#cvtcstudent

A beautiful spring season brings with it a lot of awesome new students. We’re excited to give this month’s Fresh Face Award to Amelia Olson!

Amelia is an outgoing, friendly student who has found her niche in our IT-Network Specialist program. Back when her husband was living in Houston,Texas, he had his own business fixing computer hardware. Soon her husband moved up to Wisconsin, where they got married, and after working with him on a couple of computers, Amelia was hooked! She is excited to become his partner in business.

Being from Bloomer, coming to CVTC made sense for Amelia. Her sister had graduated from the Early Childhood Education program. She admitted that she was nervous to start; she knew that she wasn’t a traditional student coming back at 31 years old, and she’s also the only female in most of her classes. However, she is already feeling a new level of determination that she didn’t have when she tried right after high school and thinks that it definitely has contributed to her success so far!

Amelia has acquired a lot of new hobbies lately, and we all need a break from thinking about classes sometimes. One of her favorites is cross-stitch. She thinks of it as not only a creative activity, but also a therapeutic one. She also started to pick up playing piano again after six years of lessons when she was a teenager. She previously wasn’t able to afford lessons, but after striking up a house-cleaning deal with a piano teacher, she’s well on her way to actively making music again!

Amelia has received a lot of support in her new pursuits so far. While she has been able to tailor her schedule enabling her to be in class when her kids are in school, her husband has done a great job helping out when schedules don’t quite workout the way she would like. She also wants to thank her sister for being so supportive. Amelia is honored that she was nominated for this award!

Congratulations Amelia! We’re excited to be a part of the rest of your educational journey.

We’re rockin’ all summer long! With events like New Student Orientation, Registration, and Welcome Days, we’re meeting a whole group of awesome new students. One of these incoming students that really stands out is Kayla Seefeld!

Kayla is an incoming Radiography student starting her pre-program courses this fall. Originally from Colby, WI, she is moving to Chippewa Falls to attend CVTC and be closer to some of her extended family. It was clear she is an outgoing, engaged participant from meeting her during our New Student Orientation program--one of the many reasons she was chosen for this month’s award! 

Kayla loves her small town, but is excited for all the opportunities Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls have to offer. Despite having a small graduating class of 70 people, she isn’t nervous at all to move to a larger area. She is already familiar with the area because she has been attending events such as the huge Christmas light display in Irvine Park every year since she was eight. That being said, she also would like to end up living in LaCrosse at some point, as she’s fallen in love with that area after visiting it a few times. 

Kayla chose the Radiography program because she was extremely interested in working in the medical sector. She noted the constant need for medical professionals, especially in the Western Wisconsin community. She is also excited to be in a field that is constantly improving and changing so she can continue to learn while she works.

In high school, Kayla avidly participated in show choir. She started show choir in 7th grade and continued all the way through her senior year. She even participated in three summer camps for show choir at Millikin University in Illinois! During these camps, Kayla would learn four numbers and put on an entire show in just the span of a week! When she’s not doing show choir, Kayla also enjoys sleeping. #relatable

Congratulations, Kayla! We’re excited to see the energy that you bring to the classes and environment here at CVTC, and the music you can bring to the Chippewa Valley area!

It’s finally time for our April Fresh Face Award! We are thrilled to give this month’s award to Steffanie Meier!

Steffanie just started the Medical Assistant program this semester and is rocking it. The Medical Assistant program felt like a good entrance into the medical field for Steffanie because, she eventually wants to assist with surgery. It’s a shorter program, so she felt more comfortable starting with a short-term goal and working her way up, as she hasn’t been back to school in nearly seven years.

A lot of different factors in Steffanie’s life served as motivation to come back to school. Her mom had realized that Steffanie didn’t seem totally happy with where she was in life and encouraged her to pursue further education. The mix of this push, combined with her interests in health and the human body, made the Medical Assistant program an easy choice!

So far, Steffanie has loved going to class. She says that her instructors have been very down to earth and really understand the students they work with. She was initially worried that the classes would be overwhelming, but she feels like she has done very well so far. Her favorite class is Medical Terminology due to the vast amounts she is learning about the medical field as a whole.

Steffanie’s world at home tends to revolve around her kids. She loves taking them to Chaos Waterpark and, quite frankly, loves going herself. In addition to her kids, she has nine pets to take care of. The list includes a rescued pit-bull, two geckos, four fish, a cat, and a snake. It certainly sounds like an exciting household to be a part of! 

Steffanie wants to thank her family and Pang, one of our Student Central General Advisors, for making this transition much easier than she initially expected. Especially since starting school, she wants to thank her boyfriend, as he has really stepped up in helping her take care of her kids, which has made it easier to make the transition. She’s excited to keep moving forward and we’re excited to watch her continue to flourish! Be sure to say hi to Steffanie when you see her around the halls.

We’re lucky to have a fabulous Fresh Face for the month of March! Check out Lakesha Johnson’s story!

We’re extremely excited to give this month’s Fresh Face Award to Lakesha Johnson! Lakesha is a very outgoing, hardworking student that started in the Business Management program this spring semester. She is very interested in working in real estate once she gets her degree, as she has the “gift for gab” and loves working around other people. Lakesha’s daughter encouraged her to come back to school while she was applying to college herself so she could keep busy, meet new people, and improve her life in the process. Already having met so many cool people in the first few months has helped Lakesha, both personally and academically!

