COMMUNITY
THE DUNN COUNTY NEWS
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Contact: editor@dunnconnect.com
A5
Stout holds ROTC
commissioning
ceremony
UW-STOUT NEWS BUREAU
SUBMITTED photos
Members of the UW-Stout chapter of Sigma Lambda Chi, a professional honor society for construction majors, stain the playground structure at River
Heights School in Menomonie.
Construction society receives international honor
UW-STOUT NEWS BUREAU
Each academic year,
several thousand University of Wisconsin-Stout
students donate their
time, talents and financial
resources to help others on
campus, in Menomonie,
and across west central
Wisconsin.
One group of students
has received special recognition for its efforts.
Sigma Lambda Chi, a
professional honor society made up of 15 students
majoring in construction,
was named the International Chapter of the Year
at the annual conference
of the Associated Schools
of Construction.
It’s the ninth award
in the past 12 years for
the ambitious UW-Stout
chapter.
“It’s a pretty prestigious award, and we’re
very excited to have won
it again,” Joe Zanotti, the
chapter president, said.
UW-Stout was competing against 77 other chapters, including schools like
Purdue, Auburn, Texas
A&M and Colorado State.
Zanotti, a senior from
Hartland, said that one
of the main reasons their
chapter won was the volunteer service by chapter
members. The chapter
also made a major donation to Bridge to Hope, a
Menomonie-based shelter
for victims of domestic
violence.
Each year, the chapter
Sigma Lambda Chi members from UW-Stout do repairs at a Twin Cities-area home as part of
the Hearts and Hammers volunteer project.
holds a golf outing and
fundraiser by using its connections with construction
companies in the region.
Typically, the chapter uses
proceeds to fund chapter
activities for the year.
Half of this year’s proceeds, about $3,500, was
donated to Bridge to Hope.
“That was pretty cool,”
Zanotti said. “They can
really use the donation.”
The chapter also worked
with local contractors for
Heat’s On. During Heat’s
On, students go to homes
of needy families to check
their furnaces before
winter. Last fall, Sigma
Lambda Chi went to the
homes of 15 veterans in the
region.
A n o t h e r vo l u n te e r
effort the chapter undertook during the 2014-15
academic year was sealing
treated wood on the large
playground structure at
River Heights School in
Menomonie. The project
took the chapter two days.
Sigma Lambda Chi also
began a new initiative this
year, high school outreach.
The chapter prepared a
Power Point promoting
UW-Stout, and members
gave presentations at their
former high schools.
“We love UW-Stout,
the program we’re in and
our professors,” Zanotti
said. “We talked about the
various programs offered.
A lot of kids don’t know
where UW-Stout is.”
Other chapter activities
included:
Hearts and Hammers:
Teamed with Minneapolis
contractors to do yard work
and repair homes for Twin
Cities families in need.
Holiday Giving Tree:
Helped a needy local family
by buying Christmas presents for two young daughters of a single mother.
Adopt-A-Highway:
Picked up trash along a
two-mile stretch of Highway 25 north of Menomonie, part of an annual
project.
Polar Plunge: Donned
hard hats and safety vests
before jumping into Tainter
Lake, raising $500 for Indianhead Special Olympics.
Heavy Civil Day: Helped
coordinate a construction
Getting it Dunn
department seminar on the
highway industry.
Salvation Army: Rang
bells for charity during the
holidays.
„„ The chapter limits
membership to the top 20
percent of students in the
construction program.
Students must apply. This
year, the chapter had nine
new members.
“ We ’ r e s e l e c t i ve ,”
Zanotti said. “We want
kids who really want to
help. It feels great helping
people. The construction
industry puts a lot of focus
on giving back.”
The faculty advisers
for Sigma Lambda Chi are
Mike Bowman, an assistant professor, director of
the construction program
and chair of the construction department; and Tim
Becker, an associate professor.
UW-Stout to host 2018
conference
The chapter’s award was
accepted at the conference
in Puerto Rico by John
Killingsworth, an assistant
professor and director of
the graduate program in
construction management.
Killingsworth also presented a proposal to have
UW-Stout host the annual
conference along with the
Midwest consortium of
universities with undergraduate construction
programs.
The consortium was
awarded the 2018 event,
and UW-Stout will be the
site host in 2018.
Women’s Giving
Circle accepting
grant applications
For THE NEWS
SUBMITTED
The Get It Dunn 5K and half marathon held on May 16 exceeded their goal by registering 507 participants
from nine different states, plus Canada. The men’s half-marathon record was shattered by Mitchell
Easker, of Marshfield. Easker finished with a time of 1:15:47. The previous record of 1:20:30 was set by
Xavier Schwartz, of Menomonie.
