 Good evening and welcome to the WTCS Ambassador Recognition Event. My name is Klamisha Millsap and I'm the 2019 WTCS Ambassador from Black Hawk Technical College. I'll be your emcee this evening. This past year as an ambassador brought me several wins throughout my tenure. For instance, copious amounts of support, recognition, positivity, friendships, increased confidence in my nursing career, confidence in public speaking, and an opportunity to be an active recruiter for the school. I've learned that you never know who is watching you, and several students have told me I inspired them to take the next step in furthering their education, and a few have even enrolled in the nursing program and will graduate next semester. That feeling of someone else furthering their education and becoming the best they can be is invigorating and inspiring. Being an ambassador has also helped me see that life is not about what I can do for me, but what I can do for others. At this time, I want to personally congratulate every single one of you for committing to becoming a leader at your school and planting your seeds in healthy soil. I want to thank Baird, Morna Foy, Lisa Voisin, Connor Smith, Julie Drake, Dan Arneson, Alicia Eggert, and my beloved Black Hawk Technical College family for helping me grow as a friend, student, leader, and as a nurse. You all will forever have a special place in my heart. As you can imagine, this is not how we imagined we would be celebrating our amazing group of 2020 Wisconsin Technical College system ambassadors. Despite the circumstances, we very much appreciate that all of you, family members, friends, instructors, college leaders and staff, trustees and other guests and supporters of Wisconsin 16 Technical Colleges took the time out of your evening to be with us tonight. Our 16 2020 WTCS ambassadors had a robust leadership development experience earlier today. And now we are ready for you to join us in recognizing and celebrating these outstanding technical college student leaders. Before we hear from our 16 ambassadors, two special guests would like to extend their congratulations and best wishes. Baird, an employee-owned international financial services firm with headquarters in Milwaukee, is the generous, longtime sole sponsor of the WTCS ambassador program. Lisa Voysen is a managing director of Baird Public Finance and was kind enough to join us. She'll share her thoughts with our 2020 ambassadors. Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Voysen. I'm from Robert W. Baird. And on behalf of the whole firm, I would like to congratulate you for earning this great honor of ambassador of your technical college. We are also honored to be able to sponsor such a great program. It is always my favorite time of year to come to the banquet and hear your stories. I'm sad that it's different this year due to the pandemic. But I know that you have all worked very, very hard and we congratulate you for that. I would like to just share with you a quote from our CEO, our president and CEO, who sadly passed away this year. It really embodies how important we believe education is to anyone's future. So his quote, what he said was the American way of life or the American dream is conditioned on people being well educated. If you don't offer that to everyone, if everybody does not have that as an opportunity, then fundamentally we're not fulfilling who we are and what we say we are. So as a sponsor to this ambassador program, we're chipping away at that goal and we congratulate you for investing in your own future. We wish you nothing but the best. We wish you success in your future and thank you. Thanks to Lisa and thanks to Baird for its steadfast support of our students in this program, including a generous scholarship for each ambassador. The Wisconsin Technical College System plans the ambassador program and recognition event and system staff enjoy working with the ambassadors throughout the year. Dr. Morna Foy is the system president and will share her thoughts with the 2020 ambassadors. Good evening, everyone. We're so glad you're taking the time to join us for the celebration of our 2020 WTCS ambassadors. To our ambassadors, you are an inspiration to all of us who work in the technical college system, reminding us that through our individual and collective efforts, we make our community stronger. To Lisa and your team at Baird, thank you for your steadfast support of this program, our colleges, and our students. It is appreciated by all of us, including the ambassadors we honor tonight. To the family and friends of our 2020 ambassadors and the college leaders with us tonight, I can only say that the support that you provide to make these students success a possibility and then to help them make it a reality has made a difference for them and to the many, many others they will inspire. So it's important for us to hear directly from our ambassadors tonight. You offer a timely rinder of the power of possibility. Having been leaders in the classroom and on your campuses, you'll soon be leaders in the workplace and in your communities and champions for technical college education. After spending today building your network and finding your voice as a technical college champion, your stories remind all of us of the importance and value of the WTCS and service catalysts for positive change in the next generation of students. Congratulations again. I can't wait to hear your stories. Thank you to President Floyd and the team that makes this a memorable experience for our ambassadors. Now, it's my pleasure to introduce our first 2020 WTCS ambassadors representing Black Hawk Technical College, Casey Bennett. Hi, my name is Casey Bennett and I am the ambassador for Black Hawk Technical College in Jeansville, Wisconsin. And a lot's changed for me in this last year, even excluding the global pandemic. I found myself across roads and I needed to make a decision of what I really wanted to do with myself moving forward. And that the answer to that question led me to Black Hawk Tech and enrolling in the Edgar Business and