The excitement on Moraine Park’s West Bend Campus continued this week with a visit from Senator Tammy Baldwin on Tuesday, September 23. Senator Baldwin joined leaders from Moraine Park, Maysteel, and Milwaukee Tool, as well as students from the College’s welding and Mechanical Design programs.
The following individuals joined the College in this important visit: Bonnie Baerwlad, Moraine Park President; Layal Merrifield, WTCS President; Pete Rettler, Moraine Park’s Dean of District Engagement; Adam Van Handel, Director of Operations at Milwaukee Tool; Reegan Wallander, Corporate Public Relations at Milwaukee Tool; Dan Dedering, Plant Manager at Maysteel Corp.; Bob Kuenzi Director of Application Engineering at Maysteel; Arianna Bloecher, Moraine Park welding student; Lexi Langhoff, Moraine Park welding student; Josiah Arndt, Moraine Park mechanical design student; Andrew Baus, Moraine Park Associate Dean of Human Services; Robert Smith, Moraine Park’s Dean of Manufacturing, Trades and Apprenticeships; Tom Ziolkowski, Moraine Park’s Grant Coordinator.
The College and community leaders had the opportunity to share with Senator Baldwin the impact of Moraine Park’s new manufacturing space and the importance of the cutting-edge learning offered in our district. Moraine Park students shared their student experience and the value of the skills they are learning for their future careers.
“A friend introduced me to welding in high school and I was immediately intrigued by the endless possibilities,” Bloecher said. ” I took all the welding classes available at my local high school, and then was introduced to Start College Now, where I had the opportunity to begin learning at Moraine Park. I graduated in 2025 from Slinger High School and immediately enrolled at MPTC to begin my technical diploma program.”
Bloecher took advantage of Start College Now through her local high school, which is an opportunity to earn college credits before graduating. She is on track to graduate in May of 2026.
In addition to hearing about Moraine Park’s new facilities, Senator Baldwin learned how the College utilized the $150,000 Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) grant from Bause, who shared that the grant was used for essential training and equipment for our fire programs and will have a significant impact on both the students and the 50+ fire stations served by Moraine Park. An additional CDS grant for $1.3 million is currently pending budget approval, and Smith was able to thank Senator Baldwin for her continued advocacy for the grant, noting that the support for technical education in Wisconsin is admirable.
“As someone who has lived and worked in this field in other states, it is impressive to me the amount of support that Wisconsin Technical Colleges receive,” Smith said.
The session concluded with Tom Ziolkowski, grant coordinator at Moraine Park, expressing his continued concerns over Title 3 funding, the consequences that the lack of this funding has for the College, and asking for Senator Baldwin’s continued support and advocacy.
Moraine Park manufacturing leaders also had the opportunity to give Senator Baldwin an exclusive tour of West Bend’s remodeled spaces and the new Advanced Manufacturing Center.
