 Welcome to Love Where You Live, a program of the Shavuigan County Chamber of Commerce. I'm Betsy Alice, Executive Director of the Chamber and your host. We just had the Chamber Champion's Gala, and I'm excited that today we have a couple of the honorees on our show. Our first guest is the recipient of the Golden Apple Award, Mr. Mike Trimburger, Principal of Shavuigan South High School. Welcome Mike. Thank you. So glad to have you on the show today. It's great to be here today. Yeah, it was a great evening, wasn't it? I can't speak highly enough. I've been doing the Gala now for five years, and I feel like every year is getting better, and this one truly might be a little biased now because of the Golden Apple piece, but truly the event was great. 650 people there, just a really good tribute of what we have going on in Shavuigan County. Well, it was a wonderful night, and you are certainly deserving of the Golden Apple Award for everything that I've experienced in the community. Can you talk on that note? Can you talk a little bit about your involvement in the Business Education Partnership Group at the Chamber? Sure. Sure. I always look at having kind of three hats in the community. First, the principle in getting what I get to do at South High, which is a huge honor. Second is being the Board President of Inspiration Boyan County, and my third hat that I think is just as important and really has helped manifest a lot of things that we're doing at our school and in the county is being a part of the BEP. The BEP has just been, it's been something that I've started five years ago when I got to South High, and we're looking for a way, how do we start connecting our students to the community, and shortly after getting there I heard about the BEP, and it's a great collaboration of business and nonprofits and schools that get together and talk about how can we answer things like the skills gap? How can we have businesses and students collaborating more, and over the last five years that team has grown. I think the plans that we have on how do we connect schools to businesses, how do we share the great opportunities that we have in Sheboyin County has just gotten bigger and bigger. Truly, my second hat as being part of Inspiration Boyan County was born out of the BEP. That committee with Peter Geiss at the time and John Rogers and the rest of the committee, we wanted to talk about how do you create a bookshelf of all the great opportunities we have in Sheboyin. We're almost an embarrassment of riches of all the opportunities, but we didn't have a way of organizing it. And the BEP is actually the group that said, yes, why don't we start organizing away? And from there, they've created almost a countywide, it's a countywide initiative to really connect everybody. It's been a powerful partner and a community partnership that I've been a part of. Yeah, I noticed it's always a matter of just even trying to let everyone know all the things that are available to them as educators, as parents, and as students. So a lot of progress has been made in the last year, and thank you to that group. It's been amazing. I want to talk a little about Inspire Sheboyin County. I'm actually on the board for that organization, and it's an interesting, and you've been leading that since its inception, which is about three years ago. The parents have probably heard about it as career cruising, just as the students think of it as career cruising. And really, it's that coming together of career cruising and our business relationships so that students and businesses can just directly interact and have all kinds of experiential things, have the ability to have career coaching and the various careers they might have interest in. Very exciting piece of software that really has to do with all the businesses getting involved in all the students plugging in. And I just think that career cruising name in Inspire Sheboyin County, tell us a little bit about where that group is now and what parents might expect, what students might expect in the future. I think one of the most remarkable things about Inspire is when we started building through the BEP, we wanted to create a countywide network of opportunities. And they had to do with getting students connected out into the business world and get businesses in to be able to share their opportunities into the school world. And the relationships between business and schools have always been complicated. It was really hinged on one person. It was, I know somebody at this school, so I can get some of these things here or this as a principal, I knew some people in some businesses, so maybe I could get some students placed out there. But if that person would be promoted or a person in the building leaves, those communications and those relationships would be severed. So we really went out and said, how do we create a countywide network? And one of the most incredible things is we went out to all the school districts. Inspire now has every school district in Sheboyin County, and actually we have districts outside of the county asking to get part of it. So think of it this way, every school district in Sheboyin County said we are going to use career cruising and Inspire. You know how it is in the business world to get people to agree like that can be difficult. But our schools in this district really have said we think this is an important piece. And what we did from there is we wanted to create, you know, in the past we had piles of books