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I'm the guy to go to if you need help with tires.
That's who I am as well.
But we have a great show for you today.
It is Friday.
The weekend is already here.
I am joined by my cohort, my co-conspirator, my partner in crime, Mr. Calvin Butenhof.
Calvin, good morning.
How are you, friend?
I'm doing good, Greg.
It's Friday.
How are you?
I mean, you can't get away from that.
It is, in fact, Friday.
I do feel like...
This week flew by.
We did have two short weeks last week.
It was two day weeks, which is kind of amazing, but we're back full week.
We're here at Friday already.
And it's a star studded, jam packed, amazing show for everyone involved at 9 30.
After that 9 30 news, we're going to be speaking to president Layla Maryfield.
She is the president of the Wisconsin technical college system to talk about a press release.
They just put out regarding the public.
attitude towards trade schools, towards technical schools, and how they are growing in popularity.
Earlier this week, we spoke with Miranda Dunlap from the Wisconsin Watch about an article she wrote, pointing out specifically the Appleton Technical Academy, or ATEC.
what they are doing for students, high school students in that area.
And today we're going to speak with President Maryfield about the Wisconsin technical system, technical school system on the whole and why it's something worth looking at.
Absolutely.
As you may know, I've talked about this many times.
I am...
a graduate of a technical school.
I graduated from Milwaukee area technical college with an apprenticeship in barbering.
So I know that world well and I'm an advocate and I cannot wait to talk to her about all the great things our tech schools are doing here in the state.
And then after the top of the hour news at 1006, we're talking to Rachel Bernard who is the dining critic at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
We're gonna be talking about her job, what she's writing about, her big picks for 2025.
She also writes articles where she talks about hidden gems in the area.
And I just want to know what it's like to be a dining critic.
You know, I feel like there is a version of that we see on TV and in movies.
It's stuffy and it's, you know, very hoity-toity.
And from her articles, I don't get that sense at all.
So I want to talk more about what she's seen in the area for dining, what we're missing out, and also just the job in general.
And then of course, 1035, we've got the audio sorbet where we take a step back.
We have some fun with it.
We talk about what's going on in the world.
And today it's 2026.
It's the first full week of the new year.
And I would love to know from you, what are those things you still want to get done, you know?
And they're not like, these aren't like resolutions.
If you want to talk about them, you absolutely can.
I'm talking about like those things that do, like you said, all right, I got a couple of days off last week, new year.
I'm going to, you know,
clean the garage or I'm gonna, you know, take down the lights or whatever, you know, that things to do list.
What are you still trying to do?
Cause I was talking to Calvin before the show and I have today things to do list.
I want to knock out because this is, this is basically a plug also for me tonight.
I will be on nightlight with Pete Schwabba at 535.
So I'm going to stay around the Racine area cause we are currently broadcasting from radio park.
in Racine, and I will be coming back for that interview later on this evening.
If you want to catch it, check it out, find us, listen to us live on the radio, or you can listen to us by streaming us on the live stream.
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We're having a little problem with the Facebook livestream right now.
We're working on that this moment.
But you can find us there.
Usually having ourselves a good old time.
But also if you can't listen on terrestrial radio, you can do that by downloading the Civic Media app.
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See what I did there?
Pons are still here.
Download the free Civic Media app, get it on your device, and that way you can stream the show tonight.
535.
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More information to come down the road on that, but great show.
I'll be on nightlight at 535 tonight, but we would love to hear from you about the things to do, the chores, the errands that you haven't quite gotten to yet when you were off for New Year's.
Now at your back, maybe it's time for the weekend.
You're like, all right, I'm going to knock them out.
I want to hear from you.
Then finally, this shouldn't be a thing.
We'll be closing out the show with that as well, but.
Lots of great programming ahead for you this morning.
And we thank you as always for your time.
I want to start with something that we've talked about, not just on this show, but all over the network, all over the state, not just us, other papers, other outlets.
We're talking about data centers.
And before we get into it, I want to ask you a question.
Where do you stand on this?
Do you just, I mean, there are people out there who are like, I don't want data centers at all.
There are people out there who say, we want more information.
We need more regulation.
We need to be part of the conversation.
Transparency is part of that discussion point as always because they have popped up.
They're not going anywhere, unfortunately.
If that's how you feel, there are dozens of them here in Wisconsin.
There are thousands of them across the country.