Science program. With that, I adopted a mentality of I was going to go in fully committed. And with that, as I was going to say yes to every opportunity that presented itself, whether that meant taking leadership roles in professional agricultural students, applying and becoming the ambassador or applying and becoming a Micro Works Foundation scholar. If it was an opportunity, I was going to take it. The thing I found the most important is to remember that not every opportunity pans out and that's okay. The thing to remember and to focus on is the ones that you get the yes back from. A no isn't a bad thing. It just means that it probably wasn't the right opportunity or it was just the wrong time. As the ambassador, one of the things that I want to focus on as my mission is to encourage others to place value on their abilities, build their confidence and also take a position of saying yes to opportunities when they present themselves and making most of the ones in which they get that yes back. Representing Chippewa Valley Technical College, Carrie Burke. Hi, I'm Carrie. In July of 2019, I was a stay-at-home mom of two boys. My life got suddenly turned right upside down and I didn't know what I was going to do. I knew I needed to find work and a job that would be able to support me and my two boys. So I started looking and there wasn't much out there so I thought well why don't I finally go back to school like I always wanted. So I made an appointment to go tour in Chippewa Valley Technical College and the moment I stepped in those doors, I knew I was home. Not only was the college specialist I was working with amazing, but everybody else I met that day on tour was as well. Since that day, my life has been so much better and has opened so many doors for me. I'm a much more confident person. My children are proud of me. My family is proud of me. I've been able to secure a job for after graduation. I've met so many great people. I look forward to graduation, but I'm also very sad because I feel like everybody at the tech has become part of my family. And it's very torn on whether I want to stay or go. I know I'm ready to go, but I'm sad to go. The tech has been the best experience I've ever had in my life and I can't thank everybody there enough. We're representing Fox Valley Technical College, Drew Bazarik. Hello, my name is Drew Bazarik. I am the WTCF's ambassador for Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. My majors are Network Systems Administration and Information Systems Security Specialist. Fox Valley has, in the past two and a half years now, has sent me abroad to Ireland for a study abroad trip. It helped me to obtain a couple internships, provided outlets for me to improve my mental health, allowed me to create and build friendships, and introduced me to new people and clubs around campus. In high school, I was always asked the question, which UW school are you going to? And after a lot of thought, I decided a UW school just wasn't for me. I wanted to go into IT and I decided that a tech school was the best option. If that was my decision, I simply just chose the tech. I felt the tech school option was best for me. And when a lot of people tour colleges, they talk about a gut feeling, saying, I can do this or this is where I need to be. This is going to be my home. And I didn't really have that. When I toured Fox Valley, I kind of had a thought process where I said to myself, I can do this. This seems like a good place to be. And I never had that gut feeling ever since then. I have not looked back and I've loved it the entire time. And I know that I made the right decision right now. I don't really know what the future holds for me. But I know that I am on the right path because I started it at Fox Valley. Representing Gateway Technical College, Megan Barr. Hello, my name is Megan Barr and I am not a failure. I know that's a weird way to start a speech. So let me explain. Before I found Gateway, I was a lonely, sad, de-average high school student that they'll class after class after having teacher after teacher assume I had no potential and completely give up on me. After having so many people give up on you, you give up on yourself and you stop caring. That's exactly what I did. After not graduating with my class, I spent the following year calling myself a failure on a daily basis. I became my harshest critic. It didn't matter that ADHD. A disorder often described as flipping through all the channels on your TV. But instead of your TV, it's your brain. And someone else has the remote. All that mattered was that I failed. And I have let those that I'd love down. During that difficult year between high school and college, I volunteered over 1500 hours with the Wisconsin donor network. Educating the public on the importance of organ and tissue donation. In fall of 2018, I enrolled in a few gen ed courses at Gateway. The first day, I was a nervous crying mess. Each day got easier when I quickly realized I didn't have to hide from the instructors. Everyone treated me with respect and supported me. I am not alone in this journey. For the first time in almost 10 years, I am proud of my education and look forward to going to school every day. Most importantly, I learned that I'm smart, I have potential, and I am not a failure. I found a second home in Gateway. Today, I am proud to say I am now a professional communication student, a peer advocate, a student leader of several student organizations. I am also a scholarship recipient, a global scholar hoping to travel to the Ukraine in 2021, the student trustee of the Gateway Board of Trustees, an involved community member, a Newman Civic Fellow, and most of all, a very proud Red Hawk. As the WTCS ambassador representing Gateway, I am one voice who represents many students. I want to help my fellow students find their voice and path to success. Paying things forward in life and recognizing our need for connection is so important. Failure is an opportunity to change and grow with the support of others. Our stories become stories of redemption and success. I'm ready to