Richland School District Update

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Our Thursday morning show today puts the spotlight on the Richland school district joining us as director of marketing and communications.

Carrie Stoltz are you having a neat summer vacation?

Are

you?

Well, it's not much of a vacation for me.

I'm in the office for the whole summer.

Um, a bunch of us in the district office are, and then all the principals are in building and their secretaries are all in building throughout the summer.

And it is amazing what has to happen through the summer.

Um, you know, you do get a little bit of a breath.

there once the kids are out of the building and teachers have gone after our kind of end of year breakfast with them and recognizing our retirees and that kind of thing.

So there is a breath that happens but really quickly it comes back into getting ready for the next year and I mean handbooks and registration and then we have open enrollment like happening throughout the summer and so there really is

No, no lack of work to do over the

summer.

Well, the halls are quieter.

Well, you would think.

There's some stuff in the halls because we have instruction going on obviously.

And right now our great custodial and maintenance crews are working on like waxing the floors and getting all of that done.

And so yesterday we had some big equipment outside our doors and just kind of rattling the place a little bit.

And every once in a while you'll hear a floor waxer go by.

So yes, let's.

less children's voices in the hallway, but definitely no lack of activity.

Sure.

But progress, maybe you can give us an update on how is the construction going around the school?

It's going really well.

It seems like every day you come in and you see something new happening.

And the private school just had some little projects outside with like

curbing and that kind of stuff at their parking lot.

The intermediate is having some kind of major stuff done, the air conditioning there.

And then I see most at the high school because I'm there, but high school is having some bathroom renovations.

And then the parking lot is obviously a very visual, you know, everybody can see that one.

What's going on there?

We had some recent changes to that.

So we did have the

the parking lot that's kind of the athletics parking lot, the parking lot A. So they started ripping that up yesterday because the newer parking lot kind of down by the auditorium is now open.

So people, if they have business with the district office or the high school office, they can come in off of Hive Drive and then pull into that, the parking lot.

The bus lane is definitely closed.

That one's got some work to needed, work needed.

But the parking lot is black topped and has the

the parking lot lines down and looks nice and new and is ready for people to park on.

So when you say the auditorium parking, that's done.

Has that been resurfaced then?

It's

done.

Yeah.

It's

got yellow lines all over

it.

It is kind of a new configuration right now.

If you're, if you're popping in, you won't, you know, have to contend with other too many other cars in the lot, but that will be a change for our staff and our kids and that when they come in, just to kind of make sure they're following those lines, but.

happily you can see them now.

So you'll know where your car should be.

Okay.

And then today is another summer food distribution day.

Is anything changing for today's distribution?

Not today.

Nothing will change.

You can still, should still come off of highway 14 and then kind of access through the back of the school to get to those food service doors.

You will see that the construction equipment is closer to you now that it has been because that lot A is getting ripped up, but it is still the same.

process for this week and we anticipate next week.

After that, the hope, the plan is that it will move back to the bus lane where it has been in years past.

So this week, no change.

Everybody should come in the way they have been coming.

We anticipate next week will be the same, but.

If anybody has done construction on their house, you know that that can change in an instant.

We'll communicate, um, out through our social channels and maybe an email if we need to, if we feel like we really need to let people know, but we're guessing for the next two weeks, it will still be status quo.

And then we'll be back to the bus lane as we have been in years past.

Speaking of the summer food, uh, we were talking before on the air, I'm blown away at the number of families that you're serving.

Yeah.

And it is a great program.

Um, it really is super helpful.

Um,

It's not just need-based, obviously, so anyone in the district can do it, but we are serving over 10,000 meals every week.

So there's seven breakfasts, seven lunch, and so 14 in a meal pack.

And yeah, we have, I think it was over 800 students who are signed up for the program.

So it is just a massive amount of food that comes through that building.

every day every week and we can't say thank you enough to our food service staff who really just um they just dig in and they're all you know if you come to the building any other day like when they're doing packing and stuff like that I think they start on maybe Tuesday kind of getting that done the gals are

They're so fun and they're so full of joy and they're so happy to be doing this work.