And we're seeing now, with that popularity,
comes new opportunities to help protect the the community and We spoke a couple weeks ago with state senator Jody have a syndicant about a bill She was talking about but right now I want to discuss a bill that has come down the pike from two Republicans Republican Shannon Zimmerman and Senator State Senator Romain Quinn and this one here is to look at
how the effects of building these data centers will put a possible undue burden of cost onto the communities in which they are located.
So we discuss the water usage.
We've discussed the power usage.
We've discussed the fact that, you know, you will see maybe, and most likely your energy and your utility bills go up because these data centers use a vast amount of energy and especially water.
And this bill here from the the states from the state senator and the representative look to curb that or at least protect the communities from undue cost or.
consequences of those data centers being built.
And our very own civic media news director, Shali Pittman, had a conversation with one of the co-authors or the author of the Senate version, Senator Romain Quinn.
We've got that audio right now.
Calvin, if you could play that audio really quick for me, I appreciate that.
So yeah, what we want to do is not allow the public service commission.
to allow utilities to pass the cost off onto other customers.
So residential ratepayers should not be subsidizing the infrastructure upgrade requirements for the development of data centers.
We want data centers.
We know it's the future.
We want all sorts of economic development, but we don't want those of us that are already here to have to pay to upfront the cost of that.
So that's the biggest piece of it.
The next piece requires that any renewable energy
built to satisfy that data center must be on the data center site.
I know there's concerns about the proliferation of more and more large-scale utility solar on farmland in Wisconsin, and we don't want data centers to be a driver of that more than it already is.
At least in my opinion, I can't speak for the other author.
And then the other big one we hear a lot is usage of water.
So we're just going to build in the standard practice.
Most data center developments already do this.
but requiring that closed loop system.
So they're recycling the same amount of water as they're cooling their systems down.
So let's just take that concern about water usage right off the table for communities in particular parts of the state.
So those are the three major things.
We just kind of have peace of mind for people as these are coming.
Again, it's still local decisions when it comes to siding and zoning and communities.
But we want to make sure statewide there's just a set of rules that everyone's got to play by so we know the development is done responsibly.
Do you think
bill?
I'm hoping it's bipartisan.
I believe there was a bill introduced a month or two ago with Senator Haberson again and Representative Stroud.
But that was filled with a lot of other things like requiring union labor on development.
And we know a lot of it.
Most of it's going to be union labor because it's going to be really technical in nature.
But we're not there to start putting mandates on how they build these things.
We just want to protect ratepayers, protect the environment, and allow the market to dictate how these are going to come about.
And so I think that's the big difference.
So I guess the Democrats are looking to load it up with other kinds of perks.
We're not interested in that.
We're just interested in taking care of the basics for ratepayers, for the environment.
And not only that, we're also requiring
bonding for reclamation.
So we've done this a lot at Northern Wisconsin with sand mines.
If you want to develop a sand mine, you must have a bond set aside with the county.
to make sure that if you go bankrupt or you close shop and leave town, there's money set aside to bring the property back to its original state.
We're going to require that with data centers too.
If they stop partway through construction or they determine not to be a data center anymore, we want to make sure there's a reclamation bond in place with the local jurisdiction to make sure the land goes back to what it was before there was a data center.
Yeah, we're welcome any input obviously this has to go through the public hearing process It's got to be exact and it's got to get to the floor and I think everyone wants responsible development It's an exciting era.
We're heading into and it's scary.
We just want to make sure we do it the right way
Well, I know representative Shannon Zimmerman works very hard.
He's got a lot of great relationships.
I'm really close friends with the chairman of utilities committee and I'm going to be leaning on him to hopefully help me fast track it through.
Like you said, we are running out of time, but I still think there's time to get this done.
I think there's appetite to get it done.
And I think the public expects us to get it done.
That was news director of civic media, Shaly Pittman speaking to one of the, the author of the Senate version of this bill, Senator Romain Quinn about a bill that would work to protect the communities from undue cost, especially when it comes to energy usage, water usage, as well as that, that reclamation bond.
I think that's very important to talk about too, that if, you know, say, then the data centers don't go through, it doesn't just leave a big empty space or a big unbuilt building.
So
I want to hear more from you on this.
I see Gene and Cindy on the line.
I'm going to take you on the other side of the break.
So please don't hang up.
I'll get to you in a little bit.
We'll talk more about that.
And I'll briefly go over what he was talking about with regard to State Senator Jody Habish-Sinneken's bill, which while he says is loaded up, I don't agree with that personally.