succeed and encourage others in their journeys. I am Megan Barr and I am not a failure. Representing Lakeshore Technical College, Kalita 4. So I'd like to talk a little bit about my technical college experience. Some of you may or may not know this is not my first time going to school. I've been a nurse for almost 10 years, but during that time I kept feeling like there was something more that I wanted to do with my life. I decided to change careers and LPC was the perfect option for doing so. They offer so many programs. They're affordable. They're a local school and I really love the home feel that you get. Nice sense of community there. They offer support with a common goal of character development and personal growth. I'd have to say that the best part about attending LTC is that you really feel that everyone is vouching for you and your goals are also their goals. And I would have to say that what I've learned or what I've really gained from the position of being an ambassador for LTC is it's forced me to be put in situations that are uncomfortable. And I feel that those are the times when we can really find the seeds of success because those challenging situations force us to develop ourselves in ways that were weren't previously apparent. Certain opportunities come out because of it. So I'm really happy to be here and I look forward to what lies ahead. Thank you. Representing Madison College, Maddie Adams. Having attended a four-year university after graduating from high school, I had already been exposed to the traditional college experience for several years and left without a degree and with a fair amount of student loans. Following a string of part-time retail jobs, I ended up working at a commercial real estate brokerage for almost six years. I didn't necessarily want to become a real estate agent, so during my last year at that office, I started to explore other options related to real estate that might interest me. I learned that the state of Wisconsin allows people to become licensed as professional land surveyors with an associate's degree and four years of experience and I decided to go for it. When I told my family, friends, and coworkers about my intention to quit my job and enroll in school full-time in Madison College's civil engineering technology program, I got a lot of the same responses. Why not just go back and finish your bachelor's degree? It would take me less time than it would to complete the civil engineering tech program and I would have a four-year degree rather than a two-year degree. But I didn't want to get a degree just for the sake of having one. I wanted to learn practical knowledge and skills that I could hopefully, one day, excel at and master. And I also didn't want to end up with more of the same student loan debt that I had from before. I know that when I graduate from Madison College, I will be able to get a job doing exactly what I've learned in my classes. For example, when I learned how to do horizontal curve calculations in surveying too, it's because I might be doing them someday out in the field. We are learning skills that are directly related to our future careers so that we can start out above entry level and at a cost that's affordable. Thank you. Representing Mid-State Technical College, Luke Morolczynski. One thing I've learned from my technical college experience is that I think the expectations and pressures that we often put on ourselves have actually distracted us from sometimes becoming more grounded and connected people. I was a high school student that sadly overlooked technical colleges because I think I felt there was an expectation for me to go to a four-year university, which I did. That did go really well, but, you know, a bachelor's degree and a year in the workforce later, I was actually enrolled back at Mid-State Technical College pursuing another degree and even loading UPS trucks, part-time to keep paying for school. It was a bit of an unconventional reality check going from professional back to student, but, you know, my hindsight now knows that it's really just been a huge blessing. My time at MSTC has been really rewarding and humbling. It was a place I originally overlooked, but it has grown on me. I found to really, you know, cherish their values and their mission, and it's actually become a place of my employment now. I think sometimes the status hierarchy we're kind of used to seeing or thinking about is really just a facade. We get caught up in terms like more and better or searching after titles of status, but it's a mentality that really just causes us to miss out on cool opportunities. As soon as you think you're above or better a person or an experience, you're just going to miss out on a chance to grow. So the reality I've discovered is that if you commit yourself and put forth your best effort, that valuable knowledge, connections, and experiences can and will be found no matter where you go or how unconventional a path may seem. Thank you. Representing Milwaukee Area Technical College, Alan Lee. Hello, my name is Alan Lee. I first came to Milwaukee about three or four years ago, and father wanted to make my main reasons to move down to Milwaukee was because of my late father who passed away. It was during a time where I was just completely depressed. I was down. Another reason why I came to Milwaukee was to pursue my degree in college and also right now I am working as a student ambassador and also I am a student worker at MUTC as well and where I work at the Veterans Office where Mr. Wesley is one of my supervisors. He has helped me with my personal life and my professional life. The main reason why I came to Milwaukee to MUTC Milwaukee was because of the finance where it has made my life a lot easier and has helped me just financially be more savvy I guess. I'm currently pursuing my degree in liberal arts at MUTC. I will be transferring to UWM Milwaukee where I will pursue my major in finance as well. I would like to take my time to thank the ambassador program on a system with just my finance during this pandemic as well and for the future