It is like a little assembly line they've got kind of going to get these things packed up and just cannot say enough good things about the gals who are working with us and really making this program work.

I mean they're the workers behind the scenes who are really...

making it get done.

Can you imagine if you went to the store and you bought those at, you know, whatever they're selling for in the store, how costly that would

be?

It would be so much.

And it is like, I mean, yeah, it's, it is, can be really challenging to feed a family and do it.

And you're trying to be healthy.

You're trying to put things together.

You're trying to be innovative.

You're trying to do different things.

And so this is just, it's such a great, you know,

great thing for our families and it is it's unique things like we had corn in the cob the other day and like things that maybe I mean kids have probably had that before but there are some new and interesting things in there every week it seems like there's always fresh fruit or vegetables that the kids are you know getting to enjoy usually something fun I mean I will

call out Dairyland Transportation.

They did a big donation to us for last week with the biscuits and the cinnamon rolls.

So that was super fun.

And it really has become a community builder.

Our community sees the school district doing this thing and really kind of serving a need.

And we're so lucky to be the facilitator to kind of like make these things happen and make those connections happen and really make it work.

It is one of the few things that came out of COVID because really this started because of COVID, didn't it?

I mean, that's how I remember it.

That was my kind of first year knowing about any sort of program like this.

And it was delivered to your house if people remember this.

And so the school buses would come around and you had coolers at the end of your driveway that they would put these meal packages in.

I mean, my kids were little at the time, and so it was kind of a fun thing that they were looking forward to, like that the food service guys were coming.

And yeah, the program has grown exponentially since then.

Thankfully, we're not delivering anymore, because that's another cost with transportation and gas prices, what they are now.

So we've been able to make it a pickup program instead and do a week at a time.

But yeah, it's the first time I remember really seeing these programs.

get out to the masses and what, you know, there was very little good to come from that, but how good that we are able to support our kids in this way and support our families and yeah, make a difference hopefully in the lives of our kids over the summer.

in your line of work and mine as well.

We're always looking ahead.

Not wishing time away, but you have to.

And we're not that far from super registration for the next year.

We are not.

August 11th, if people want to get that on their calendars.

So August 11th will be super registration.

It is one to seven.

The plan is that we will have food trucks out there.

Online registration will open

a week-ish before so families can do kind of a lot of the pre-registrations that they need.

We'll have Justin's there with taking photos and get your school pictures done and make sure your kid is looking looking their best before they go and get their photo taken.

We'll have some community partners there who are coming into

to just showcase what they have going on.

I think in the past, the Republic Library has been there.

Simon's, the Richland Hospital, some other community partners, Cobuston is always there to help.

Kind of people talk about busing if they have concerns that

way.

All the schools will be there.

They'll have tables set out.

So if you wanna talk to your principal or meet your principal, if you're new to the district or something like that, you can come and meet everybody.

We'll get you registered.

If you're having trouble getting on to online registration or you're having trouble accessing Skyward or the tools that you need, we'll have a bank of computers there ready to go.

And hopefully we'll just have a great day for you.

You mentioned Justin's, I had this flashback.

Do people still order class rings and letter jackets?

They do.

Okay, I didn't know

that.

Yeah, it's actually really funny that you had mentioned that.

So we had another day and I'm kind of scooping myself here, but we had one of our custodians.

We're having to move some lockers and things like that that don't always get moved just because new furniture coming in and deep cleaning and all that.

And one of our custodians moved.

a bank of lockers, I think, and heard a little clink and having to see what it was.

And it was a school ring from 20 years ago that has been lost.

20

years

ago?

Yes.

Wow.

Did you solve the mystery

on this?

We did.

I do not have the names or any of the details in front of me because this just happened.

But 20 year old class ring and called the gallon.

I think she's going to come and get it.

