Menomonie Minute

CVTC welding instructor sews, sells caps, donates money to student food pantry

By Alyssa Van Duyse

Chippewa Valley Technical College

When Keith Karr sits down to watch football on Sundays, he’s not on the couch eating nachos and drinking beer.

Karr, a welding instructor at Chippewa Valley Technical College, takes the time to multitask. He’s sitting at a long table in his home with his foot on a pedal, feeding pieces of cotton into his sewing machine as it hums along.

The 55-year-old, who has been an instructor at CVTC for 11 years and before that, a welder fitter for decades, saw a need for welding caps for his students so they don’t get sparks between their helmets and their heads.

“It gives you that little bit extra comfort, and with the welding, you know, the sparks fly,” he said. “It helps, and it just feels better on your head.”

Who better than Karr to figure out a pattern that works and start sewing them – all different sizes – in his free time?

“The fall is when I do most of it,” he said. “Because then I can watch the Packers game. That’s my time to catch up on the sewing.”

He waits for sales on material, buys in bulk, starts sewing and sells the caps to welding students and the public. Each cap is $15. He doesn’t take money out of his sales to cover the fabric or thread. Instead, he gathers all the money from sales and takes it directly to the College’s food pantry set up for students in need.

In 2023, Karr gave nearly $700 to the CVTC food pantry for students.

“Most people don’t give money. They give canned goods, which are starchy with sugar and salt,” he said. “People need fresh vegetables, fresh meat and things that can’t be donated.

“I thought, ‘I can keep the money, or I could give it away to help even more students.’ And then it’s students helping students. So that’s what I did.”

Christine Webster, Student Life assistant at CVTC who manages the student food pantry, said all donations are important to the success of the pantry, but monetary donations allow Webster to purchase milk, butter, eggs and produce when she finds them at discounted prices.

Webster often connects with Kwik Trip stores throughout the Chippewa Valley to take advantage of sales.

But first, Karr must sell. And sell he does.

Karr has former students come back to purchase the caps. Students from businesses throughout west-central Wisconsin and through the College’s Workforce Solutions training programs also knock on the instructor’s door to make purchases.

When asked why he donates so much of his time and money to make the caps, Karr said older welders showed him the way as well.

“None of us are really in teaching for the money. I’m older. I’ve been union my whole life. I want to give back,” he said. “Some of the senior guys did pay it forward to me when I was younger. Now I get to show the younger ones the way.”

Program will collaborate with nationally ranked game design major, enhance university’s strong game culture

By Jerry Poling, UW-Stout

A new kind of game program is in the queue at University of Wisconsin-Stout.

A Bachelor of Science in game and media studies has been approved by the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents and will begin in fall 2025. Enrollment is open.

The program will collaborate with UW-Stout’s nationally ranked game design and development program, but the focus will be on the people aspect of games — the storytelling, the way activities are identified and organized as part of games; how games impact society and how society impacts games.

“I think it can be easy to assume video games rely primarily on two large skill sets — the computer science/coders and the artists who generate the visuals. Our game design programs are successful because we ensure these disciplines work together for success,” said Provost Glendalí Rodríguez, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

“Yet, this new program will dive deeper into a third critical aspect — the stories that unfold in games and, equally important, how they are identified through a study and appreciation of the consumer or end-user.”

Students will examine game-playing — analog and digital — from the perspective of history, anthropology, sociology and psychology while also gaining insight via the perspectives of those who create the games, the designers, writers, programmers and artists.

Game and media studies majors will be deeply engaged in the study and understanding of context, applying critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills to work across teams.

“If students are interested in games and working with people but don’t want to get into game design and development, this program is a great fit,” said Program Director Cody Reimer.

Reimer, an associate professor in the English, philosophy and communication studies department, said a variety of career paths are available to students who earn the degree.

Studying how to create that successful end-user/consumer experience can be referred to as “user experience.” Graduates will be prepared to work in user experience research, user experience design, software development, product management and project management.

“Given the breadth and depth of the curriculum, students will be prepared to succeed in a multitude of career paths, in keeping with the human component of experiences,” Reimer said.

Job opportunities in game and media studies are expected to grow by 6.3% over the next five years. UW-Stout’s latest First Destination report found an overall employment rate of 99% for recent graduates and an average starting salary of $58,000, both the best in the region. 

Collaboration with game design program

One of the features of the new program will be several core courses paired with game design and development courses. Students will work in teams on shared assignments and have cross-disciplinary lectures.

In addition, two required field experiences will involve working with game design students’ capstone design projects, which involve creating new games from scratch. Game and media studies’ students will help research, organize, manage and promote the game release efforts at the biannual Stout Game Expo, SGX, largest in the Midwest. The next SGX is Wednesday, Dec. 11.

UW-Stout is a sponsor of the M+DEV Midwest game developers conference held annually in Madison, this year Thursday and Friday, Nov. 7-8. A large group of students and faculty typically attend, and last year a UW-Stout professor and student took home the event’s top three awards.

All academic programs at UW-Stout have an experiential learning component.

UW-Stout’s game culture includes the coed esports team, which will be playing in a new arena in 2025. The team won a state title earlier this year.

Along with access to game design labs and studios and the gaming and digital innovation lab, game and media studies majors will conduct user experience testing in a research lab in Harvey Hall.

“Games benefit from extensive, rigorous play-testing. Our User Experience Center is an ideal space to facilitate the type of research that propels iterative design practices toward more fun, engaging and rewarding media. Moderated, in-person, usability testing is a fantastic way to learn how users’ engagement differs from designers’ intent,” Reimer said.