I would like to see myself working on maybe a bank of some sort. Maybe even become a president of a bank one day. Yeah thank you for having me. Representing Moraine Park Technical College, Hailey Van Raiden. Hello everyone my name is Hailey Van Raiden. To start off I would like to thank everyone watching this and cheering me on. You are my encouragement through these hard times. Thank you for choosing me to represent Moraine Park. My story begins in Mayville. From the time I was little I've attended small schools. My middle school class graduated with 12 kids including myself which was the biggest class to graduate from Herman. High school wasn't any different. I attended Mayville High School and graduated with 102 other students. When looking for the next educational step in my life I knew that whatever I chose had to be close to home had small class sizes and affordable. Anything else was clearly a bonus. When browsing through Google as a millennial would I found Moraine Park and instantly fell in love. I knew from that moment on that Moraine Park would become my second home. From the first day of classes I've been involved with IT club, student life, and student government. From volunteering at Houston Welcome Days or going to National Africa in Florida this year Moraine Park has always given me the opportunity to flourish in my leadership, networking, and volunteering skills. Moraine Park will always hold a special place in my heart. Lastly I'd like to give one special shout out to my parents. Thank you mom and dad for pushing me to do my best and raising me to be the person I am today. I strongly believe that if it were not for you supporting me I would not be the Moraine Park student ambassador or have the opportunities I have today. Thank you. Representing Nicolay Area Technical College, Marina Candela. Hi my name is Marina and I'm originally from Free Lakes Wisconsin. I'm studying math and economics at UW Madison. So I could tell you that in the semester I attended Nicolay I published my first piece of policy research. I was accepted to UW Madison and I overcame a disability that forced me to drop out of school in 2019. But I want to talk about what I've learned instead of what I've done. I've learned that there are certain things that are cool when you are rich but not so much when you're poor. For example, speaking two languages or living in a van. College is one of those things. The rich go to universities and the poor attend technical college. I'm poor and I started technical college when I was working full-time in San Francisco startups. I figured out almost immediately to only tell people what I do for work instead of where I go to school. I would say I run the marketing department for a small tech company which was impressive for a 20-year-old with no qualifications or a degree. But when I said where I go to school my intelligence was suddenly on trial. This stigma of failure is an inescapable part of the community college student experience. You're not a technical college student until you've been asked, when are you going to a real college? The problem is that real colleges are better designed for the affluent to figure themselves out at a $50,000 per year price tag than to teach hireable skills. Most people cannot afford an education that is increasing in price at eight times the rate of wages. We can always apply for scholarships where we rebrand our poverty and our trauma to make it more palatable, but after all that we're still going to graduate in debt. Universities are failing us. By making college financially inaccessible they're missing out on the most capable students. My classmates are working two jobs taking care of family members, risking deportation and supporting themselves in addition to managing the traditional course load designed for students whose sole responsibility is school. It's not technical college students that are the failure, it's our education system. Almost every other developed country in the world has tuition costs that are comparable to that of a U.S. technical college. Technical colleges are an exception in the U.S. however because they focus on marketable skills and affordability. They pick up the slack for inequitable public schools and inaccessible universities. They serve 46 percent of students but are treated like an afterthought instead of an example to follow. I'm grateful to have started college in an institution that serves such a diverse array of people and that my instructors understood that we all have responsibilities outside of school. But I want every institution of education to cater to people like my classmates. Not out of charity but because our ability to juggle competing priorities and work with fewer resources makes us well suited to the rigors of academia or the workforce. Every one of our ambassadors is succeeding in a system that is not designed for us. So thank you all for being here. Representing North Central Technical College, Madison Kan Dutch. Hello my name is Madison and I am from North Central Technical College. I graduated in May from the Graphic Communication Technologies Program. So in my two years at NTC I had these ideas of who I was, who I was in the past, who I am presently and who I was, who I will be in the future. Each phase I had considered the technical college system being my route for higher education. Like many others the technical college system was most affordable for my family and I. Throughout most of my life I had gone through financial hardships and I knew that receiving my higher education I did not want to go through those same financial hardships. The technical college system had offered skills and experience for me that I knew that I wanted before entering the workforce. Each day I have intentions for myself. Depending on what I'm doing that day my intentions differ but I do have the constant intention of how I can go about my day and improving myself. The technical college system allowed me to build relationships on a personal and professional level that where both professional and personal people had influenced me to