And so we're hoping to get a picture of this missing class ring that has been gone is 2007 was the class.

And so yeah, really neat story just to find this after 20 years and who knows how long it would have been gone.

Have we not kind of jostled these things around?

So yeah, it was a really cool story.

That is a cool story.

Oh my goodness, yeah.

So we'll be sharing that one before too long here.

But yeah, I mean, it's super neat to see just this kind of time capsule of history of what the trends were back then.

And they haven't changed all that much.

The classrooms still look pretty similar.

Pretty much the

same.

Yeah.

Well, that's good to know.

School supplies, I'm guessing families are going to start wanting to know what to buy, what they need to get.

They are.

So yeah, school supply lists will be coming out very shortly.

The primary school, they're not on the website yet.

So if anybody looks now, they will see last year's.

And there are a couple changes this year.

So those will be coming out very soon.

Walmart will have our school supply list as soon as they kind of have them and get a chance to print them.

So families can be looking for that and maybe taking advantage of any shop

that you're gonna do early.

So there will be those will come out and there we will have back to school night.

I think it's August 27th.

And so that's when families can bring school supplies and that kind of thing too.

And another chance to get in the buildings past super registration.

Super registration is just kind of that main gym area open.

And as I'm saying that I'm hoping that we're out of instruction phase and people have places to park and all that.

which is that main kind of portion so the rest of the buildings aren't open and super registration is all at the high school so regardless if you have kids at primary or intermediate it's all at the high school.

Okay.

That's good to know.

Right.

So yeah, you don't get that chance to go see your room and get to your desk and things like that with super registration.

Correct.

Yep.

That one is, is just about enrolling and registration and getting your picture taken and, um, hoping, I mean, enjoying the day as well.

So, but not a personal, um, experience really with your room that happens on back to school night, which will happen right before the school year starts.

In the past, you've kind of done a little bit of a carnival, some food trucks and things like that.

Yeah, that's the

plan again.

So we're making calls out to some of the trucks and seeing who we can get there and should be a good time.

We're planning to do, last year we did tokens for all of our kids who were registered and we're planning to do that again.

So kids can maybe get a treat or something fun at the food trucks to enjoy after they get their pictures taken.

We don't need any chocolate ice

cream on the white

shirts or anything like that.

So it will be a treat for after.

What about summer school?

You still have classes going on there as

well?

We do.

So the high school did some credit recovery earlier in the summer.

So they had some kids coming in who just wanted to make sure they were up to date on credits before the year started.

And then we just started on Monday at the primary school.

So we have K through six.

summer school happening, Homer went and gave some high fives and welcomed some kids to summer school.

They are going this week and next week there's two sessions, so the next session will start kind of after that.

And it'll take them kind of probably all the way up to super registration about.

So really great to get some kids back in the classroom and it is a really great time to work on specific skills in a smaller environment.

We have some great teachers who are willing to help that program and

get some learning over the summer and avoid that summer slide.

And it was open to all of our students.

I don't quite know the numbers of how many we had there, but I'm wonderful to see.

And there's some fun activities that happen.

I know in the past, Heidi Meyer has gotten the little robots out so kids can kind of work on coding with computers.

There's all sorts of things that we're not even thought of when I was in school.

And yet the kids are just, it's something they can play with.

Yeah, really a neat time for them.

No doubt.

So that's coming up, making the summer go a little bit faster for some of those students as well, right?

What about hiring?

Any openings in the district?

We do have a couple.

So those are always on the district website.

So if someone is interested in joining us and becoming a Hornet with our team, definitely check the district website.

There is a link.

Get involved and then employment and it's under hiring.

Specifically, I think we have some special ed.

teachers and aid openings that are posted right now.

There will be some new staff coming in and we're gonna start kind of featuring our staff that was hired over the school year.

It doesn't, it seems like, you know, there's really this hiring.

thing that happens for schools right before the school year happens.

But actually we have people that have come on board with us all year.

So we'll start celebrating some of them on our social pages soon.