of opportunities like Project Grill, we had a different workplace, we had Youth Apprenticeship through LTC, there was these great things but it was very siloed in different schools were doing it better. So what we did is we created a platform that businesses can put this onto a website. So if they have internships, shadows, co-ops, if they want to do a business tour, scholarships, all those things are put into this warehouse kind of like a bulk shelf. And that's the business side. So they have one place, we have over 65 businesses that are part of Inspire. There's another component with career coaching. So students that have questions on careers can go into this and can ask a professional in the field. I'm really excited about engineering. Can you tell me where you went to school, what are some things I should take in high school? At last count I think we have over 400 career coaches in the county. So we've created this really great piece on the back side with our businesses. On the other side are the schools. And in schools, I would say countywide but even more specifically in Schrodinger School District, we've really concentrated on how do we talk more about career development in high school. One of our big pushes at SELF has been trying to show the relevancy of a high school education and how it can connect to prepare you for college, prepare you for the workforce or prepare you for any kind of opportunity you want. So our students go to career cruising. They do an interest inventory, find out do I like to get my hands dirty or do I like to work in an office, do I like to work with a lot of people or am I a solo person. And from there, this program tells you what courses you can take and some of the pathways and things, some of the core classes. And then right from there seamlessly it goes into these opportunities. So our students just know what is career cruising. They go in, they pick a career, they pick the courses and then they are right there seeing wow I can actually do a job shadow with an engineer or an accountant. For our students, it's just increased our ability to get students out into the work sites and learning from professionals that are just really jazzed up about what they're doing. Our first year, we had 45,000 logins to Inspiration Boy and County. And these are students plugging directly in. Students plugging directly in. In the first half of this year, we've had over 55,000. So students are using it, businesses are using it. And I would say right now, we're really, if you look at fidelity, I think we're only at like 30, 40% fidelity. When our students really start using it, that relationship and the education that can happen outside the school walls for our county is just going to be amazing. And I also think we're ahead of the curve. We are very much ahead of the curve. Because now this program has been selected by the state of Wisconsin. So we're ahead because we've been working with it for three years now. And that's a real advantage for our students and for our businesses. I agree, I agree. So I hear that you and Steve Schneider, who's a counselor at Sheboygan, South High, just got back from a special invitation to Washington DC. Yes, yes. And can you tell us a little bit about that, why you were invited? What transpired while you were there and what you brought back? Probably one of the biggest honors next to the Golden Apple, of course, was the invite to Washington DC. And there's really starting to be a nationwide conversation about looking at the American public education system. How can we do some things to help better prepare our students while they're still in the K-12 system for jobs? I think schools have always done a really nice job of preparing students for college, but it never really connected that business piece to it. So there's a researcher out of Boston University, Scott Solberg, and another one out of Arizona, Bill Simons, that heard some of the things that we're doing in South and asked us to be part of a national convening. So last, it was in late February, we went to Washington DC. And on Monday, we went and were part of a national conversation. So there is 250 people, invite only. And we were one of about probably a dozen schools nationwide to go and represent what we're doing and talk about how career development could look in in high school. And that conversation was great. We've done something like that just showing how far ahead of the curve we are. Earlier this year, we did workforce development that Tammy Graf had been part of. It was really that same piece of bringing in all the players nationwide and having a conversation about how do we build infrastructure? How do we build structures? How do we build supports for having this kind of career development in high schools? So Steve and I were part of that conversation. We'll be actually probably going out to Washington DC in the next year, six months here, to do the second piece, much like the workforce development did. To say what were some of the implications of this and what are some directions that we're going to be doing next? And that was great. But then on Tuesday, we were asked by the two researchers to actually do a congressional briefing on the things that we're doing. And we presented with three other schools. We actually went to Capitol Hill and we were in the Senate building. And while we were there, we invited different senators and lobbyists and things to come in. And we got to really share what's going on at South High