MEETING MINUTES
& PROGRAM SUMMARY
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Atlas Mill, Suite 150
CALL TO ORDER BY CHAIRPERSON TOM SUTTER
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 46
OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Tom Sutter, Christine Williams, Gwen Sargeant, David Buss, Laura Leimer, John Marx, Brian Schneider, and James Richter
REVIEW OF UPCOMING MEETINGS AND PROGRAMS:
August 18- AHS Cemetery Walk at Riverside Cemetery.
August 21 - The History of the Appleton YMCA presented by Bill Breider and Sue Pawlowski.
Sept 18 - History of Presto Products.
October 16 - History of Pierce Manufacturing.
November 20 – Appleton Picture Show.
December 7 – 7th AHS History Fair, Appleton City Center.
APPLETON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION:
Officers and Committee Chairs for the organization are as follows:
A. President - Thomas Sutter
B. Vice President - Christine Williams
C. Secretary – James Richter
D. Treasurer – Laura Leimer
Committee Chairs for the organization are as follows:
A. Mark and Karen Moderson, Principal Organizers
B. Brian Schneider, Technical Resources
C. David Buss, Research Specialist
D. Gwen Sargeant, Public Relations and Web Page
PRESIDENT SUTTER OPENING REMARKS:
Here at the Appleton Historical Society we enjoy and celebrate and find interest in the stories of the past of this great place to live. But we also are thrilled at enjoying the present in this great place. Since we last met on June 19th: (1) there was a community wide bicycle ride on the 21st that went from this building and ended at the Hearthstone historic home; (2)we enjoyed a fabulous 4th of July gathering at Memorial Park highlighted by a fabulous fireworks display; (3) on Tuesday nights at Pierce Park the Appleton City Band entertains a large audience with its wonderful music; (4) last Saturday, July 13th our own member and former board member Jack Voight and his wife Marty opened their Butterfly Gardens and Pierce Manufacturing celebrated its 100th birthday with a gala public open house. And this coming Saturday, July 20th the annual park-to-park paddle takes place with paddlers of all sorts going from Shattuck Park in Neenah and ending at Lutz Park in Appleton. Not to mention the incredible farmer’s market each Saturday morning in downtown Appleton. Appleton, a great city on a great river! Full of historic interest with people and events that make us all say “It’s a wonderful place to live.”
A. Thanks to Phil Sealy for last month’s program on the Appleton Gallery of Arts and it’s terrific facility the Trout Museum of Art, now known as the “Building for the Arts”.
B. Just a reminder to look for the article published by the State Historical Society titled “Life on the Fox River Locks” which was written by our own Christine Williams.
C.. AHS Board Member Linda Muldoon was featured in a Post Crescent Article on the
Butterly Project underway at Arbutus Park.
D. Sutter and Manske did a Historical Presentation at the Menasha Public Library on July
16th. It was well received.
E. Door Prize – a copy of Arnie Nettekoven’s book on the History of the Appleton Police
Department 1850-2000 was won by Dave Kalz.
F. HISTORIC EVENTS COMING IN THE AREA:
1.The Historic Grignon Mansion has reopened in downtown Kaukauna.
G. Thanks again to Randy Stadtmueller for the use of Suite 150 in the historic Atlas Paper
Mill Complex for tonight’s meeting.
H. Just a reminder that previous meeting presentations can be found on YouTube.
I. Another reminder that Sutter and Schneider still have DVD videos of Appleton’s
historic trolley cars and their history.
Officer and Committee Chair Reports
Gwen Sargeant gave reports on:
(1) Upcoming programs and events.
(2) There will be a meeting with Mayors event that we will be involved in.
(3) The Outagamie Museum’s current exhibit on “Foods and Us”. Urged us all to attend.
(4) Neenah Historical Society will have a special event consisting of a Museum Tour along with a Bike Ride.
Light Up the Fox River- Luminary Celebration and River Bike Ride Report
The event which was held on June 21st was Co-Chaired by our own Gwen Sargeant. About 100 people met at the Paper Discovery Center to take off on a 6 mile ride around the Fox River. The ride included a tour of the Vulcan Replica, the last group even got to see it run and ended at Hearthtstone. At Hearthstone Mr. Rodgers introduced Thomas Edison and we had a peek into the history of Thomas Edison's world. People enjoyed bike blender made smoothies as they mingled on the lawn of Hearthstone. The event was a partnership between Light up the Fox, Fox Cities Cycling Association, Hearthstone, and Appleton Historical Society. It was sponsored by the Menasha Rotary.