And then we'll have a big push as we welcome our new teachers and other staff members in at the beginning of the year.

I know there was a little bit of a waiting list for the partner school and some of those other things.

Have those all been determined?

Which students are going where this

year?

We are still

Yes and no, so we're still open.

We're still accepting people who have interest forms or something like that out It will determine space partner is kind of runs on a morning and afternoon schedule sometimes and because the kids are out in the community at certain times Once they kind of determine who's gonna be where they can decide if they have more space or not for those programs on hive is still accepting applications for kids that's online and so

We have to be careful not to overwork our teachers and make sure that they have the capacity to serve as many students as they can.

But as of right now, there's still room in those programs and they are happy to support them.

Robin and Amanda are absolutely wonderful.

And we were here a few weeks ago and just can't say enough good things about all the all dead programs that are going on in the district.

And I will mention.

Open enrollment is switched to alternative open enrollment or switch from alternative open enrollment.

Don't know which July 1st, but if you're looking to join the district, you are always welcome.

We would always love to hear from you.

You can call any of the buildings, call the district office, and we will be happy to get you set up with the paperwork that you need and then welcome you at super registration.

So that's always a great time.

Seems like we have a couple families come in.

every year who say, you know, we're here, we're ready to go.

And that's great.

And anytime, join us anytime.

This is maybe a question for Steve.

Steve Bord will be in with us next week, but in terms of anything different in terms of the campus properties and the gym there and some of the buildings you can utilize there.

Moving along.

So we've been able to utilize the gym for a while, which is really an asset to us.

I know the volleyball team had practice in there the other day because we were doing flooring in the

the actual gym dead week just got over.

So we had no practices, no anything for a week in there.

That was the WIA requires that we do that.

So we utilize that time to take care of some maintenance in the gym and those kind of things.

But so the volleyball team was actually using the campus gym the other day and there have been activities happening there all throughout.

It's been wonderful to be able to have that that access.

But we are not quite over the finish line with getting all the

the eyes dotted and T's crossed, but it's common.

Every week, Steve's like, I was hoping this week would be the announcement.

Well, I was hoping this week would be the announcement.

So it's getting really close and it will be great to have those spaces.

The partner school specifically is really looking forward to utilizing, there's kind of a.

Oh, like a couple garages down there that they can utilize for kind of doing some more maintenance work, auto work, those kind of classes and really having that space for them.

Plus the gym is wonderful.

And then we will start utilizing Melville Hall as well.

So yeah, it's coming.

It's exciting.

And I think about the gym.

I mean, how great that you can utilize that, a space that is so close to the school too.

Yeah.

And I mean, it's been great for the community too.

It's really a dual purpose space.

I mean, the pickleball clubs have been in there recently and we were able to have Get Real in there this last year.

So it really is a great asset to us to have that gym space facility there.

And hopefully the community feels like a good utilization of the space.

Good.

Well, it sounds like things are moving.

You've got a lot of things going on.

Anything else that you want to add here?

I will just throw in a couple more reminders for Super Registration August 11th.

Get that on the calendars.

Now, it's open house style.

So one to seven, you can come in any time.

You don't have to be there at any specific time.

The food service.

same status quo for today, even though it looks like maybe you shouldn't be going that way.

You can.

There are signs up that will direct you.

That will be changing at some point.

And then it will also put in a plug for homecoming.

It

seems like

it is so far away, but we're 99 days from the parade right now and the applications or the signups

for having to float in the parade are there, and you can access them.

There was a Facebook post that went out just the other day.

They're at all of the buildings.

The kids have a QR code that they've made.

The Homecoming Parade Committee for Student Council is really on it.

They've been meeting all summer, so they really have been working away and trying to be as prepared as they can be for the parade this year.

It seems impossible, but that is only 99 days away.

How is that

possible?

It'll be here

before we know it.

It is.

We had a visitor from a student council member yesterday, and they're making plans.

I mean, they're right on top of it, aren't they?