and what's happening in Sheboygan. And earlier you had mentioned about how in the states we're ahead of the curve. I got to come back from Washington DC and say on a nationwide picture, we are starting to be kind of the model of the way to do it between our school's receptiveness to for career development, having organizations like the Chamber, I think the SCEDC, other nonprofits that are supporting this. And then even just having that infrastructure of in Sheboygan County to be that networking communication piece. We left Washington DC with people looking at us like, how did you get this done? And Steve and I came back and we thought we're gonna be pulling more stuff in. We actually were sharing more stuff and we left there thinking, we are very fortunate to live in a county that has this much connection, has this much support and living in a place that supports our schools as much as they do. Yeah, that's just great news. It doesn't surprise me in some respects because I think we lead in a lot of categories and people aren't even aware of how far ahead of the game we are. So I'm glad you were able to be here today and tell us about it. Yeah, no, I was agree. Everyone should hear it and we should be letting other people know that as well. I agree. So as far as South High School goes and specifically at South High School, can you talk to us a little bit about some of the special programs you have going on there in relation to career development? Well, five years ago we really wanted to start looking at what we're best practices to have in a high school. And we really brought it down to three points in our vision that we wanted to do. We wanted to have strong classrooms. We wanted to have a strong school culture and we wanted to have a strong connection to the community. And what we did is we started organizing our school around those three things. So for strong classrooms, our teachers started collaborating. We did things that are in education called PLCs and common guarantee viable curriculum. All these other things I won't bore you with. But we increased the rigor in our class. Second, we really started concentrating on school culture. We wanted to make sure that our students were proud to be redwings, that we implemented something called the Red Wing Way and really started supporting behaviors we wanted to see. And then the last piece is the connection to community. And what we started doing is we built pathways. Bill Simons is actually the author out of Harvard University that came up with Pathways of Prosperity. And from there, we started taking our elective classes and started organizing them into five major clusters. We did healthcare, IT, we did the manufacturing, you may have heard of it, red raider manufacturing, education, and then customer service. And we started working with LTC, UW-Shaboy again, Lakeland, and pulled in college classes for our electives and organizing it. So when students went to career cruising and said, I want to be in healthcare, they had opportunities to take biomedical science classes. LTC has medical terminology and human diseases. So our students, we have students in the healthcare pathway now. They graduate with 30 college credits in the healthcare field. And we have more students now doing pre-med, going into nursing. We did the same thing with IT, Acuity, and Lakeland supported us with that. So we pulled in some Lakeland classes. We have a really great IT pathway. And the biggest one that we're really excited about is our red raider manufacturing, which is our engineering and manufacturing pathway. And those partnerships really led to a $4.3 million investment from our community to put new technology wings on both of North and itself. We changed the curriculum. We're getting things like six-axis robots. We're getting C&Cs. And we're putting new technology wings to really show case. First of all, the rich manufacturing we have in Shaboy County. And then also get students excited about these really great paying jobs. Well, and that's so key, because everything you just talked about, from healthcare to IT to manufacturing, those are all the jobs of the future that we can see, at least. And will be high placement opportunities for those people and family supporting jobs. I agree. And right here in Shaboy County, which is very important. We need our young people to stay here and to work here. And that's the thing with Inspire is there are so many great businesses that say, I love what you're doing in high school. You come work for us, maybe we'll pay for you to go to college. And then you come back, we, when we first started to have a conversation at the BEP was really about our brain drain. Some of our best and brightest don't stay in Shaboy again. Now our students here on a regular basis, all the rich opportunities that we have and how our businesses want to invest in our students, because they want the best of the best to stay here. It's an amazing relationship that will bring a huge return on investment. I agree. Where are we timeline wise with Red Raider? Well, the first piece I have to brag about. So when we first went out for fundraising, we actually raised $3.3 million in 10 days. And the businesses bought in, they helped us choose the curriculum. And right now, North broke ground just in the last few days. And South Hyde, we will be breaking ground at the middle of March. So we are getting to the point now that the new wings will be up. We're doing a groundbreaking on March 16th. And we're doing