Featured Stories
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Forged Early
When Logan Nikolai was 13, he pulled on a welding helmet for the first time. The bead he laid that day on a metal door at the Kids Kart Club shop in Neenah wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to spark something lasting. Inspired by his grandfather, he had spent years helping build go‑karts, fixing
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Building a Strong Foundation
Caedence Porrey always knew she wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree. She just wasn’t sure where to start. “When I first started looking at schools, I realized how expensive it can get,” she says. “Then I learned that I could take all my general education courses at Fox Valley Technical College and transfer them to
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Learning While Earning: Apprenticeship Powers Ag Career
You won’t find Jeffrey Wiley sitting behind a desk. “I always have to be doing something,” Jeffrey says. “I can’t sit still. If I’m not working with my hands, I start to get anxious.” His current project is his farmhouse in Berlin, Wisconsin, which he’s remodeling (next up: flooring) and figuring out along the way.
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Kyle Radmer Finds His Footing and Future at FVTC
Before Kyle Radmer started as a full-time student at Fox Valley Technical College, he was already working to calm the nerves that come with starting something new. The summer before his first semester at FVTC, he enrolled in two courses; not to get ahead, but to adjust to college life. It was not the first
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Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Officer Margarita Velasco
Margarita Velasco grew up in Fond du Lac and chose to build her life and career there. After starting in finance, Margarita returned to school to pursue her dream of becoming a police officer. At FVTC, she earned an associate degree in Criminal Justice and immediately entered the FVTC Law Enforcement Recruit Academy, sponsored by
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Scholarships Help Jasmine Jackson Turn Caregiving into a Career
Jasmine Jackson’s path to becoming a nurse began long before she stepped into a classroom. Growing up in Chicago, she became a caregiver at an early age when she helped her ailing grandmother with such things as meals and laundry. “I’ve always been a caretaker,” she shares. “It just comes naturally; I want to make
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Faculty Spotlight: Q&A with Ben Fouts
Ben Fouts was running his own home construction company when an FVTC job posting kept catching his eye. He finally decided to go for it and now, two years later, is a full-time faculty member in the Residential Building Construction program. And while he loved having his own business, he’s found that working with students
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E-Seed Express™ Sparks an A-mazing Idea
Twenty years ago, Joey Reader was organizing employee appreciation events from inside a corporate HR office. Today, she is the president and founder of A-mazing Events, a full-service event management company in Kimberly, WI, specializing in corporate and nonprofit gatherings. Joey’s background in human resources gave her first-hand experience in planning everything from holiday parties
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FVTC Foundation Scholarships Turn Possibilities into Reality
The Fox Valley Technical College Foundation is celebrating another season of impact—one that is making a meaningful difference for hundreds of students who recently started their spring 2026 semester. Following the Fall 2025 application cycle, the FVTC Foundation awarded $378,195 in scholarship support to 460 students, selected from nearly 930 applicants. For many recipients, an
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FOCUS MAGAZINE: 2025 EDITION
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Growing Together: How an FVTC Apprenticeship Helped Brynn Drexler Find Her Calling
When Brynn Drexler walks into the toddler room at Fox Valley Technical College’s Parent Child Center, a dozen tiny faces light up. As an Assistant Teacher, she spends her days with one-year-olds eager to learn, play and grow. “I love watching them grow every single day,” she says. “Seeing them pick up something new—it’s amazing
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The Alum Behind the Flavor at Lambeau Field
Gage Dawiedczyk didn’t set out to become a chef. At 14, he started out washing dishes at a local Appleton diner, just hoping to make a bit of spending money. But a few years later, a chaotic Friday morning changed everything. When two cooks walked out during the breakfast rush, the kitchen manager turned to
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Five Decades of Fire Protection Training
When Dave McFadden came to Fox Valley Technical College in 1974, he did not know he was about to spend the next 50-plus years helping shape one of the most respected fire protection programs in the Midwest. At the time, FVTC’s fire protection training was just getting started, “We had almost nothing,” Dave explains. “We
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Reborn in Tech
With the support of his family, the FVTC Clintonville Regional Center and his instructors, Gary Crawford not only earned his high school diploma, but he is also pursuing an IT career and is already employed in his field while he finishes his degree.
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Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Madelyn Sonn
To address a workforce gap, Fox Valley Technical College launched a Surgical Technology associate degree program in the fall of 2022. When the first class graduated in the spring of 2024, Madelyn Sonn was proud to be a part of this historic moment. Less than one year in the workforce, Madelyn is a huge contributor to
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Easing the Toolbox Price Tag
It’s all about the tools. As an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics student, Kaiza Shepard will master more than 100 tools essential for inspecting and maintaining aircraft. “With tooling, you have to be super precise,” Kaiza offers. “We have tools that are calibrated at least yearly. We have tools called micrometers that are so specific that