They

really are, and they really have been quite religious about meeting.

I think it's over two weeks they've been meeting throughout the summer and really are ready to go.

And homecoming is even later this year, so they could have maybe.

put it off but just a pinch but no they are the students are on it they're really they're really wonderful to watch and I mean we're so proud of all of our students but these guys are really on the ball

yes yes we have parade entry forms here at the studios if somebody needs to stop by they can pick one up

yes and it's Hornets in Paradise is the um the theme for this year so uh perhaps some beaches or I don't know what your personal paradise is maybe a radio station

yeah yeah there you go

that's paradise for you

with with homecoming being

later, you know, the thought of, uh, you know, swimsuits and things like that on floats.

I don't know.

It may not work, but you never know.

You can always put a bodysuit underneath.

Cause

it's October, 16, 16, 17,

whatever.

One of the

latest, you know,

is very

late.

Yeah.

And there are some people that are happy, maybe some are disappointed, but we don't have two parades in one week.

And I think really, personally, I think that's a good thing because you kind of spread it out a little bit, right?

Yeah,

it's a lot for the band because we have our bands and

obviously

both of them.

And they are also preparing like halftime stuff.

So yeah, they get destroyed into the stick when they've got two in the same week, especially if it's hot.

That's the worst.

So yeah, so homecoming will be coming right up and encouraging.

I'll just put a plug in, I guess.

If you are listening to this and you have classmates or friends who would consider coming back for homing, coming, please encourage them to.

It is a really great.

time in the district, we really enjoy the time.

At the high school, there is just an energy that you cannot contain.

And there are old classics, you know, the truck stuff.

I didn't even know it was a thing before I moved here, but it's a tradition and great talents we see from our kids every year.

And the parade is awesome.

You see alumni classes and civic groups and all the kids activities and the community really comes out and supports.

And so if you've ever thought about coming back around,

or have kids or classmates that you think might be interested in coming back.

It is really a great weekend and our kids have put in a lot of work to make it make it special already and then that will just continue as the year goes on.

Well that's what it's all about.

Homecoming is supposed to be about the alumni coming back and hopefully they will and I know you always name your outstanding alumni and everyone.

We do.

Yeah I don't have

those yet.

I don't think those have been decided so we'll have even more announcements to come.

Good deal.

Thanks for coming in today, Kerry.

Thanks so much, Phil.

You bet.

Kerry Stoltz joining us, director of marketing and communications with the Richland School District.

The End

On the morning show today, we're talking about a great opportunity for small businesses.

She's been our guest before.

Nora Rowan Schmidt is in the studio with us to talk about this upcoming thing.

Nora, first of all, maybe you can talk about what you do and who you represent.

Sure, of course.

Oh, it's so exciting to be here.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, Phil.

It's always good to see you.

Good to see you.

So I am a business consultant with the Small Business Development Center of Wisconsin.

So we offer free and confidential business consulting services to anyone in Southwest Wisconsin.

That's my role is six counties in the Southwest that also covers Richland County and Richland Center.

And there are services to be had for small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the state.

I think if you're a small business or even if you're thinking about a small business,

Pays to check out because there are a lot of things available that they may not know about, right?

Oh, absolutely.

As I said, the services are free and confidential.

We hear from so many folks that they're paying consultants for different things.

LLC formation, for example, is really common using online services that charge fairly hefty fees.

And we offer all of the support for folks creating their own LLCs online with our support free of charge.

So please, if you're an entrepreneur and you're thinking about starting a business or if you're a current business owner on Main Street and you've got some questions,

of farm business, whatever it may be, please be in touch with us, WisconsinSBDC.org.

That's great that there's money available.

You just will take advantage of it, right?

Oh, absolutely.

You know, anytime that services are free for businesses, it's, it's a no brainer, um, particularly education and, and business consulting services.

Today, the focus is on AI and that, uh, probably scares off a little people, a few people when you mentioned it, doesn't it?