a ribbon cutting on October 18th. So that'll be something we want to have the chamber part of too. Absolutely. I'll put that on my calendar. And truly, it needs to be a community celebration, because it's more than just North and South. It's really a celebration of what we have in this county. Boy, that's a pretty amazing story. I mean, it really is. It's easy when you live here to kind of take some of those things for granted until you hear about things like your trip to Washington, DC. Until you actually see the groundbreaking. And I've seen the plans for these additions. They're fantastic. They're going to make these opportunities more central to the high school experience, so that parents, when they come there, see kids in action trying these things out. And they'll want to have their own kids involved, I think. It'll be great. At South, when you walk in, our foyer is going to have a 16-foot ceiling celebrating all the partners that we have. And when you walk into school, you're going to see students working on the phantic robots and the CNCs and making things. And our hope is our students will be making things that they can actually connect out to our local industry and say, here's a short run that's really expensive for us to run, because we only have to make 10 parts. That's perfect for our students. They get to figure out what setup is. They get to see what parameters to make things. And when students start building things for the community, they get a lot more engaged in what they're doing in the school. And they learn everything from logistics and purchasing all the way through production. Exactly. So there's just such a huge opportunity here. Very pleased to be in the know on it. So I want everybody else to know about it as well. So how does all of this work for Mike Trimburger? How are you thinking about the future of South High School and thinking about it in new ways? Well, you know, one of the things in conversations like this is just a really great way to see everything that we have. Really for us, with all the things that we're saying and we took to the nation, we are still not at full capacity. It's a huge paradigm shift on what we're trying to do. This year, we changed our schedule to open up more opportunities for students to do work-based learning opportunities and co-ops. And we're working on our schedule. We're building more co-ops. And we want to get to a point that when a student leaves, they leave with some opportunity to earn college credits that are paid for by us at the school. We want them to leave with some sort of experience in the community in a job that they may be interested in. And we want to leave our graduates having a distinct advantage in the marketplace, in college applications, scholarship applications, because with all the resources we have, our students are gonna be getting a high school experience that really can't be rivaled anywhere in the nation. Boy, well, congratulations to you and to everyone who's involved in this. I would call it a movement, you know? It's not just one initiative. It's a whole community coming together around this idea of making the future better for the kids. That's really the bottom line. And we talk about that a lot in meetings. You know, let's remember this is for the kids. And yet at the same time, we need to let their parents know what's happening and how wonderful it is. Because it means also that maybe your kids are going to live closer to their parents when they graduate. Which is a bad thing, right? Not a bad thing at all. I mean, when you think about the whole continuum here, right in our county, you literally can go all the way through 16 years of education and employment and continued education even beyond that. So it really, I don't think learning ever stops regardless of what career path you choose. And as long as we keep providing those opportunities, we're doing right by the people who live here. Oh, I agree. And thanks to you for your leadership on this, Mike. I think you've been a stellar addition to the chamber. I don't know that education was always at the table as strongly as it is now. And I commend the educators and the counselors and the teachers and the parents for embracing this new way of thinking. Because it does take everybody to make this, like you said, a seismic shift in how we think. So. Well, thank you very much. And I just want to thank the chamber. I don't think every community has a chamber that is as strong and has their fingers out in so many different areas. It's been a huge resource and we've appreciated the relationship we really have. Well, thanks. Thank you. You take care. We're going to take a quick break now. And when we return, Lynn Podian from the Game Board will be here. Stay with us. What would you bring to my company? What do you need? I need problem solving skills. I got through high school without a car, a phone or a computer. No college degree though. Not yet, but life's taught me a lot and I'm ready for more. Well, you're not the typical kind of candidate that I hire. But you are exactly what I'm looking for. Your company could be missing out on the candidates it needs most. Learn how to find a great pool of untapped talent at gradsoflife.org. What does good planning bring to business? Real revenue with vibrant neighborhoods, pedestrian friendly avenues and good public transportation. People in a well-planned community come together in ways that support the local economy. That means that stores, restaurants and