The Women’s Giving Circle (WGC) of
D u n n Co u n ty i s a
group of philanthropists formed in late
2013 with a mission
to “raise money and
distribute funds to
projects and initiatives
that improve life for
women and children
in the Dunn County
A re a ”. T h e WG C ,
which now consists
of 65 members, seeks
to empower women
givers of all ages and
backgrounds, to educate donors on women’s issues in the community, and to create
substantial, positive
change.
The women of the
WGC provide grants
that empower women
to become stronger
and self-sufficient in
order to improve the
quality of their lives
and the lives of the
people for whom they
are responsible, or
to the programs that
work to alleviate the
hardships that women
and children encounter
in Dunn County. Last
year’s grant recipients
included The Bridge to
Hope, Fierce Freedom,
Smart Girl’s Rock, and
Stepping Stones.
Grants are available to any nonprofit
serving the needs of
families and children
in Dunn County. The
application deadline
for this year’s grant
cycle is 5 p.m. on June
26. Applications will
be available through
the Community
Foundation of Dunn
County website at
www.cfdunncounty.
org. They may also be
contacted by phone at
715-232-8019. Hard
copies of the grant
application and supporting materials must
be delivered or mailed
to the Community
Foundation of Dunn
County, 500 Main St,
Suite 322, P.O. Box
498, Menomonie.
Questions about
this grant cycle can be
directed to the team
leaders, Nora Moses
at drnora@redcedarchiro.com, or Cindy
O’Connell at 507259-1538 or sunnydazemgmt@att.net.
University of Wisconsin-Stout’s department
of military science held
a spring commissioning
ceremony for eight Army
Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (ROTC) cadets in
the Northwoods Battalion.
The ceremony was held
on Saturday at the Crystal
Ballroom of the Memorial
Student Center.
The guest speaker was
be Brigadier General Kent
Savre, a
U W- S to u t
alumnus.
In April,
he became
commanding general
of the ManBrig. Gen.
uever SupKent Savre
port Center
of Excellence and of Fort
Leonard Wood, Mo.
Previously, Savre was
commanding general for
the Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division, overseeing 3,500
people and a budget of $5
billion. He has also served
as director of the Office
of the Chief of Engineers
in the Pentagon, and as a
brigade commander in the
Iraq War.
Savre, a native of Edina,
Minn., graduated from
UW-Stout in 1984 with a
degree in construction.
UW-Stout, UW-Eau
Claire and UW-River Falls
make up the Northwoods
Battalion. The eight cadets
commissioned were:
„„ Je f f rey A l d e n , o f
Siren, UW-Stout
„„ Gregory Carter, of
Eau Claire, UW-Eau Claire
„„ Derek Mataczynski,
of Exeland, UW-Stout
„„ Jacob Oldenberg, of
Eau Claire, UW-Eau Claire
„„ T y l e r O l s o n , o f
A b b o t s fo rd , U W- E a u
Claire
„„ Cody Thompson, of
Apple Valley, Minn., UWEau Claire
„„ Chad Wanek, of Germantown, UW-Eau Claire
„„ Ad a m Wi d d e r, o f
Wauwatosa, UW-Stout
„„ Commissioning ceremonies include a commitment to support and
defend the U.S. Constitution. A cadet is granted
authority to carry out the
duties as a commissioned
officer in the U.S. Army.
The authority to grant a
commission rests with
Congress.
During the ceremony,
each cadet took the Oath
of Office, similar to the
president of the United
States at inauguration. The
cadet chooses an officer or
retired officer to administer the oath. Family members, or others close to the
individual being commissioned, pinned the cadet
with gold bars. The ceremony culminated with
the newly commissioned
officers being saluted by a
non-commissioned officer
of his or her choice.
“Army ROTC is one of
the best leadership courses
in America,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Pindell,
chair of UW-Stout’s military science department.
Each year the battalion trains approximately
140 cadets across all academic levels and produces
an average of 16 lieutenants. Winter, spring and
summer commissioning
ceremonies are held. Students enroll in leadership
courses as electives in
pursuit of a degree of their
choice.
Northwoods
Battalion history
In 2005, an ROTC partnership program with 11
students was established
at UW-Stout. Students
from UW-Eau Claire and
UW-River Falls took ROTC
co u rse s t h ro u g h U WStout, while a program
already existed at UWStevens Point. A partnership program was established at UW-River Falls
in 2007. In 2009, ROTC
became part of UW-Eau
Claire, and in 2010 a satellite agreement was signed.
For more information
refer to www.uwstout.
edu/programs/rotc/.