Coming from Kenosha, Lakesha moved to Eau Claire after her sister’s graduation from the Nursing program at CVTC. Seeing as her daughter is also a student at CVTC, Lakesha has a lot of support from family in the area. She said that Pang Garcia, one of our Student Central Advisors, has been extremely helpful in pursuing her goals as well.

Lakesha loves to watch sports and cook. When her daughter was little, she would search everywhere for interesting recipes, as she loved to have good, quality food but didn’t want to go out to eat all the time. Since then, her journey for exciting foods has led to a passion for cooking. Some of her favorite foods are baked mac and cheese, different types of lasagna, and collard greens. She also really enjoys baking cakes due to the challenge, and let’s be real, cake is amazing!

So far, Lakesha feels like her classes have been a breeze. She loves taking in all the new information in her courses and discussing it with her classmates. She admits that she was scared at first, but was pleasantly surprised when she found out how much her interests in the subjects helped her succeed. She is so happy to have a lot of support from both her family and staff here at CVTC, who pushed her to get started on this academic journey.

We’re glad to have such a bright, fun student like Lakesha at CVTC, and we’re excited to see her future success. Be sure to say “hi” if you see her around the halls!

The moment you’ve been waiting all month for... our February Fresh Face Award! Check out Shad Nowak’s story!

We’re excited to give this month’s Fresh Face Award to Shad! He just started his Technical Studies - Journey worker degree while he’s on the waiting list for Electrical Power Distribution. CVTC was a natural choice, as Shad grew up in the Chippewa Valley and now has a 7 year-old daughter of his own.

After watching the History Channel show Power & Ice, Shad’s interest in doing this exciting, important work combined with getting to work outside became extremely evident. He has worked as a warehouse mason for the last 2-3 years and is excited to find another area where he still gets to do more physically-active work. Sounds like he enjoys the weather here more than a lot of us!

When he has free time, Shad really enjoys aviation photography. This consists of driving around to different regional and national airports and taking photos of the planes in action. One of his favorite opportunities was going up with one of the Blue Angels’ cargo planes. For those of you that don’t already know, the Blue Angels are the United States Navy’s flight demonstration squad. They are very well known nationally, so getting to go up in the sky with them is a huge deal!

Since he hasn’t attended school since 2005, Shad is looking forward to getting back into the routine and meeting a lot of new people with similar interests.There are a lot of things to learn and work to do, but he’s excited for the challenge! However, I doubt the social aspect will give him any difficulty based on our interview. He’s a very friendly extroverted guy! If anything, he’s most worried about the looks he might get as a proud Vikings fan.

He wants everyone to know that “It’s never too late to start getting back to school”, even if you’re asking yourself, “Since when do they put letters and numbers together [in math]?”. Let’s be honest, that’s a question we all have.

We can’t wait to see Shad take off and “fly” into a new future! Be sure to say “hi” if you see him around the halls!

CVTC Student Central has a whole new batch of Fresh Faces for 2017! Check out Harry Winter’s story!

This week we’re amped to give this award to Harry Winter! He is excited to start the Industrial Mechanic Technician program this semester and get in the swing of coming back to school. After spending the past 19 years working on a garbage truck, he’s ready take advantage of something he has always wanted to do: go back to school! 

Originally, Harry didn’t have a didn’t have the opportunity to attend college after graduating high school due to getting wrapped up in trying to find a job and support his family, but now he’s back and ready to roll. Did we mention that his son is starting a program here too?

Overall, Harry is definitely a family-oriented guy and is proud of his son and daughter that are both still in the area going to school. Growing up in the Chippewa Valley means that attending CVTC was a natural choice! When granted some free time, Harry likes to spend time with his kids and go bow hunting when the weather allows.

Harry had admitted that he is a little apprehensive having been out of school for so long; however, he feels like he is getting a lot of support from his friends and family. He also mentioned that he was very impressed with CVTC. Between his son and himself, Harry felt a strong level of communication and a willingness to help whenever he needs it! Not to toot our own horn but...

Congratulations, Harry! We’re excited to have such a motivated student.

Be sure to say, “hi” if you see him in the halls of CVTC!

CVTC Student Central is happy to announce another Fresh Face, check out this student’s story! 

This week, we are very excited to award McKinze Berg as our next fresh face! McKinze started the Respiratory Therapy program this fall, and can’t wait to change lives. She loves to volunteer at different events in her hometown of New Auburn in her free time. Now she’s ready to take her love for helping others to the next level and work with something that people can’t live without – breathing! Throughout high school, McKinze started attending all of the different sessions that we offer and said that CVTC gives her heart warm feelings that no other college had given her.

McKinze is excited for everything that CVTC has to offer and is proud to be here! After school, McKinze wants to start at one of the local hospitals and eventually work her way to the Children’s Hospital in Saint Paul. When she’s not busy volunteering or in school, McKinze loves to listen to music, plays quite a few instruments and has a love for academics. McKinze highly encourages people to go here -- she loves everything about CVTC and says even the online classes are awesome!