I feel like that's a bit of a loaded statement.
There are some very, I believe, important points to the State Senator Habish-Sinneken's bill that I think also works to protect workers and communities here in Wisconsin.
when it comes to data centers because as we saw this topic in 2025 just blew up completely.
We became really, really aware about this.
There's so many stories coming out every single day on this topic.
And I want to hear from you again.
Gene and Cindy, stick around.
I'll take you on the other side, but don't go anywhere.
We're going to be talking more about data centers here on mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm your host.
Get in touch 8557 5248 4285575 civic.
Stay tuned.
Stay informed.
Stay
close.
welcome back to mid mornings on civic media my name is Greg Bach I am your host your buddy your pal and the guy who if you want to talk about movies I will talk about them with you but you are here right now and we are happy that you are sharing your time with us
Right here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
If you want to get in touch with us, you can always call or text 855-752-4842-855-755.
Civic, leave a comment on that live stream.
We are talking right now about data centers.
I know new and fresh topic, how original, but they are everywhere.
They are popping up everywhere and a new bill that's being hopefully by the author's fast track through the Madison Legislature.
We'll seek to protect communities from undue cost, from a hyper usage of water, as well as what's called a reclamation bond, which means that this community is protected from buildings that might not get built or completed if projects don't go all the way through.
That is coming from representatives Shannon Zimmerman and State Senator Romain Quinn, both Republicans in Republican...
Republicans who work in Madison.
We listened to a little conversation between a Charlie Pittman, who is our news director here at civic media, as well as, as the state Senator Romain Quinn on this.
But before we get to what he referenced as far as the other bill from Democratic leader, state Senator Jody Habers-Sinneken, I want to take a few calls here.
Cindy from Appleton is on the line.
Cindy, thank you so much.
What are you, what are your thoughts on this?
I think I know already, but go ahead, tell me.
Well, let me tell you something.
I am totally opposed to these things and I've always been
and
last night I met a very young couple who moved here from China.
Yeah 10 years ago.
They're both in I was at event at EAA they're into aeronomic aeronomical engineering and they were in there like mid to late 30s and what he told me the young man I'm just gonna paraphrase because we talked about this for about an hour.
Yeah is that in Beijing They do not have to have police officers
On the streets, they have police officers, but they don't do any kind of patrolling
in
Beijing.
They know what everybody is doing every second of every day.
And if somebody does something illegal.
or runs a stop sign or something, AI catches that and the cops either go give you a citation or they come and find you and haul you off to jail.
Okay.
So
that is, that is that, that's the basis of you not wanting these data centers and AI centers.
Okay.
All right.
The basis of more AI centers gives them more opportunity to spy and collect our data.
Gotcha.
And I tell people, be careful what you wish for.
And people say we need to compete.
And we need to keep up with China.
I don't think so.
I don't want our government, especially with the morons in charge right now, knowing what I'm doing every second of every day.
That just damn scares the crap out of me.
Understood, Cindy.
I thank you very much for your call.
I very much appreciate you listening in and getting in touch.
Yeah, I understand your fear.
I understand the trepidation.
There's always that discussion.
It's not just about the actual building of the buildings, but it's what they seek to achieve for the companies that
own these buildings and these high tech pieces of equipment.
So yeah, always part of that conversation, the transparency of it all.
Gene from Eau Claire is also on the line.
Gene, how are you doing?
Happy new year.
I hope you're having a wonderful Friday.
Thank you very much.
You guys are doing a great job.
Thank you.
We're glad to have you.
And I look forward to every day.
And also, don't forget, tomorrow, my lawyer teacher's on at 9 o'clock.
Please don't miss it.
Jim
Santel, Amicus,
a lower view from
9 a.m.
to 11 a.m.
Gene, what show is he on?
You count the shows.
Amicus, a law review.
And I don't remember the number.
I got my notebook full.
Anyway, so I'm going to get off that.
I gotta say, H double toothpick, no.
Anything that affects the environment, I trust Jody Habish-Tinica.
We're in the site where the Galdeng Sandmines, where we had a move.
This stuff is BS, you can't trust, I'm sorry.
Those people that push this through fast, everybody, it will impact your environment.
You've got to pay attention.
You've got to get out and pay attention because these people just writing up these rules.
Yeah, right.
They go bankrupt and you're stuck.
So it's kind of, you know, I'm sorry.
