MONROE — When Cara Carper and Monroe High School started the LAUNCH program, the aim was to mix classroom education and real-world experience. Juniors and seniors would get project-based learning skills, collaborating with local businesses to solve problems and gain helpful skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, time management and leadership that could better prepare them for a career outside of high school.

The success of the program is clear as day: Students across the school are opting into the program — as are local businesses.

On Friday, Dec. 15, the school held its end of the trimester presentations for each of its 15 projects within four “strands”. A “strand” is a topic in which a group project is centered. Strands include Business Analytics, Media Solution, Skilled Building Trades and Behavioral Health.

“I am so proud of these students,” said Cara Carper, MHS LAUNCH Coordinator. “When they were giving their presentations, they would refer to their customer as ‘we’. Like, they worked for Colony (Brands), or they worked for Land Conservation. They are that invested that it’s ‘we.’”

Most of the projects involved just 3-4 students, but the Skilled Building Trades was a collaborative effort. That project is in collaboration with a slew of local businesses and organizations, like Green County Development Corp. (GCDC), SSM Health Monroe and Blackhawk Technical College. In all 17 students are tasked with renovating a house to be turned into a short-term rental. 

During their presentation, the students told their guests about different aspects of the project, and skills they learned along the way, as well as memorable experiences thus far, like removing an old 600-pound oil tank for home heating from the basement.

Demolition inside the home includes a new bathroom and kitchen. The renovated kitchen was designed by MHS student Preston Krauss.

“In class we all drew a different layout, and they ended up choosing mine,” he said. “Mine was a little different to start, because originally I wanted an island in the middle. I based it off the kitchen at my house. Eventually when we went to the house, I noticed it would be a bit crammed with it,” so he made adjustments, which was the deciding factor. 

Demolition finished much quicker than was expected. In fact, the entire project is ahead of schedule, a testament to the determination of those involved.

“They did 80% of the demolition in less than one hour,” Carper said. “They are amazing. And again, they are so dedicated to the project that they refer to it as ‘their house.’”

Otte was equally impressed by the speed at which the students were reaching their goals.

“The kids are working a lot faster than we thought they would, which is great. They’re taking ownership of it,” said Olivia Otte, GCDC Executive Director. “Now there is more projects we can accomplish with this house than we originally thought, which is awesome.”

Otte and her staff are in charge of financing the project. 

“From the GCDC standpoint, our role is to make sure they have the funding and everything they need to keep the projects going, but to also start planning for next year. We want to just keep it rolling and keep it sustainable,” Otte said.

She said the response has been “super positive” so far, and “by far the most popular” of all the programs GCDC is assisting with.

“People just love it. It’s gotten to the point where people are now just reaching out to us. They just heard about it from word of mouth and are just super excited about it and want to help out in different ways,” Otte said. “It’s just been really cool to see the community really rally around this program.”

She said anyone interested in helping in any way can simply reach out to her office at 608-328-9452, or go to the GCDC website or Facebook page.

“Whether it’s monetary donations, or even to talk with the students about their experience working in the trades, why it’s rewarding and why they believe in it, we’re all ears and willing to make that happen as well,” Otte said.

She also complimented the advisors, teachers Chuck Lynch (Tech Ed) and Braden Rindy (Math), for their work guiding the students. It’s the first time the school or GCDC have tried a project like this, which has been compared in the past to the former Capstone program the high school offered for decades.

“I’m excited because we (GCDC) get to do the back-office work and hopefully keep this program running, not only for the school, but this is the kid’s project, it’s the kid’s program, and that’s what we wanted to see. The kids really take ownership of it.”

The program has had such a buzz around it, that Otte is in the early stages of working with other Green County schools to expand the idea to outside of just Monroe.