push me to success. At my time at NTC I had been a graphic designer in the Student Leadership Center where I met Jenny, Kristen, Sean. They became mentors for me because they encouraged me and pushed me to always make more of myself. The treatment that I had received at NTC would not be the same as if I had gone to a four-year university. Pursuing opportunities that NTC offered me made my college experience much more than the stereotypical, it's easy and it's boring. My instructors and the staff at NTC also had kept me on my toes and had pushed me to make more of myself and my education. I am proud to be from the technical college system and I am proud to be an alumni from NTC. I stepped out of my comfort zone to make the most out of the technical college experience and I am the representation of what the technical college system can do for you. I will always appreciate NTC and the technical college system and all that it has done for me and also my future and I am confident in who I am today that I will be able to conquer anything that comes towards me in my future. Thank you. Representing Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Denise Arhorn Rivera. Hi, my name is Denise Arhorn Rivera and I am a student in the Design and Graphic Technology Program at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. I am a first-generation college student, a proud Latina and a hard worker. My biggest motivation are my parents. I old in my life and without them a lot wouldn't be possible. Growing up as the oldest of five siblings wasn't that easy. I've had to wear a lot of hats from second mom, big sister, translator and occasionally family cook. It wasn't easy but I'm thankful because for that I strive every day to become the best version of myself and to continue to improve so that I can give my siblings a great example. I began to attend technical college about four years ago, three of them which were part-time. I've been faced with health issues and financial issues but that has never stopped me from pursuing my goals and keeping the bigger picture in mind. I've had to work up to three jobs at a time to be able to pay tuition and of course my parents would help me when they could. I am thankful for my upbringing because they have made me the person that I am today. In 2019 I began to step out a little bit more out of my comfort zone and be able to participate and be more involved in my campus and community. I was able to participate in the Rice Leadership Program series that really just helped me discover my true self and discover the leader in me. I walked away with a lot of new skills that I will use every day and continue to use in the future as well as really good friendships. I was also able to get the amazing opportunity to work as a Multicultural Intern in the Student Involvement Program, International Programs and Study Abroad. I've made a lot of really great connections and a lot of new opportunities and doors began to open for me. I want to thank the NWTC faculty and staff for their help and support throughout my journey. They are the best. Although I would have loved to speak to you guys all in person today that is unfortunately not the case. But I do want to give a big shout out and thank you to Julie Drake, Connor Smith, Dan Anderson and their team for working hard and planning to continue this program virtually. Of course, thank you to Bear for their support. Thank you to my former manager Megan Papke for nominating me as a District Ambassador and really seeing the potential in me. To Joel Richter for helping me throughout my District Ambassador journey and helping me achieve my goals. And I want to thank each and every one of you for your time today and for helping me and giving me the tools that I need to become a better person. Thank you all and I will continue to voice how important technical education is and I will do what I can to help my Latino community improve as well. Have a great day. Hello everyone, I'm Carly. My college is located in Fenimore, Wisconsin. Fenimore is a town of about 2,500 people and the college shows an estimated 2,000 students. Southwest Tech caught my eye on my first visit when I noticed that the campus was surrounded by corn fields which made me feel as if I was at home. I chose Agronomy as one of the several agriculture programs because I'm passionate about working with farmers and a career in this field provides great opportunity for that. Southwest Tech strives to be the best that they can be for the students and the surrounding community. The college lists their core values as learning, integrity, accountability, partnerships, innovation, and continuous improvement. Personally, I have noticed each of these to be true throughout the first year of my schooling. Christina Olson was the first instructor that I made a connection with as we had many common characteristics and we have remained close ever since. The staff works every day to not only do their job but to also build relationships. It is very encouraging to us students to be surrounded by positive attitudes. The entire staff is great at lighting up the halls and classrooms with their smiles and their genuine hellos. Often the faculty takes it a step further to make a connection which makes us students feel comfortable and valued. On top of that, it is also clear to me how well the staff works together. They too have built relationships among one another that not only helps our courses run smoothly but also teaches us the value of communication. The ability to work well with others is a skill that is essential for the careers ahead of us. Southwest Tech prepares us for the future in this way along with many others. It has been such a blessing to be in this position and an honor to work with Julie Connor and their team. