up a couple hundred students college wide, 50 just in Superior,” said Diane Vertin, Ed.D., vice president of academic affairs and Superior campus administrator. “We’re seeing people who have lost their jobs coming back into the educational arena to get different skills. Younger students who haven’t gotten into their careers, realizing there currently are few or zero jobs out there, are doing two or three programs rather than just one – getting two or three degrees. That’s something that’s new.” The influx presents a heightened challenge for educators. All WITC trade programs currently have significant waiting lists. “They’re filled to capacity with people waiting to get in,” Vertin said. Such growth would be welcomed in most industries, even at many universities, but trade and technical education – which includes welding, machine tool, industrial maintenance, technician and automotive programs – face unique constraints. “We’re limited by capacity. It’s not like we’re a university, where you can put 200 people into a classroom to hear a lecture. For instance, our welding classes can only handle 20 students. We have to meet all of the safety requirements for equipment in the welding booth. Our student-teacher ratio is 20 to 1, so it’s somewhat more of a challenge” as demand grows within the trade, Vertin said. “Our mission is very different in that we train for work. It’s very different from going to a university lecture hall. It’s more of a challenge for us.” Doing more with less Vertin is beginning her fifth year as campus administrator and second in the dual role of campus administrator and academic affairs vice president. In previous years, those positions were separate, but like all public institutions, WITC has been tightening its belt. “With the state of the economy, our budgets have been decreasing every year, so we do the best we can with the available resources,” she said. “It’s an interesting challenge for us to have more people coming forward while, at the same time, we have less revenue to provide services.” In many cases, current WITC students are not recent high school graduates. Ninety percent of them are employed, for example, and the average age is 27. Many have started families. “Some already have a general education background from a previous degree, or a bachelor’s degree, and they’re coming back for retraining, hoping to find new opportunities,” Vertin said. Nursing and medical professions remain in strong demand and are among those facing the greatest enrollment pressures at WITC campuses, which are part of the larger Wisconsin Technical Colleges system, offering 300 programs statewide. WITC offers training for nursing, nursing assistant, medical assistant and occupational therapy jobs. “We’ve had two- to three-year waiting lists for the last five or six years. Demand isn’t slowing down for the time being,” she said. More than 80 students currently are waiting to enter the nursing program among the four campuses. WITC also has branch campuses in Hayward and Ladysmith plus the Washburn County Learning Center in Spooner. More than 20 people are on the list waiting to learn welding skills, although the weak economy has temporarily reduced the number of welding positions available. A rebound, however, is anticipated. Strong partners WITC, which was founded in 1912, relies upon the business community to keep it abreast of changing educational needs. “Every single one of our programs has an advisory committee. We’re constantly assessing the needs of our stakeholders. That’s how we evaluate our curriculum,” Vertin explained. Given that input, the WITC system is preparing to offer technical specialties that are emerging as the economy and society changes. “New programs we currently have in the pipeline include dental assistant, human services associate and an energy efficiency technician. We’re looking at a lot of sustainability and energy-related programs,” Vertin explained. The dental assistant program, approved Aug. 17, will likely begin in the fall of 2011, with the other programs starting in about 12 months. Online program delivery is among the latest changes. Entire accounting, marketing and Web analysis programs are now available via computer for students who can’t participate in traditional face-to-face instruction. Such programs not only offer a higher degree of freedom to students, but they also allow the WITC system to draw from teaching talent at various campuses, maximizing faculty efficiency. Even though the online program has just debuted, “there’s significant enrollment,” Vertin said, providing new flexibility and options for students. Changing with the times To remain strong, viable and competitive, WITC depends upon continued revenue flow. “Our programs are very expensive because we have to provide state-of-the-art equipment,” particularly welding and computerized machining tools, she said. The system also must engage prospective students with state-of-the-art marketing initiatives. “We’re using more social networking, putting more emphasis on things like Second Life, Facebook and MySpace,” Vertin said. Such initiatives are even making their way into the classroom. For instance, Second Life, the computerized virtual world, is part of the nursing program. “One of our instructors set up a patient in Second Life and had the students inject a medication. They could see what happens if they inject the wrong medication – how the person would react,” she