“We are in the early conversation phases of meeting with other school districts in the county,” Otte said. “We’re trying to figure out, ‘if Monroe students are working in the afternoon next year, for example, can the Monticello students work in the morning, and what would that look like?’ It’s still in the early conversations, but those are being had, and we’re really excited. It’s my goal to make this county-wide. The more kids we can get exposed to the trades and show them how many awesome opportunities there are here the better.”

The first phase of the project was through a Home Construction Cooperative, to demo and renovate a house. The next project is site work and concrete construction. The group already learned some of these skills at a UW-Platteville construction fair put on by CG Schmidt earlier this past fall. The final project is building in-house construction labs. 

“They are getting confident. They are in the classroom and learning, or they are at the house, or maybe they are working with a contractor at the house and looking over somebody’s shoulder to see how something is done,” Carper said. “They are seeing what contractors do. They are seeing what an electricians does, and maybe they are thinking ‘that’s what I want to do,’ or maybe ‘that’s not what I want to do.’ They are seeing all parts of the construction process, which is really valuable.”

Other student strands at the school involved creating a GIS layer of priority farms with the Green County Land and Water Conservation Department, Colony Brands review of 2023 social media post data, Better Brodhead database update, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Green County Social Media Boost and recruitment, Stateline Vision Center social media campaign, Equine Empowerment media solutions, Molinaro Dairy Queen marketing calendars, and a slew of behavioral; health projects with Better Brodhead.

Carper said every trimester the LAUNCH students will change teams, which means this week the dynamics are changing for each student once again.

“All of those team dynamics have to happen again, starting on a new project,” Carper said. “It’s just constant learning, and it’s helping the community, too — community organizations and businesses. It’s very beneficial.”

MONROE — Students in the Monroe High School Behavioral Health Strand organized a mental health summit to coincide with the end of trimester LAUNCH presentations on Dec. 15.

The showcase brought dozens of area organizations and behavior health providers into the Auxiliary Gym. 

“Those students organized every single part of that,” said Cara Carper, MHS LAUNCH Coordinator. “They did the follow-ups with exhibitors who were coming, they figured out the food, where the tables were going to be, they made call upon call upon call. As adults, we plan big events like this, and you don’t realize all the little pieces, and now they understand how much planning an event like this takes, and they did a great job.”

The students worked alongside Better Brodhead, a non-profit, through much of the trimester. 

At the showcase, the students were grouped by threes, and each with a station regarding facts and information they learned about behavioral and mental health over the first trimester. Each group presented their findings and showed off their individual projects. 

Abe Colin, Abbey Matley and Anna Polnow worked on behalf of Better Brodhead to create TikToks with visuals and statistics to educate and inform teens. Matley said she was particularly disturbed to find out that, statistically, about 1-in-5 high school students uses illegal substances while in school. 

Chloe Fry, Christina Grenzow and Melanie Westgard conducted radio interviews and ads through Big Radio to provide and promote resources from Better Brodhead to help those who struggle with substance abuse. 

Likewise, Jadyn Elgin, Ava Waefler and Kierra Zahradka hosted a podcast through Better Brodhead that aims to educate and inform people about substance misuse and eating disorders. Their table also had “Fatal Vision” goggles, which distort one’s vision to simulate being under the influence of heavy drugs or alcohol.

Other tables included information on spotting behavior in others that might signal abuse or depression, online resources and training to help others, and information on a harm-reduction vending machine.

Better Brodhead was one of dozens of area organizations and behavioral health providers in attendance, with a station of their own on the far side of the gym. 

Better Brodhead has been helping families and individuals in the community for a decade now, and in 2016 received its first major grant.

The local chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) had a table with UW Extension. Other tables were helmed by Green County Public Health, SSM Health Medical Group, Monroe Police Department, Green County Behavioral Health/Treatment Court, Mental Health Matters of Green County, Blackhawk Technical College, Green Haven Family Advocates, Equine Empowerment/Country View Equestrian Center, Green County Sexual Assault Recovery Program (SARP), Miramont Behavioral Health  Hospital of Middleton, and Monroe High School and Middle School counselors.