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in organizing the Ambassador Program. Representing Waukesha County Technical College, Alyssa Anderson. Hello, my name is Alyssa Anderson. I'm in my third semester studying Automation Systems Technologies and I'm also the Secretary Treasurer of our Student Government Association at Waukesha County Technical College. When I graduated high school, I had a decision to make about my education. I'd been accepted to multiple four-year engineering programs. I was looking at international universities and I'd also been accented at Waukesha County Technical College. I ultimately made my decision by comparing the cost versus the quality of education and I came to the conclusion that WCTC would be the best return on investment for me. I had a lot of anxieties about this decision. I didn't know anyone getting a technical education and I also had no experience in automation. When I arrived on campus, my mindset completely shifted. I was welcomed by a great group of students and faculty involved with the Student Government Association who taught me how things were done and how I could contribute to the team. In my classes, my instructors made every effort to make sure those intro level courses really started from the beginning so no students were left behind. I had great satisfaction knowing I was getting a quality technical education while also contributing positively to my community. At WCTC, I can really tell the faculty here genuinely has the student's best interests at heart. I see that through faculty volunteering their own personal time for on-campus events and through my instructors constantly recommending students for internships and career opportunities. If I could leave you with one thing to remember about WCTC, it's that the people here care and will work to help their students achieve their career and academic goals. Thank you. Representing Western Technical College, Abdul Cole. My name is Abdul Balaji Cole. I'm an international student from Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Currently a role in the heavy diesel and equipment technician program. I'm the current student ambassador for Western Technical College. I'm the first person in my family to go to college. Going up in Sierra Leone, West Africa, I never thought I would be able to go to college. Just because of how I was raised and the kind of environments I grew up in, kids in my earlier, never made it past high school, usually they end up going to the workforce to support their families. My family never had much so I grew up eating whatever I found on my plate, wearing whatever I found in my wardrobe. In 2016, I started looking into possible colleges I could go to. At the time I was volunteering on a hospital ship named the African Mercy. That's when I met a friend from La Cosse. He also came to the ship to volunteer. We became best friends. One night we started talking about schooling in the U.S. And he mentored to Western Technical College. I started doing my research about Western to see if it's the best fit for me. After months of research, I kept seeing one thing over and over that says we want our students to succeed. And that stood out to me personally. After months of research and cost comparisons, I decided to attend Western Technical College. It was the most affordable college at the time. It took me three years to get all the papers that Western needed and the U.S. Embassy in Seattle needed for me to come over here for school. I will say after all the hard work to get here, it was worth it. Instructors are helpful at Western. Everyone wants to genuinely see you succeed. I used to tell my friends back home, I said the school that I go to, it's like your parents. They always want to see you succeed. They always want to see you move forward. And that's how Western is. Representing Wisconsin Indian Head Technical College, Ashley Row Wolf. My name is Ashley Row Wolf. I am the Wisconsin Technical College system ambassador from Wisconsin Indian Head Technical College, which is the technical college that is farthest north in the state, way up in the corner by Doluthin Superior. I chose to attend WITC when I had been working in the healthcare field for about two years and knew that I wanted to go back and get a higher level of degree that I wanted to become a nurse. During my time at WITC, I have had phenomenal opportunities for learning. I have been able to really work with professionals from the field who are invested in seeing the next generation in their professions grow and develop and become excellent at what they do. I have had opportunities to go to Madison and speak with state representatives and senators and the people who move and shake things down there. I've had the opportunity to travel around our district and meet people from all over our district and opportunities to interact with people from all walks of life. I feel that I've been really really really blessed with just the people that I've met, the opportunities I've had. I've been able to become an LPN already halfway through my program, which is awesome because I can work as I can continue to go to school and it's just a great great thing that I can do that. I really just want to say thank you to the state of Wisconsin for the technical college system, to all of my instructors, all of my professors, all of the people who have helped me along the way, and to Baird for sponsoring this program where I get to meet students, exceptional students from all over the state and interact with some of our leaders at the Wisconsin technical college system and really have these opportunities for growth and development. It's incredible and I wouldn't be able to do it without this program and without my school, so thank you. Before we close, the WTCS planning team would like to recognize all of the college leaders and staff who support these 16 students, including the college's ambassador coordinators, those who may have nominated these students for this honor, as well as the college presidents, vice presidents, and other leaders who support these students and this program. And finally, it's hard to imagine these students would be where they are without the love and support of family and friends. Wherever you are, please give a round of applause for the family members and friends of the ambassadors. Thank you all for being with us for this special night.