explained. Back in the real world, Vertin said today’s workers are coming to realize their education must be a continual lifelong effort. “We’re seeing more short-term training, more certificate courses. You can never stop learning,” she said. The influx presents a heightened challenge for educators. All WITC trade programs currently have significant waiting lists. “They’re filled to capacity with people waiting to get in,” Vertin said. Such growth would be welcomed in most industries, even at many universities, but trade and technical education – which includes welding, machine tool, industrial maintenance, technician and automotive programs – face unique constraints. “We’re limited by capacity. It’s not like we’re a university, where you can put 200 people into a classroom to hear a lecture. For instance, our welding classes can only handle 20 students. We have to meet all of the safety requirements for equipment in the welding booth. Our student-teacher ratio is 20 to 1, so it’s somewhat more of a challenge” as demand grows within the trade, Vertin said. “Our mission is very different in that we train for work. It’s very different from going to a university lecture hall. It’s more of a challenge for us.” Doing more with less Vertin is beginning her fifth year as campus administrator and second in the dual role of campus administrator and academic affairs vice president. In previous years, those positions were separate, but like all public institutions, WITC has been tightening its belt. “With the state of the economy, our budgets have been decreasing every year, so we do the best we can with the available resources,” she said. “It’s an interesting challenge for us to have more people coming forward while, at the same time, we have less revenue to provide services.” In many cases, current WITC students are not recent high school graduates. Ninety percent of them are employed, for example, and the average age is 27. Many have started families. “Some already have a general education background from a previous degree, or a bachelor’s degree, and they’re coming back for retraining, hoping to find new opportunities,” Vertin said. Nursing and medical professions remain in strong demand and are among those facing the greatest enrollment pressures at WITC campuses, which are part of the larger Wisconsin Technical Colleges system, offering 300 programs statewide. WITC offers training for nursing, nursing assistant, medical assistant and occupational therapy jobs. “We’ve had two- to three-year waiting lists for the last five or six years. Demand isn’t slowing down for the time being,” she said. More than 80 students currently are waiting to enter the nursing program among the four campuses. WITC also has branch campuses in Hayward and Ladysmith plus the Washburn County Learning Center in Spooner. More than 20 people are on the list waiting to learn welding skills, although the weak economy has temporarily reduced the number of welding positions available. A rebound, however, is anticipated. Strong partners WITC, which was founded in 1912, relies upon the business community to keep it abreast of changing educational needs. “Every single one of our programs has an advisory committee. We’re constantly assessing the needs of our stakeholders. That’s how we evaluate our curriculum,” Vertin explained. Given that input, the WITC system is preparing to offer technical specialties that are emerging as the economy and society changes. “New programs we currently have in the pipeline include dental assistant, human services associate and an energy efficiency technician. We’re looking at a lot of sustainability and energy-related programs,” Vertin explained. The dental assistant program, approved Aug. 17, will likely begin in the fall of 2011, with the other programs starting in about 12 months. Online program delivery is among the latest changes. Entire accounting, marketing and Web analysis programs are now available via computer for students who can’t participate in traditional face-to-face instruction. Such programs not only offer a higher degree of freedom to students, but they also allow the WITC system to draw from teaching talent at various campuses, maximizing faculty efficiency. Even though the online program has just debuted, “there’s significant enrollment,” Vertin said, providing new flexibility and options for students. Changing with the times To remain strong, viable and competitive, WITC depends upon continued revenue flow. “Our programs are very expensive because we have to provide state-of-the-art equipment,” particularly welding and computerized machining tools, she said. The system also must engage prospective students with state-of-the-art marketing initiatives. “We’re using more social networking, putting more emphasis on things like Second Life, Facebook and MySpace,” Vertin said. Such initiatives are even making their way into the classroom. For instance, Second Life, the computerized virtual world, is part of the nursing program. “One of our instructors set up a patient in Second Life and had the students inject a medication. They could see what happens if they inject the wrong medication – how the person would react,” she explained. Back in the real world, Vertin said today’s workers are coming to realize their education must be a continual lifelong effort. “We’re seeing more short-term training, more certificate courses. You can never stop learning,” she said.