services in the area thrive. Good planning brings value to everyone in the community. Learn more at planning.org. That's planning.org, a message from the American Planning Association. Welcome back to Love Where You Live. In this segment, we are pleased to have Lynn Podian from the Game Board. Lynn is our retailer of the year this year. Welcome, Lynn. Thank you, thank you for inviting me. That was a great evening. Oh my gosh, it was awesome. Yeah, I really, you know, that was one of the most exciting galas I think that I can recall. And certainly your win made it an exciting night for you. Yeah, no, but four years of attending the gala and that was just, it was a fabulous evening. Well, you know, you think about how many retailers we have in Sheboygan County and that honor is pretty up there. It is, it is. And there were some amazing people that we were nominated with that I was just pleased to be a part of that group. It was a fabulous experience. Yeah, and that's what it's all about. And I think you've probably collaborated with some people in that group. Yeah, I have actually. Yeah, that's how people are here. That's one of the nicest things about doing business in Sheboygan County, I think. I love that part of the better together of Sheboygan Chamber and Sheboygan in general. And it just keeps going on and on like that. Yeah, you know, I can remember a time when competition was the main focus and what someone did next door to you could be a threat to you. And now these are all seen as opportunities. So that's a really healthy, I call this the era of collaboration. Yeah. So it's really nice. I agree it is a very important part of making success. Absolutely. Oh, yes. I'd like to hear more, even though I've been to the Game Board, of course, I'd like to hear you so you can tell our audience about the mission of the Game Board, how you started, and what it's like on a day-to-day basis. Well, let's start and work our way backwards. So a day-to-day basis, there's always activity at the Game Board. We have events every day. We do Pokemon, we do Yu-Gi-Oh, we do magic, we do board game nights. So there's all sorts of things happening. Every day that you stop in, there will be an event going on for all different ages, all different people. But how did we all begin this wonderful mission and how did it grow? When in 2000, my son was four years old, Eric, and he was diagnosed with a severe speech delay. So we were attending ELC to try and get him some speech development classes. And we worked with the speech therapist there and we watched what she was doing. She was taking some really intriguing games and using them with him to help him communicate by using the game as a vehicle to get his mind off of what he was doing with his speech. The one thing I noticed, though, was that a lot of those games were really kind of boring. They only kept his attention for a short period of time. And I could see that she was struggling to try and keep him involved. So we went on to a convention right soon after that and I got to see some games that were really involving and some really intriguing ones, but they weren't available at our regular stores. They just weren't out there. So I started buying some of these games and showing them my friends and their families and saying, look at this and look at how it really can help you. So I took them back to the speech therapist and she just was like, wow, this is awesome. So that's how we started the store. We built it up by using these games to continue to communicate and to work better with other people. So the game board began out of that and that's how our mission began. We use that now with dementia care customers. We use it with everybody. We were using it in businesses with the human resources. Wow. And I've heard some about what you do with the dementia care. It's fabulous. Thank you. Yeah. I had never really thought about that angle before. Right. So it's evolved over the years. You started out pretty small. You moved into your facility that you're in now. Yeah. And the address on that is 1863 North 8th Street. All right. So if you get a chance, please visit the game board. It's a phenomenal place. What are your future plans for the game board? Well, we are looking right now and moving into a bigger location. We're still hunting and pecking to figure out which one is gonna be, but we are looking to quadruple our space in the next year. Oh, congratulations. Keep your ears open and good for all of us. Yes, yeah. Thank you. There's a lot more people in there trying out the games. One of the curious things about the game board is that you can try out the games before you buy them. So please be sure to stop in and try out the games. I've bought some for my grandchildren in the last year. They love them. So great advice on that. Thanks so much, Lynn. And congratulations again. That was just a wonderful night and certainly you deserve it. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. So if you're curious about the Sheboygan County Chamber, you know, I invite you to visit our website at Sheboygan.org. You'll see our events there. You'll see our programs there. And if you work for an employer who's a member of the chamber, you can participate in those things. If you have interest in joining, of course that's there too. Tune in again next month when we'll talk about young professionals and have another award winner as our special guest. On behalf of the chamber, I'm Betsy Alice and we hope you love where you live.