Guest Speakers from MPTC

Joe Sibiliski displays some of his work.

On Friday, February 21st, 2 sets of Informational Technology experts from MPTC spoke to Pathways' students. 

The first pair was Tom Ward and Joe Sibiliski who are both animators. Both hold the official title "Interactive Media Design Instructor." They shared previous projects they helped come to life, such as popular commercials and even movies like Fern Gully. One impactful comment made by Tom is that "people's skills are more important than their art." It always helps to hear people in the field repeat what Pathways' coaches say.

Dom Garafalo describes workplace conditions at an IT firm.

The second panel of speakers included Tammy Freund (web developer instructor), Dominic Garofalo (web developer instructor), and Joe Desiderio (technical support specialist instructor). Joe highlighted the difference between platforms and how that effects users. Tammy and Dom also showed the codes behind websites and how to get different scripts running on web pages.

Peer Profile

PEER PROFILE #2

Name: Frannie Kemp

Age: 14

Favorite thing about Pathways: Covering the same content in a different way (projects)

Favorite project so far: STEM project (creating a leg/cast- it was fun)

Plans for the future at this point: I have no clue

Peer Profile

PEER PROFILE #1

Name: Kiera Fischer

Age: 14

Favorite thing about Pathways: The learning atmosphere

Favorite project so far: The court case (We won our case!)

Plans for the future at this point: I would like to travel and act.

Guest Speaker: Melissa Kescenovitz from the Kettle Moraine YMCA

Guest Speaker Ms. Melissa Kescenovitz works as a child care specialist  and director of youth development at the Kettle Moraine YMCA. Kids that are aged 6 weeks to 13 years old come to the YMCA and to learn social and academic skills. She shared information about volunteering at the YMCA including the requirements to work there. She also gave students tips for working in childcare and gave the ins and outs of her profession. Ms. Kescenovitz says,"The toughest part of my job is the tattling. If so and so comes and says he/she hit me, I would say,'let's use our words and tell them to stop.' That is the toughest part of my job."

Guest Speakers from The Youth and Family Project

Pathways guest speakers Ms. Liz Paasch and Ms. Stacy Casper work at the non-profit The Youth and Family Project in West Bend. They shared the services offered there, and described their pathways to their careers as well as various other careers in the human services career cluster. They also quizzed students on mental health issues. Many students asked questions about the speakers’ diverse tracks to their current professions, exploring possible avenues into human services professions.

Guest Speakers Chris Schatz, Cindy Hinckley, and Denise Puffer

Guest Speaker Chris Schatz works for Moraine Park Technical College and came in to Pathways to talk about the Human Services career cluster. Those employed in the human services field work with other people to help. Human Services is an important career cluster in our world. Mr. Schatz says to be employed in this cluster, you have to have a “willingness to work with people, and help people.”

Guest Speaker Mrs.Cindy Hinckley and Mrs.Denise Puffer both work for WorkForce Development and help those at least 16 years old find a job in the West Bend area. They demonstrated the importance of following directions by giving students a “following directions test.” This helped drive home the significance in following directions in the workplace, and that skill needs to be developed at a young age according to our guest speakers.  They also explained that “the most important thing businesses are looking for in a person getting a job is education.”

Guest Speaker: Staff Sergeant Wil Stevens

Staff Sergeant Wil Stevens, father of Alex Stevens, came in to discuss how technology has advanced military operations and what is being planned for the future.  Staff Sergeant Stevens said, "Within my time, the way of communication is the most important military advancement.” Students have been marketing military technological advancements and Staff Sergeant Stevens gave them the opportunity to see how the historical advancement they researched might have been a precursor to current military technology.