Reimer has a Ph.D. in English from Purdue University and teaches in UW-Stout’s professional communication and emerging media program, which focuses on professional communication, including journalism. The game and media studies major will focus on film, television and interactive media.

Reimer has published research on games and recently has written the rules for a board game and served as a copy editor for another board game.

UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes. Learn more via the FOCUS2030 strategic plan.

Joyful Noise fans and members — put these dates on your calendar

From the Menomonie United Methodist Church Facebook page.

From the Thursday's Table Facebook page.

 Support the School Nutrition Angel Fund.

As we continue to provide meals to all students, we recognize that some families are facing challenges in clearing negative meal balances. This holiday season, we invite you to consider contributing to the School Nutrition Angel Fund. Your generous donation can help ensure that every student has the nutrition they need to succeed in the classroom.

Let’s work together to give all students the tools they need to thrive. Thank you for your support!

Online Donations HERE.

From the Menomonie School Nutrition Facebook page.

From the Tuesday's Table Facebook page.

Dunn County Manager, Kristin Korpela, is back with her monthly message. These short videos will be posted on the Dunn County Facebook page and on the Dunn County YouTube channel.

Ms. Korpela's " rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">video includes information regarding this month's County Board meeting which will be held on Tuesday, November 12th. A video recording of the meeting will be available on the county's YouTube channel.  Information on this meeting, as well as other public meetings, can be found on the public meeting calendar on the county's website.

These videos provide a great way to learn about what is happening in our county government.

From the Dunn County Facebook page.

The next Community Conversations is scheduled for Saturday, November 16th, from 12 pm - 1:30 pm at the Menomonie Public Library.

Presenter will be City Executive, Eric Atkinson. He will speak to us about the City of Menomonie’s budget. As cities are limited by state law in regard to the amount they are allowed to spend, at times they must make difficult choices about services they are able to provide to the public.  Even if you do not live in Menomonie, all municipalities in our state - townships, villages, cities - have the same issues. 

There will be music in the library following this presentation.  

All are welcome to attend this conversation.

Community Conversations is a local nonpartisan group started in 2015 to discuss topics that affect our community. Presentations include speakers and videos with conversations afterwards about issues that affect the local community and Western Wisconsin.

Taxpayers are invited to speak at a public hearing that the Dunn County Board of Supervisors has scheduled for Nov. 12 on the proposed 2025 county budget that continues the recent trend of reducing the property tax rate for the next year.  

The County Board will hold a public hearing on the budget at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12 in room 054 of the Dunn County Government Center at 3001 Highway 12 East in Menomonie.   The board is expected to act following the public hearing. 

The proposed 2025 tax (mill) rate would go from $4.83 for each $1,000 of equalized value to $4.53, a reduction of 6.2 percent.  The 2024 budget reduced the tax rate by 14 percent as well.  The tax rate was $7.10 in 2020, and the County Board has taken numerous steps to avoid increases, said County Manager Kris Korpela. 

“The board is working hard to keep property taxes affordable in Dunn County,” Korpela said.  “Supervisors already have taken several actions to hold the line on spending and taxes in the 2025 budget.” 

For example, she said, the Executive Committee reduced the estimated shortfall between spending and revenue by about $1.5 million, decreasing the cost of operations by $1.1 million. 

Even though the 2025 tax rate may be less than 2024, that doesn’t necessarily mean a property’s tax bill will go down; changes in a property’s assessment also affects the final tax bill. 

The budget calls for total county spending of $111.2 million.  The tax levy – the total amount of property taxes the county will levy in 2025 – would increase less than 1 percent to $24.78 million under the proposed 2025 budget. The levy is made up of the portion for libraries and bridges, $925,674; debt obligations, $5.17 million; and operations, $18.69 million. 

The budget calls for $3 million of borrowing for highway projects and uses about $2.5 million from the fund balance to create a balanced budget. 

Dunn County media release.

The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office, Menomonie Police Department, Boyceville Police Department, Colfax Police Department and Elk Mound Police Department received a grant from WI Bureau of Traffic Safety (BOTS) for just under $18,000 to conduct high visibility patrols to prevent and apprehend impaired drivers. This grant is to cover overtime to put additional officers on the streets at selected times to create high-visibility patrols. This grant runs from October 2024 until Sept 30, 2025.  

Counties get selected for the grants due to crash data that is pulled from crash reports completed in each county. In WI someone is killed or injured every two hours by impaired driving.  

Captain Travis Mayer, of the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office said, “our goal will be to target times of high concentrations of impaired driving by having high visibility patrol to prevent impaired driving and take enforcement action when needed. We would much rather have someone see several squads in the area and make a smart choice to call a ride or pick a designated driver at the start of the night rather than making an arrest or worse yet have to investigate a crash because someone made the choice to drive impaired”. 

In 2023, there were 5,976 alcohol related crashes in WI that claimed 159 lives. In Dunn County we want to do our part to lower that number.   

Wisconsin, like many other states, continue to see an increased problem with drugged drivers on the road. A person’s ability to drive safely is compromised by Illegal drugs and sometimes even prescription or over the counter medications.   These impaired drivers are frequently found out during the daytime hours, we urge that if you see a possible impaired driver report it to local law enforcement. 

To combat drugged driving WI has more than 390 Drug recognition experts (DRE), which is among the most in the nation. Combined, the local agencies involved in the grant have 5 DREs.   

Dunn County Sheriff's Office media release.