AHS Cemetary Walk – Sunday, August 18, 2013 Report:
As previously reported, the AHS Board has approved another Cemetary Walk. The event will be held on Sunday, August 18, 2013, at Riverside Cemetary. Gwen Sargeant will again be serving as Chairman. A number of Role Players have been arranged to appear during the tour.
PROGRAM – The History of Fox Valley Technical College presented by Alice Dumke, Merlin Gentz and Ron Toshner.
Speaker Backgrounds:
A. Merlin Gentz is the retired Vice President of Instructional Services at FVTC.
B. Ron Toshner retired from FVTC in 2009, having served 38 years as an instructor, Training and Development Coordinator, General Studies Dean, Executive Dean and finally as the Interim Chief Academic.
C. Alice Dumke has been with FVTC since 2008 and serves as Executive Director of the Foundation and Community Relations.
A Chronology of FVTC development:
A. Fox Valley Technical School began as a “continuation school” with 11 program areas.
B. In 1917 became a Vocational School and was located at the top of North Oneida Street hill, where the current Michel’s Restaurant stands.
C. In 1966 the State established Vocational School Districts and standards for all.
D. In 1967 became a Technical Institute.
E. In 1971 a site for a new school was selected out of town, it never materialized.
F. In 1972 construction began on the current building on Bluemound Drive, Grand Chute. Outagamie County gave the school 100 acres for the new building complex.
G. In early 1980’s built and started the Tri Park across from the main school as an incubator for business:
1. Concept really went well.
2. Started with basic programs tailored to the student.
3. In 1983 did a million dollars of business alone.
H. In 1994 became a Technical College with 200 program areas.
Fox Valley Technical College as it functions today:
A. Some 200 different programs that are currently offered include Culinary Arts, Woodworking, Nursing, and Robotics.
B. Their Nursing Program has put into use a “human patient simulator”.
C. Their Culinary Arts Program is known throughout the area for it’s “Ione’s Restaurant” an actual in-house full restaurant open to the public periodically. It has great food at reasonable prices.
D. Their Automotive Trades Program was even successful in signing a contract with General Motors to develop a maintenance program for unibody cars, specifically the Chevrolet Lumina.
E. The Police Science Program is involved with state, federal and international agencies.
F. The Fire Science Program is strong as well and expanding. There is a new Fire Science building to be constructed that will be completed in 2016.
G. The Aviation Programs have advanced with the help of Federal Express who donated a Boeing 727 aircraft to the school.
H. They continue to provide programs for students to obtain a high school diploma. A class of 500 students were awarded their G.E.D.’s alone this year.
I. Showed pictures of some programs in the early days and how they look today.
J. Noted that Wisconsin was the first state to have Technical Colleges.
K. FVTC is one of 16 Technical Colleges in the state.
What is drastically different today:
A. Cost per credit to attend has certainly changed. In 1975 it was a mere $12.00 per credit, and today it is $138.00 (still much less than most universities).
B. Student population is older and more diverse with an average age of 33.
C. 25% of local high school graduates come to FVTC.
D. Because there are often complex occupational goals, the school let’s the student tailor their classes and degree to a specific goal.
E. Definitely appeal to a wider range of careers.
F. Technology is changing exponentially and the school is adapting to this.
G. Career options are also far less defined by gender now.
H. FVTC takes pride in providing life long learning opportunities.
I. Programs are also in tune with a global economic context.
J. Have developed a system statewide that allows transfer of credits to Wisconsin universities both public and private.
K. Their image and respect have increased significantly over the years.
L. Every year they honor an “Alumnus of the Year”.
What hasn’t changed:
A. Still partner with employers to develop programs they need.
B. Instructors are networking with area business leaders.
C. Programs are still focused on local communities.
D. Continue to emphasize learning by doing.
E. Continue to make education accessible to everyone, which is there core mssion.
Respectfully, James L. Richter
AHS Secretary, 8/5/13