UWS Athletic Club Booster Luncheons

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The University Wisconsin Superior Athletic Department will once again be hosting their traditional booster club luncheons at Barker’s Island Inn and Conference Center.

The luncheons will take place the first Tuesday of each month (except January) November through March from noon to 1:00 in the Great Lakes Ballroom.

Each event will include information and updates on UWS Athletics, along with presentations and guest speakers from the athletic department.

Cost to attend is $8.50 per person and includes a soup & sandwich buffet.

No reservations required.

Each month will highlight different athletic topics or feature different speakers.

Tuesday November 3^rd - Speakers will be, Men’s & Women’s Hockey Coaches

Tuesday December 1^st - Speakers will be, Men’s & Women’s Basketball Coaches

Tuesday February 2^nd – Winter Sports Wrap Up

Tuesday March 2^nd – Spring Sports Preview

** There will not be meeting in January

For more information please contact the Athletic Department at 715-395-4693

Kruk Galleries Exhibits

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Exhibits on display Kruk Galleries on UW Superior Campus -

October 5, 2009 to October 22, 2009

Emile Mathis Collection Presents: Wenzel Hollar's Theatrium Mulierum and Rubber Stamps by American Pop Artists from the 1970s

Thirty-six etchings from the Theatrium Mulierum, a work from the 1640s by Bohemian etcher Wenzel Hollar and 20 rubber stamps created by American Pop Artists of the 1970s.

Special extended gallery hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8.
Reception: 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Kruk Gallery

November 2, 2009 to November 20, 2009

Mel Olsen Retrospective: A Lifetime Collection of Art
The UW-Superior Art Department and the family of the late Mel Olsen, UW-Superior alumnus and longtime faculty member, host a collection of art from Mel's life of work and travel.

Reception: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in Kruk Gallery

Regular gallery hours: weekdays 9am to 4pm

Classes at Art in the Alley

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Is your inner artist looking for a place to get out? Try a class with Tami at Art In the Alley.

Art in the Alley is offering a variety of classes teaching you to visualize and then create your own personalized works of art. Learn techniques for designing and assembling a mosaic mirror, wrap beads on serving pieces to add some extra sparkle to your dinner table, use paint and beads to embelish your own wine glasses, discover the secrets of decoupage art to produce personalized wall art or use a wire wrapping style to create your own pendant for a necklace. Let Tami help with the fundamentals then open the door and let your imagination be your guide.

2009 Class Schedule

September 8th "Mosaic Mirror" (part 2 of a 2 session class)
September 15th "Wire Wrapped Pendant"
September 22nd "Glamorous Goblets"
September 29th "Decoupage Wall Art"
October 6th "Beaded Silverware"
October 13th "Mosaic Mirror" (part 1 of a 2 session class)
October 20th "Mosaic Mirror" (part 2 of a 2 session class)
October 27th "Glamorous Goblets"
November 3rd "Decoupage Wall Art"
November 10th "Beaded Silverware"
November 17th "Glamorous Goblets"
December 1st "Beaded Silverware"
December 8th "Wire Wrapped Pendant"
December 15th "Glamorous Goblets"

Adult classes Tuesday evenings from 6-8pm
$30 per person

Space is limited, call to reserve your spot today 218-348-5009

Youth classes offered Saturdays 9:30-10:30am $15 per person (ages 8-18) call for details

**You can also customize a class any night of the week. Gather your own group of 4 friends, sisters, moms & daughers... and design your own private class! Great for "Girls Night Out", birthday parties, wedding showers, kids parties... and more. You pick the class and you can even bring in your own food and beverages to enjoy while you create.

And remember it's not too early to start thinking about Holiday gifts.