There's a lot more to this than meets the eye.
So please, please, please be cautious and say, Hey.
Let's watch some of the other cities and countries, you know, in other places, and then we'll decide.
Thank you, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on that.
Have a good
weekend.
You as well.
You're always welcome to be here.
We really love hearing from you.
And there's validity in that statement.
And I think one of the things, you know, with regard to this bill from the Republicans is that it does have a reclamation bond in there that does protect the community in case things go awry with the building process.
We, you know, we don't have to look much further than where we're at right now in radio park and the Foxconn deal, which was supposed to be the eighth wonder of the world and golden shovels and thousands of jobs and tons of money.
And here we are kind of at a, you know, we're selling parts of the land off to Microsoft.
So yeah, you're absolutely right, Gene.
We have to be aware of what's going on, be very clear on the transparency of these deals.
And I think the more that our leaders in Madison seek to find trans transparency and protections for us, the better.
You know something that state senator Quinn discussed was the fact he said that it that Joe that
say, state-centered or Habish-Sinicans bill was loaded up, quote unquote.
Things that she wanted, she wanted to make sure that labor union got, were advocated for being the people who built these centers.
They wanted to make sure that they were good jobs, wanted to make sure that we hired local, wanted to make sure that just, you know, certain things are protected and there are conservationist efforts within there as well, protecting the water.
I don't believe that this is, quote, loaded up.
I believe that it seeks to do the same thing as,
the Republican bill just with some, you know, different ideas in there, you know, protecting workers, making sure we're hiring local.
So that in and of itself, I personally have, you know, that that's where I divert a little, but I think that if we can have more leaders leading, protecting our communities, unfortunately, and I don't, I don't think people want to hear this if you don't like data centers, but they're not going anywhere right now.
The question we do want to ask is, will the size
And number of them be this necessary say 10, 15, 20 years and will we be stuck with say 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 buildings that are no longer necessary because they can do it for a fraction of the size and the cost and
We lose jobs.
That's the conversation we still need to be having as well going forward as we talk about this topic, which we will do in the coming days, weeks and months ahead.
But coming up after the news break, I'm speaking to President Layla Maryfield from the Wisconsin Technical College System about a press release they put out, talking about public support for tech schools here in Wisconsin.
But more coming up, mid mornings on civic media.
I'm Greg Bach.
Get in touch.
Stay tuned.
Stay informed.
Stay close.
Welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm your buddy, your pal, your host and the guy you can talk to about all things Star Wars if you'd like.
But we are welcoming you.
We're happy to have you here sharing time with us this morning.
If you want to get in touch with us, be part of the discussion.
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855-757 is the number.
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And if you have a civic media app, you can always call or text as well or leave a voice note.
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Trust me, I have plenty of evidence to that.
But we're going to keep the show rocking and rolling.
Remember, at the top of the next hour, 10-06, we're going to be speaking to Rachel Bernard, who is the dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talking about what it's like to be a dining critic here in Wisconsin, what she is seeing out in the world, the hidden gems, and hopefully some fun stories as well.
That's coming up at 1006 1035 is this shouldn't be a thing.
What are you?
I'm sorry.
Not that's it's audio sorbet.
My mistake.
It's Friday.
I'm already checked out folks.
I'm like a senior in May checked out and done but audio sorbet.
We're asking you what
Didn't you get done on your New Year's to-do list?
Not so much resolutions.
You don't have to talk about that.
But it's like, hey, you had a couple days off for New Year's.
Like I did.
I had a long list and not a thing got done.
So today, I'm hopefully getting that done.
But we like to know about your to-do list, things you want to get finished, or things you want to start at 1035.
And then this shouldn't be a thing wrapping it all up here today.
But I'm very, very excited for our first guest today.
If you don't know me and you weren't listening to a show right at the top I am a graduate of the Milwaukee area technical college in Milwaukee I graduated as an apprentice in barbering and I had a very eye-opening and wonderful experience at that school I'm a huge advocate for that experience and and knowing more about what they have to offer so our next guest our first guest this morning is president Layla Maryfield of the Wisconsin technical
college she's she is the president of the wisconsin technical college system and you are our guest leila good morning how are you today
good morning i'm very well
i'm doing quite well quite well very very excited to have you here i love i could talk about tech schools for hours so uh you know
I want to start right here, you know, there was a press release that came out from the Wisconsin Technical College System about, you know, it was a good press release about support from the community, but I want to start here about being, you know, you're the president, so you are probably its strongest advocate then.