I think it does.

You know, AI is something that it's, it's here for many folks.

Um, you know, there are so many teens and young

people that are using AI every day.

I think we could all learn a tremendous amount from them.

I think there's a lot of confusion about AI.

It can be a real resource for businesses.

It can be a time saver.

It can assist with drafting an email or even creating a schedule.

So there are some things that can be really, really valuable.

And you want to kind of get that point across.

You have some meeting schedule for parts of our area coming up, don't you?

We do.

So we have some really sophisticated AI.

training sessions that are coming.

And when I say sophisticated, it's because we've got a professional consultant.

His name is Michael Brown.

He's an expert in many different things, AI.

And thanks to a USDA grant and a partnership with Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning, who is really the energy and enthusiasm and funding behind all of these wonderful sessions, Michael is going to be doing a variety of sessions in the Southwest, one specifically in Richland.

Center coming up on July 13th.

These sessions are going to be an opportunity for people to have a hands-on experience with AI with a professional.

So Michael is going to be able to guide participants through different methods of using AI, different problem-solving strategies, and also to kind of highlight and demonstrate how different AI services work.

I think the fact of the matter is AI is here.

We need to embrace it and kind of learn about it, don't we?

Well, I think, you know, I'm not so sure if we have to, but I think it may prove to be advantageous for many businesses to give it a try and see what happens.

Could you tell us a little bit about Michael, a little bit more about him?

Well, Michael is a wonderful person.

I met him a year or so ago and he has a, not only is he tremendous as far as just human being status, but he's also really dedicated to helping other people learn as much as they can about AI and figuring out ways that AI can truly benefit the work that they're doing in their businesses.

He's incredibly knowledgeable.

So this is a real rare opportunity for Richland Center and other

counties in the Southwest to have his expertise.

Great.

Well, we'll give him a call.

We'll be back with more on the morning show in just a moment.

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Michael Brown joins us by phone.

We're talking about this upcoming opportunity for small businesses in five Southwest Wisconsin County.

So Michael, good morning.

Thanks for joining us today

Good morning.

Thank you for having me.

Let's talk a little bit about rise above and what you're involved in

Yes, so rise above partners is my consultancy over here in Verroqua.

I run a

A few different operations over here.

I'm a single person operation and I am invested heavily in AI.

I use AI to build some of my own products and I also use it to help small businesses make the most of what they've got so they can experience some strong growth without having to output major capital.

So what are the things, some of the things you talk about, Michael, because to some using AI, that might even be like swearing.

I mean, how do you convince

them?

It does feel like a mixed and rather divisive word these days.

I feel like I've got a pretty good handle here on how to thread the needle of ethics and responsibility and then also practical use because I

At the end of the day, I really think people don't want to be stuck doing the busy work.

They don't want to have to read through all the fine print to understand language that they may never use again.

They don't want to have to sort through mountains of information.

And AI is really, really great at making quick work of stuff that used to take a long period of time.

Well this day and age too Michael, where everybody's having trouble staffing.

This can be your assistant many times, can it?

Yes it can, yes it can.

Everything from drafting emails to sorting receipts to making sense of contracts or even identifying new opportunities.

So in other words you're going to try to convince people that they should be using AI.

In certain instances, yes.

I'm still one who believes in understanding the work.

I don't want to see anybody say,

i'm just gonna hand everything over to a i and i don't ever have to understand anything uh... that's that's not uh... that's not the right way to go about it uh... they i think they'll make mistakes and see still need to be a uh... domain expert you didn't even really know what you're talking about uh... but it can be can really help you accelerate uh... the things that you used to do uh... in any given day given week

when you're uh... talking to small businesses you talk about potential risks

Yes, we definitely talk about the risks.

Whenever you sign up for one of these accounts, there's always these caveats that say AI can make mistakes.

And there's a fun term in the AI world called hallucinations, which is really just mistakes.

And so you can use AI to, again, make a quick work of something that used to take a long time, but you've still got to be the proofreader.

