Communication
During the 2023-2024 school year, Slinger High School Social Studies students collaborated with the community to research a communication theme. The objective was to better understand communication in the Slinger area: Past, Present, and Future. Students used interview, observation, survey, and secondary sources to collect data. Thank you to the many current and retired communication workers, authors, historians, group and organization leaders, community members, grandparents, alumni, teachers, students, and administrators who helped teach Social Science students more about this theme. Special thanks to Dean Leisgang (CESA 8) for his help with video work (dleisgang@cesa8.org)
"Smile while talking to someone on the phone." Christopher Zahn, Talent and Acquisition Manager (Manitou Americas)
"The average person spends 145 minutes on social media a day roughly putting us at 2 hours and 7 minutes daily. Some unique research that I found is that 99% use a tablet or smartphone to connect to social media. The most common app for teens is Tiktok. 30/42 teens surveyed would rather text than call." Excerpt from Sociology student paper written in December 2023
"Out of 42 respondents, 45.2% (19 respondents) of them agreed that they feel anxious when they don’t hear from other people." Statistic from Sociology student survey about co-dependency and technology (December 2023)
"I really enjoyed just simply talking to them. It made me realize how much people, especially teens, rely on social media now. We never really have face to face conversations unless we are at school, and it was a nice change to talk to someone about how they grew up." Sophomore student after interviewing Senior Citizen from Aging and Disability Resource Center program (October 2023)
Authors' Club
Students researched writing as a communication tool. Data was collected on Student, Regional, and Alumni writers.
Eric Nehm (2008 Grad)
Author of Bucks Book, Bucks Beat Writer
Authors
Nite Crier
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2016 Nite Crier photo
The School Newspaper has been around since 1930's and had other titles (the Cardinal Beacon, the Owl Esquire, etc)
2023 Student Paper
Forensics
*Slinger HS Forensics has been around since 1939. In 1939, they competed in two tournaments with only 2 categories in the first tournament and 4 categories in the second tournament according to HS annuals. There are 18 categories today.
*Sociology research sample (2023-2024)
ASL Club
The Slinger School District staff leads a Sign Language Club with the help of High School Student leaders
Sociology student paper
Casa Guadalupe Education Center
"The executive director, Maria, described Casa as a 'home' and a board member said she's met many amazing people through Casa; seeing the growth of those they interact with has been life-changing for both of them." Slinger Sociology student reflecting after site visit
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Casa Guadalupe website
"With the help of volunteers at Casa, these children who need help have scores that sky rocket versus those who don't get help. Communication with these young children even for just twenty minutes greatly impact them academically." Slinger Sociology student reflecting after site visit
The Hub
"I feel as though it brings me a sense of worth and unity being a part of something bigger than me. I have made new friendships and turned frowns into smiles, and it brings me so much joy to make a positive difference in someone else's day or just put a smile on someone's face. I love the Hub!!" Sociology survey participant when asked if The Hub helped one with connections
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"I have met so many people in the community that I would have never had the opportunity to work with if I hadn't come to the Hub. I have heard many stories about how this web of connection between nonprofits and the community center bridges a gap and connects people." Survey participant in Sociology student research at The Hub
The Hub website
Volunteer Center of Wash. County website
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Learning about Communications
“Our original numbers were 141-F3, 1 41-F5, or 1411-F2. If they wanted to call my dad’s business, the operator would plug in to 1-41-F3, then the operator would take the line and plug it into 141-F3……the three would stand for 3 short rings. 141-F5 were 5 short rings. We had as many as 16 people on a party line.” Oral HST interviewee (ADRC)
1958 Phonebook
"Social listening is important for us on Social Media. It helps us understand our audience." Makenna Erickson, Marketing, Slinger Alum
"Thank you so much for being able to talk to our class about ESPN Milwaukee. It was so interesting, and I learned a lot! I really liked how passionate you were about what you do and how you enjoy bringing the community together. (I didn’t realize how much planning and time hosts spent on planning their content, stories, etc). " Slinger Sociology student reflecting on radio station visit
"Websites, social media, LinkedIn, pitch articles, blogs, newsletters....I'm crafting messages to partners It could take several years to build a relationship with a company. I may share general information about what water stewardship is and then we bring in a sales team to work with them some more and that may lead to a phone call. A huge part is networking." Stacey Vogel Davis, the Water Council Communication Director
"I think you have to be willing to think of new ways to create content. That may be a job at a PR firm or advertising or a job in television or writing. There are so many different ways to communicate with people. It could be Tik Tok, short form, long form. You just have to be able to communicate in interesting ways." Eric Nehm, Bucks Beat Writer, Slinger Alum
Typing
Newspaper
Hmong
Art
Morse Code
Chat GPT
Communication
Coding
Music
German
Spanish
Costa Rica
English
Manitou Americas
"I learned the importance of having to know how different cultures work in order to be able to work with other countries. The Americans that work for Manitou had to learn how to work with the French and vice versa." Sociology student after visiting Manitou
"Manitou Americas won West Bend Chamber of Commerce community award in 2022. They discussed community interactions with Habitat for Humanity, the Do Good Bus, and more." Sociology student after visiting Manitou
ADRC
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Slinger History Students interviewed members of the Aging and Disablity Resource Center about what they remember about tv, radio, newspaper, postal service, and communication growing up.