What do you, what do you as the president do in your daily life to work for and about the technical college system here in Wisconsin?
Sure.
Yeah, so the technical college system is an incredibly exciting organization to be a part of.
We have 16 colleges that cover the entire state of Wisconsin.
And a lot of my job involves traveling around to those colleges and visiting with our students, visiting with our community leaders, visiting with employers, and really trying to listen and be as responsive as we possibly can and be in touch with the local communities that are so directly affected by and impacted by these colleges.
I also
spend a lot of time talking with folks like yourself and promoting these colleges, as well as spend quite a lot of time at the national level meeting with colleagues around the country, as well as state and national leaders.
trying to learn more about what other states are doing, trying to steal their best ideas, as well as advocating for the Wisconsin Technical College system, what we feel we are doing right here, and making sure that that is represented in federal policy.
So I get around, I get around.
Layla Maryfield, I get around.
Question for you then, based off of that, because you know, I'm of a certain age, I'm a 48 year old human being on this world, and I grew up in a time
when you know my father didn't graduate high school and in our house it was you're going to college and I understand now where he was coming from it was a I didn't have it you will have it because this is what I work for and I get that but also what we see now and I feel like there's more accepting of is that four-year college of the traditional four-year experience isn't for everyone and for the longest time technical schools vocational schools suffered a stigma of well
They couldn't get into a regular school, so they're going to the tech school.
But that's never how it's been.
Tech schools provide an amazing education.
What do you see as far as attitudes towards it now in 2025, 2026?
Well, we've come a long way and that's been an intentional effort on the part of this office as well as our colleges to really raise our profile and educate the public about what is available at your local technical college.
What you're going to find there is a world-class education and it really spans a wide spectrum of opportunities.
Everything from students who did really well in high school.
are just coming out of high school and they have their mindset on that university experience but they want to save a little bit of money.
Maybe they want to stay home, maybe they need to stay home and help milk the cows in the morning and so they start out at their local technical college, do their first two years and then proceed into one of the
either the universities of Wisconsin or one of our wonderful private colleges and universities around the state of Wisconsin.
So everything from that all the way to very occupational education that's very career focused.
We're getting you technical skills to go directly into a manufacturing facility, go directly into a hospital and be able to work and support your family and do really well right away.
We also do
a ton of contract training that's very specific to whatever our employers need.
Maybe it looks like Six Sigma.
Maybe it's OSHA safety regulations.
We work with around 4,000 employers every year doing that sort of specific training.
We are also a huge presence across Wisconsin's high schools.
So in the changing landscape of high school today,
The Wisconsin Technical College system is providing education to around 68,000 high school students every year, getting them an early start.
on on college and what we have seen is with this intentional effort to talk about this wide span of opportunities that are available to you we've really seen our profile rise with the general public so we we survey everybody in this in this system we like to we like to hear how we're doing so we we survey our graduates we survey our employers but every three years
We also do a public perception survey and survey the general public across Wisconsin in all areas of the state and say, hey, what do you think about your local technical college?
How are we doing?
And this time we really had.
fantastic numbers.
We've seen a clear progression over the last 15 years that we've been doing this survey.
We continue to grow in the public imagination.
But I think in this moment when we're all thinking about affordability, technical colleges are really seeing a rise in the positive attitude toward what we offer.
And we're seeing 76% of Wisconsinites saying that their local technical college really matters to their state and local economy.
in their estimation.
We had a plus 30 net promoter score, which if you if you read a lot of public opinion polling, that's a that's a pretty fantastic number.
I don't know too many institutions or individuals who have that sort of net promoter score.
So we feel as though we're we're staying in touch with our with our communities and delivering for Wisconsinites.
Yeah, I'm looking at the press release.
Now these numbers are amazing.
We're looking at 66% of Wisconsin residents have a favorable favorable opinion.
Wisconsin technical college of the of the tech college system, and that's up.
That's up over temper.
That's 14% rise in just three years.
That in and of itself is amazing and telling to and something I want to reiterate to the folks we I've I've said many, many times for and for those who are just tuning in right now, we're speaking to Layla Maryfield, who is the president of the Wisconsin technical college system about you know.
tech colleges here in Wisconsin, tech high school programs, the perceptions, and the fact that, you know, when I went through my program, there's no guarantee in in the job world.