You still need to know what you're talking about.

You can't hand the keys over and put it into full self-driving mode.

Nora anything you want to add you've been listening to our conversation here

Oh, I think you know what Michael is saying is is spot-on and I think you know his approach to AI is one of the reasons that I think he's you know such an outstanding person to lead these sessions in the Southwest I think Coming at it from not only just sort of an educational perspective, but also just a really understanding

what some of the potential challenges can be with it and being respectful of a variety of opinions on the subject.

Indeed.

Anything you want to comment on, Michael?

No, I just want to kind of elaborate a little bit more.

I know that there's a lot of talk about what AI can and can't do.

And I firmly believe that it should not be replacing people, but it can certainly be used to help evaluate opportunities and help a business grow in a smart way.

The last thing I want to see is for someone to jump into

a new venture within their business and then that new venture put their main business at Jeopardy and NAI exists to help us all kind of evaluate and make sense of things and take little risks here and there without putting our, without putting our main business at stake.

You know, I look about technology and, you know, just having heard of AI just not that long ago, it seems like, how things have changed.

How do you keep ahead of technology and some things for the future, Michael?

That's a great question.

Everybody asked that.

I actually do use AI to stay on top of AI.

I have research engines that I've built for myself.

I listen to podcasts, but my main objective in doing these things is to filter back and try to get to trusted sources so I can separate the noise from the real true signals.

So I pretty much go to sleep every night thinking I've either finally got caught up or gotten a little bit farther ahead, further ahead, and then I wake up in the morning and say to myself, look how far behind I am.

Well, the first session is coming up on Monday, July 13th here at the Richland Center Community Center.

I want to get people to make people aware of that.

Who should come to the session?

Who would you suggest if someone is maybe just thinking about a startup?

Is that a good place to start as well?

A startup is a great idea.

An established business.

that is looking at themselves and saying, I want to grow, but I don't have time to grow.

AI is going to be a great way to figure out how to automate some of your processes, some of your day-to-day, so that you can focus on where you need to go next.

So startups, small to medium-sized businesses, whether that's owners, operators, department heads, there is an opportunity for everyone to learn something.

And you're going to be doing similar presentations at some other area, places across our listening area in the coming days and months too, aren't you?

Yes, we are.

Yes, we are.

We have, uh, I believe six more sessions, uh, plus a virtual for a total of eight and two of those are actually in Spanish.

Oh, okay.

So how do the sessions work?

Do you, do you sit down with individuals or, uh, how do you present it, Michael?

It is an interactive seminar and requesting people bring their laptops preferably.

Phones can work, but the screens are super small and asking some or getting help on anything on a phone can be difficult.

So laptops in hand, a lot of questions and answer, presentation of key and core materials so that we're not teaching about any one specific

tool or how to implement or create one specific thing.

I'm mainly interested in helping people understand how these tools work so that they're equipped with the right information and knowledge so that as the tools evolve they can kind of keep pace with it rather than learning one thing and then a month later it's obsolete.

So what kind of computer skills do you need somebody that's pretty proficient or somebody like me that asked my kindergarten granddaughter for help?

You know the absolute best part about these what are called large language models is that really the only thing you need to be able to do is get on the web and type.

LLMs are really conversational and you know people refer to these sessions as chats.

If you don't know something when you're chatting the LLM is going to respond to you like a person and help you figure out your next steps.

So really all you need is the laptop, internet access, and the ability to type some words.

How should people register for the event?

That's a great question.

That is a great question.

We have registration on through Zoho, but Nora, you know specifically the

the landing page here, correct?

Sure.

So we have a couple of different options.

The Southwest Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Facebook page and Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Facebook pages both have links to registration.

Wisconsinspdc.org.

If you go to that website, click on education and then classes.

They will all show up there.

And I believe Phil, you had mentioned that some of this

will be available on your Facebook page.

It will.

People can find it there and along with our audio as well.

So it's coming up.

