Writing Portfolio

The Web Club Goes on an EPIC Trip

A local company graciously opened their doors for us during our spring break so we could learn from them about the “real world.” We are very thankful they didn’t mind taking all 15 of us on a tour through their facilities and answering the many questions we had for them.

EPIC Creative is an ad agency that specializes in a little bit of everything from web design, to video, to social media and much, much more. For the Web Club members, both consisting of web design and interactive media program students, it was an opportunity to find out the tools, both physical and intellectual, needed to succeed in this kind of business.

Our guide gave us some great advice about working with clients. You should never forget that they are the boss, and the reason you get to do what you love to do is because they are paying for it. He also stressed the importance of planning, lots of planning, before doing anything…

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The Ironic Storage Solution

When people have things they no longer use or have too many items taking up space, they’ll get a box and take those things to a resale shop. You can then go to a resale shop or a yard sale and buy these things at a pretty low cost.

But hang on- doesn’t somebody else’s clutter problem then become your clutter problem? Not necessarily. It all depends on what you buy and what you use it for. If you’re looking for creative storage solutions, look at resale items as potential objects for storing your stuff. Find a new purpose for old things.

For example, I picked up a plain, metal toothbrush holder. It’s narrow and has four slots. This works perfect for my office utensils and fits well on my desk. It holds a pencil, pen, highlighter, and scissors- nothing more, nothing less. It’s exactly what I need and takes up much less space than a round pencil holder. Plus, there’s no room to put objects in it that don’t belong…

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Title: Generations
Company: West Bend Harley-Davidson
Date: Fall 2014

The year is approximately 1992. A man in his late 20’s – early 30’s and a boy between 5-7 years old sit at a desk in the dealership. They stand up. The man shakes the salesman’s hand.

[Salesman]: Congratulations on the new bike, Robert.

The man and his son walk past a row of approximately 4-6 bikes on their way to the door. The boy stops at the second-to-last bike. The man notices the boy is not at his side and turns around to see his son staring at a red motorcycle.

[Boy]: When I grow up, I want a red motorcycle.

The man smiles.

[Man]: Okay

He leads the boy out the door.

Twenty or so years have passed. The son is now an adult. He walks into the dealership with his daughter, age 5-7. The girl looks around the showroom and turns to her father.

[Girl]: Which one is yours, dad?

The father points to a bike located in the same spot as the bike in the flashback. It has a SOLD sign on it.

[Father]: That one.

The girl walks over to the bike.

[Girl]: This red one?

[Father]: Yes, the red one.

The girl looks around the showroom again. She points at a bike nearby.

[Girl]: Can I have a blue bike when I grow up? Like this one?

[Father]: Sure.

The father and daughter walk off screen further into the store.

[Voiceover]: West Bend Harley-Davidson, fulfilling dreams of Harley-Davidson ownership since 1946.

110th Anniversary Celebration Radio Spot Script

You don't have to got to Milwaukee to be part of the 110th anniversary of Harley-Davidson. Celebrate this milestone at the West Bend Harley-Davidson dealership on August 29 from 4pm to 9pm.

Food, beverages, and live music by Liquid Crush. Twenty-nine-ten West Washington Street, West Bend.

Be sure to pick up a one-of-a-kind West Bend dealer t-shirt commemorating the 110th.

Food provided by the Boy Scouts Troop 741. Beverages provided by the Downtown West Bend Association.

Moraine Park Hosts Manufacturing Adventure Camp

Students from area middle and high schools spent the week of June 18 through 22 at Moraine Park Technical College learning about manufacturing through instruction, hands-on activities and meeting leaders in the manufacturing business during the Toolin’ It! summer camp. The camp covered a range of topics in manufacturing from computer-assisted design and CNC, to electricity and welding.

Sixteen students in ages ranging from 13 to 16 from Campbellsport, Fond du Lac, Hartford, Kewaskum, Rubicon, Slinger and West Bend filled the room on the first day of camp to learn about design. They were able to experiment with SolidWorks, a 3D mechanical CAD program.

“It’s appropriate that students begin with design,” said Kim Olson, a tool design engineering technology instructor at Moraine Park. Design isn’t made in the shop. “Everything needs to be designed prior to being produced on the shop floor.”…

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Investigation Leaves Safety Concerns

By Susan Baasch and Amanda Voelzke

Three students entered all 13 residence halls without being questioned Thursday night while conducting a study concerning safety at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The purpose was to find out if students would question strangers entering their buildings.

Juniors Adam Lopez and Susan Baasch along with senior Amanda Voelzke investigated residence hall security after safety questions were raised by the mass shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute that left 33 people dead.

Residence halls at UW-Whitewater are locked at all hours and require electronic access through student identity cards. The average waiting time to enter the residence halls was three and a half minutes. At no time did the students ask to be let in. They entered as someone either left or entered the building…

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The Other Whitewater School

By Amanda Voelzke

Many University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students may be surprised to know that their campus was not the only prominent place of higher education in Whitewater.

The Morris Pratt Institute was originally located at the corner of West Center and Fremont Streets. An article from the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1921 said it was “the only spiritualistic school in the world” at the time.

A medium told Morris Pratt to buy land in northern Wisconsin in the late 19th century. The seemingly useless land turned out to be full of iron. Pratt sold the land and bought property in Whitewater for a building dedicated to spiritualism…

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Diary of a Hotel Housekeeper

Friday, May 31

Things at the Shady Oak Hotel aren’t exactly what you call exciting. Very few things happen here – and if they do, I would say they’re more gross than exciting. A “good day” at work consists of not having to deal with things like that, and that’s all you can hope for.

Mary Beth and I call it Shabby Oak, since that seems to be a more appropriate name. It’s about 30 years old and the décor hasn’t changed since. Things are always breaking. Matter of fact, a fridge broke down today. Mary Beth was swearing as she pushed the dolly to room 125.

“Why doesn’t Tom just fork over the cash to get some new fridges? I’m sick of pushing these damn things up and down the hall,” she huffed as we lifted it onto the dolly. “Let’s hope this sucker fits in the junk yard.”

The “junk yard” is a room where we put all the appliances that need to be repaired and a bunch of extra, ugly furniture.

This room is somewhat organized, but considering the amount of stuff in there, you’d never guess it. The chairs were stacked by fours or fives, ready to tip at any moment. Next to them were the tables in the far right corner of the room, collecting 20 years of dust. But, there was no rhyme or reason for the placement of the big teal lamps, about 15 total. That’s probably why Mary Beth knocked one over…

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The Girl at the Lunch Table

She was long, gangly and awkward, like what I’d imagine a female Ichabod Crane would look like. She was there, like always, behind the long rectangular faux wood table sitting on an unnaturally burgundy colored chair that was dwarfed in comparison to her size. But she was not heavy, not in the slightest. In fact, she was especially thin which may have intensified the gangly look.

And the slouching didn’t distract anyone from her height, whether that was the intent or not. Both elbows were resting on the table, her forearms like two cylindrical yardsticks. They nearly rose higher than her downturned head. She took a bite of an apple from her left hand. With a twist of her wrist, she propped it up in that hand and held it there as if she was presenting it to an invisible someone standing to the left of her. The right hand was slumped and turned inward, held up by the arm that was subconsciously mimicking the other arm serving the purpose…

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