But what you can guarantee is when you come out with a with like a trade education, that specific kind of training, yeah, there might be a place that we don't have a place for you.
But if I lost my job as a barber, I go to the barber shop across the street and say, I can do this job.
It is skills you don't lose.
It is skills that cannot be exported to another country.
They are and
in the in the in the sense of certain trade programs very well paid programs to that are going to make you a good living that supports a family and hopefully maybe starts your own business someday so there's so much that comes out of tech school and the numbers that you have in this in this this survey here shows it and it's something about like what we're doing now talking about so people can have a conversation with their kid and say hey
I know you like working your hands.
Let's go to the tech school and check things out.
Yeah, absolutely.
You mentioned apprenticeship, which, you know, this year in Wisconsin, we set another record for apprenticeship participation along with our partners at the Department of Workforce Development, as well as the employers who sponsor every apprentice in the state.
So we have thousands and thousands of folks who are pursuing this sort of earn and learn model.
And our most recent apprenticeship completer report found that our apprentices are averaging $90,000 a year
as soon as they get their journey worker card.
That's across all industries.
So you've got everything from bricklaying to steam fitting, electricians, barber, cosmetology.
We're even expanding the apprenticeship model into the field of nursing and teaching.
So it's a growing model, and I think there's a real recognition at the national level, because registered apprenticeship here is a little bit different than what you see at the Department of Labor in terms of their minimum standards.
But that's because here in Wisconsin, we're the best at it.
We've been doing this since 1911.
We know what works.
We have a really solid model, and you're increasingly seeing families choose that as their career pathway.
We had Mark Sommerhauser here from the Wisconsin Policy Forum on
a couple days ago and in their top five reports they released in there was a was a report on apprenticeships and the explosion of apprenticeships here in Wisconsin.
We also spoke to Miranda Dunlap from the Wisconsin Watch talking about ATEC and Appleton and taking high school students and preparing them for the future.
So there is a real investment in time and and and.
the future of these of these kids saying let's get them started now in high school so they have a place to go and they utilize their talents well and I think that I think you said it correctly perfectly is that Wisconsin I think we do we do it the best there's a high high bar for training there's a high bar of expectation and.
you know, one of the things I want to talk about too is something, you know, there was a, there was a, an article in the Wisconsin public radio, I mean, in Wisconsin public radio that said dual enrollment for high schoolers contribute to Wisconsin technical college growth.
And I think that's a great partnership that people don't really think about too, because like for me, I went, I went to a private school.
We didn't have shop.
We didn't have those things.
And I feel like even when I was in high school,
high schools were getting away from those classes, but I feel like they've made they've made a comeback in in high school saying no, we need to keep them rolling so kids can learn and go on and get a job after high school or college.
It's it's absolutely coming back.
There's a real recognition that amongst our our.
school superintendents across the state, as well as across the country, that every high school student should really have some sort of career or college experience prior to graduating high school.
That is what's going to keep high school relevant and exciting for students, keep it challenging for them, keep them engaged, and make sure that they are prepared when they turn 18, when they're ready to walk across that high school stage, that they have a plan for their future.
It's really exciting to see those attitudes changing and that stuff come back.
Well, I love talking about this with you, Layla.
This is a wonderful conversation.
We're going to keep it going on the other side.
We're going to grab some water, grab some snacks.
It's always important folks to say hydrated.
But when we're talking, we're going to talk about an announcement, a really big announcement for the Wisconsin, Wisconsin technical college systems.
And then also, I just want to talk about maybe some of the challenges that you face, changing minds, things like that.
When we come back on the other side, don't go anywhere.
If you have any questions, comments, are you a tech school kid like me?
855-752-4842.
We're listening to MidMornings on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bach.
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We are on YouTube and that, which we still call in this house, the Twitter, but we are speaking with Layla Maryfield, who is the president of the Wisconsin technical college system, discussing the greatness, the awesomeness that is the tech college program experience here in Wisconsin.
A wonderful survey that they put out showing, I mean, these are numbers that politicians would really, really love to have right now in this world.
A strong application for the program.
but also strong support from the Wisconsin community for tech colleges.
And one of the things we discussed, Layla, before we came on air, was the fact that there was an announcement of a grant.
Can you talk more about that?
Yes, just over the holiday break, the Department of Health Services here in Wisconsin was awarded a really large grant from the federal government for a rural health transformation project, which we're pretty excited about the funding for this past last summer.