"I first tried a type writer in high school. You had to push hard to get it to work. Then if you made a mistake you had to take the paper out and start over." ADRC Interviewee reflecting on typing
Social CAPITAL
"I have met so many people in the community that I would have never had the opportunity to work with if I hadn't come to the Hub" Quote from Sociology student survey of volunteers at The Hub
"I learned from ESPN Milwaukee they want their station and shows to be immersed in the community and they enjoy connecting with listeners." Quote from Sociology student after site visit to ESPN MKE
Slinger MUSEUM
I’m a paragraph. Double click me or click Edit Text, it's easy.
Slinger History Students helped communicate local skiing and raceway stories by helping narrarate for new Slinger Museum Kiosks in 2023-2024
"This was an awesome opportunity. I had a lot of fun doing it! Thank you so much!" History student who helped with narration for kiosk
FIRE
Several history students visited the Venerable Fire Museum to learn more about Fire Communication during the Fall Semester. Students created a video short to showcase Milwaukee Call Boxes in the early 1900s.
AVIATION
The video short above was created by Sociology students. One of the students was learning to become a pilot and discussed communication.
Sociology student papers (2023-2024)
PHONE
The history students asked questions to family members and community members about telephone history.
Excerpts from student papers and research
Honours, Inc. and Start-Up Communciation
Robert Schoenke, Original Board Member
"I think face to face interactions, especially with the amount of money you were looking to ask for, work best. I'm kind of old school and I believe in face to face anyway, but with the dollars we are asking for, it's so important to talk to them directly. You don't want that to be a phone call."
"Dick Nowicki was the elementary principal. He and I talked about finding something for our top students to get scholarships. He helped me with one of my main (administrator) goals: to start a scholarship fund for some of our top students. I give Dick Nowicki a lot of credit for helping get an organization going to get kids scholarship money."
Joe Wikrent, Original Board Member
Nancy Schilling-Genz, Original Board Member
"Slinger students were not getting scholarships like our neighbors in West Bend. 'Columns' was successful because in many ways they had many industries in West Bend. Our students' parents were working in those industries but they were not eligible for those scholarships. Being a teacher and working with students who I knew were college bound students, I wanted to help them out."
Frank Gundrum, Original Board Member
"The Elementary School Principal and I, Dick Nowicki, discussed ways to get some publicity and get Honours name out in the community. We thought we'd try a fundraising run. Those were popular in the 1980s and so we put a fundraising run/walk together in 1986."
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Hank Karius (1st Year Recipient)
"That first year, I had a $1000 scholarship awarded over 4 years so $250 a year. Now that may not seem much, but back then my tuition at UW was $595 a semester. $250 would cover a sizable chunk for a year. When you think the tuition was probably less than $2,000."
Joan Ziegler (Early Board Member)
"In the beginning you needed a lot of teamwork. I came from the outside. I needed the support from people who had lived here and the education system. Joe Wikrent, and Ron Rueckle, and then Bob Schoenke had the bank. We all worked together. Business contacts and the education side of it. We contacted everyone. We tried to be inclusive of everyone."
John Kreilkamp (Helped Lead 1988 Fundraiser)
"My advice for communicating with others for raising money? You have to get out there and talk to people. And you have to be honest."