Extension Connections

Over 35 middle school youth participated in a one-day STEM Post Secondary Leadership Conference at UW Milwaukee-Waukesha on Saturday, March 9th.

The one-day leadership conference focused on college/career workshops, and youth participated in hands-on activities in Robotics, Science and Engineering. 

For more information about 4-H and Youth Development, email James Boling at james.boling@wisc.edu. 

Extension Waukesha County welcomed Nicole Loeffler on March 11 as an Associate 4-H Educator. Nicole will be providing educational project support to 4-H clubs and groups throughout Waukesha County.

Health & Well-Being is launching a new Strong Bodies series in the city of Waukesha this spring. StrongBodies is a strength-training program that helps older adults remain strong, healthy, and independent in the community. It also serves an important role in keeping participants socially connected. 

The StrongBodies sessions will be held at St. Marks Church in Waukesha from April 23 through June 27 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.

To register, use the QR code or email Health & Well-Being Educator Jillian Smith at jillian.smith@wisc.edu.

FoodWIse engages in nutrition lessons with youth at local schools where the majority of students receive free or reduced-price school lunches. Recently, educators worked with 5th grades at Banting and Hadfield Elementary and 6th-7th grades at La Casa de Esperanza, where students learned about smart shopping, reducing sugary drinks, creating healthy snacks, and physical activity. Students participated in food activities such as taste-testing “name brand” vs “store brand” foods and trying fruits such as dried apricots, grapefruit, dates, and frozen mango. A total of 150 kids in eight classrooms participated in the series of 6-8 lessons.

For more information about nutrition education, contact FoodWIse Administrator, Jill Herz at  jill.herz@wisc.edu. 

Consumer Horticulture Outreach Specialist Ann Wied visited seven Waukesha County Libraries in March and April to present a gardening program titled What’s the Deal with No Mow May. Attendees learned about the impacts of an un-mowed lawn on pollinators, how lawns can be more pollinator friendly, and other ways to help pollinators all year long. She also shared research-based resources.

Learn more at https:/hort.extension.wisc.edu/pollinators/. 

A produce safety workshop was held on March 8th to teach farmers how to prevent foodborne illness in their crops. This workshop was held for 23 vegetable growers at the Hunger Task Force Farm to allow for farm-based hands-on activities.

Extension educators from Purdue and Michigan State University taught in collaboration with Kristin Krokowski, Waukesha Extension Commercial Horticulture Educator. A Food and Drug Administration representative was on hand to answer regulatory questions. Evaluations of this program indicated that all attendees were satisfied to extremely satisfied with the class content, the knowledge of the instructors and the overall quality of the workshop. 

Congratulations to Ann Wied on her retirement after more than 25 years with Extension in Waukesha County.

Ann brought value to the Extension office as both a Horticulture Educator and Community Development Educator. Her ability to listen to
the people she served, seek out new ideas and enthusiastically develop new partnerships along with her passion for engaging with the community was key to the quality education and services she provided. 

On behalf of our Extension team, we wish Ann all the best in her new phase of life! 

The Waukesha County Community Development Block Grant Program requested Extension’s assistance to develop a Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report that includes community and economic data and trends in four targeted areas of Waukesha County. Information included in this report is used to help prioritize projects and decision-making for grantees and Community Development Financial Institutions that focus on lending and business development efforts for revitalization. This report is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Contact Steve Chmielewski, Extension Community Development Educator, at steven.chmielewski@wisc.edu.  

FoodWIse will be starting up a series of six Seniors Eating Well lessons at Eras Senior Network this spring. Seniors will practice healthy habits through games, activities, and healthy food samples. The series will feature topics such as healthy snacking, healthy meals for one or two, herbs and spices, whole grains, and food safety.

For more information about nutrition education, contact FoodWIse Administrator, Jill Herz at jill.herz@wisc.edu.

An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title VI, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements.

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