And we are just now getting to the stages of mapping out what we're going to do here in Wisconsin.
But as part of that grant, the Wisconsin Technical College System is going to see over $60 million in the next five years to really
and invest in our rural communities and our infrastructure for healthcare training, allied health, EMS, paramedic, anything that you can think of, dental programs, anything that you can think of that's gonna affect the health access for two thirds of Wisconsinites live in small towns and rural areas.
We are gonna really lean into the healthcare setting and try to make sure that our rural hospitals stay vibrant and have the workforce that they need.
That's fantastic.
Rural health care access is something we've talked about a lot here on this show with the opportunities for jobs, but also hospital closures and things of that nature.
Clinic closures.
So hopefully this money can be put to good use to get people the training they need to hopefully get maybe the access that other folks need.
And really taking care of rural parts of this state, which as you said, means mostly rural here.
And folks need that.
They need those opportunities.
Laila you spoke about earlier about going out into the world talking to people specifically though your colleagues going finding best practices.
What are the what are the challenges that you and colleagues in your field face from?
I mean, I guess all sides because as we said, tech colleges can face a stigma and that needs demystification that we that you I've been doing anything you have been doing over the years.
What are the challenges that you face?
that you're working on pretty much every day from the outside world who doesn't understand what you do.
Yeah, I mean, I think I think we've got we've got two big big challenges in front of us right now and and within those lie opportunities, right?
One, we are always thinking about resources and how to better resource our programming, how to better serve our communities.
We have at least 85 programs across the state at any given time that have waiting lists have folks waiting to get in
and
we just have limited capacity.
So trying to resource those find funding and advocate with both state and federal lawmakers about
about the importance of investing in those and the return on that investment that our communities will see right away.
So for example, we were fortunate in this past budget to receive funding specific to our emergency medical services programs because we do have waiting lists and capacity challenges in our rural communities especially, but really all over the state.
So that's gonna be a three and a half million dollar ongoing grant to technical colleges to just offer more training as well as a paired three and a half million dollar scholarship.
for students to help cover the tuition for those EMS and paramedic programs.
We're really excited to see some resources there.
I think the other big challenge for us is that higher education is changing.
It's changing rapidly.
We're having some national conversations around how we're gonna credit higher education, what higher education should be and who it's for.
And so really thinking through how to continue to innovate, how to continue to lead Wisconsin forward, what's gonna come next.
and try to look into the future, look around the corner a little bit and say, what are we going to need in five years?
What are we going to need in 10 years?
That's something that myself and the presidents who lead every technical college in the state, we're talking about and actively thinking about, we always want to think about what Wisconsin is going to need from us next.
And so we are prepared and have aligned our resources to meet those needs going forward.
We've only got a couple of minutes left.
So like, I guess 60 seconds there.
sitting around the dinner table with their kids.
They want to have this conversation.
Where do they start?
Where do they go if they want to ask questions about a tech school career for their kid?
I would love for you to come to the WTC yet.
WTC system.edu.
There is a career finder quiz on that website that will assess your students' interests and abilities and let you know what programs are available.
We have over 500 programs across the state.
You can find something that is going to be of interest to your student.
You can see what they're going to earn in terms of a salary, what the job market looks like.
We're very transparent with everything that we do and we're going to find a fantastic guided career path.
that your student can find success.
Anybody can find success on a technical college campus.
I would love for you to come to wtcsystem.edu and check it out.
And that's something too.
I'm glad you said any students.
I went to tech school in my.
God, when did I go?
I was old.
Just kidding.
I was in my late 30s and 40s.
It's a place for all people to find a new future, to find a new career, new opportunity.
So I'm glad you brought that up.
It's not just about the high school kids and the college kids.
It's about anyone who wants to make a change in their life.
A tech school education is always an opportunity and an avenue for you to explore.
So that website, Layla, will be in our show notes today as well as the press release.
So people get an understanding of what is going on with Wisconsin Technical College and be part of it if they want to be.
get, you know, part of the conversation.
But Layla Maryfield is the president of Wisconsin Technical College Systems.
You've been my guest.
I'm very happy to have you here.
If there's anything else you want to talk about down the road, big announcements, come on back.
We'd love to talk about it.
Always want to talk about tech schools.
Layla, have a
wonderful weekend.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for having me.
Excellent.
When we come back with Milwaukee Journal's Sentinel Food Critic or Restaurant Critic, Rachel Bernard will be our guest.
But don't go anywhere.
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