Michael, anything else you want to add about it here today?

I guess the only thing I really wanted to add was to make sure that people knew the dates and the times.

July 13th in Ritzland Center.

July 20th in Dodgeville.

July 27th in Plattsville.

August 6th is the virtual Zoom.

and August 10th is in Monroe, August 17th is in Darlington.

And I would guess that these things can be held maybe regularly because as we mentioned, new technology comes in, new businesses and new business ideas come around quite often too, Michael.

Yes, yes, and I have offered a handful of these classes in the past, one through the Food Enterprise Center with Sue Noble and the Vernon Economic Development Association.

And I look forward to offering one of those again in the fall.

I also offer, you know, bespoke one-on-one sessions to individuals if they're interested in doing more hands-on, one-to-one learning.

Sure.

Yeah, how can people contact you or reach out to you, Michael?

My website, riseabove, R-I-S-E hyphen above.net is the best way to get in touch with me.

I've got a number of forms there.

I've got some free resources.

I run a weekly newsletter.

keeping people up to date on the latest in AI and through the lens of a small business owner or someone who isn't in the tool day to day.

All right, we hope a lot of people will sign up for the upcoming event on Monday, July 13th.

Thanks for joining us, Michael.

Yeah, thank you, Phillip.

I appreciate it.

You bet.

Michael Brown joining us and we'll

keep Nora here just for a little bit as well.

Nora, some things that you want to add.

There are some other opportunities coming up in the near future, right?

Sure.

So there's a really fantastic resource that's available right now for small businesses.

And it does expire in 2027.

It's in the fall in 2027.

So there is some time, but I want to be sure that your listeners and people in the region are aware of this.

So it's called the State

small business credit initiative or SSBCI.

And what this is, is if you're a business who is actively seeking capital, so that means you're looking for a loan, you're looking for grants, you're exploring funding from investors, whatever that looks like, you are eligible for free legal services, free accounting services, so that means financial projections or meeting with a professional accountant who can assist you.

QuickBooks set up, or in some cases, we do meet with some folks whose QuickBooks was set up incorrectly many years ago, a QuickBooks redo, which is not that uncommon either.

All of these services are available in English and in Spanish, and they are free.

So if you need any of those services, legal, accounting, bookkeeping of any sort, QuickBooks,

And if you are a Main Street business, you know, an entrepreneur operating out of your home, a farmer, a restaurant, we are here to help you.

One of the things that's really nice with SSBCI, it works so well with the services of the Small Business Development Center.

They complement each other so beautifully.

In the case of the State Small Business Credit Initiative, we are also able to work with nonprofits, which is something that is not part of the SBBCI.

PDC's mission.

So usually we don't work with nonprofits.

So these services are available to entrepreneurs, farmers, nonprofits.

Please take advantage of these while we have these resources.

This is federally funded and state funded.

For farmers, as far as maybe becoming an LLC or what are some ways you can help them?

You know, perhaps some of the legal services could be in, you know, contracting.

It could be, you know, forming an LLC, it could

would be partnership agreements.

We see so many people who are entering into partnerships without official agreements with their LLC, which can be very problematic.

Some of the legal services also can involve different regulations or things that farms or restaurants or small businesses need to be aware of, some support with taxes.

So all of those things on the legal side as well as the

accounting and financial.

It's just incredibly valuable.

So I really encourage everybody in the region to take advantage of these services.

If you're forming a business or you've got an idea or you're sorry, but whatever, a lot of times margins are pretty slim.

If

you can get some things done for free, that kind of helps something else, right?

That's right.

Absolutely.

And it's, it's such a rare opportunity that services of, of this caliber are available for free.

and it's specifically directed at rural communities and all of us in the Southwest, even the larger areas are considered rural.

So this is a...

just an awesome, awesome way to get things moving.

If you're looking for SBA funds, any kind of loan from a traditional bank, or if you're, you know, applying for a local revolving loan fund or a grant of some sort.

We've helped some really wonderful nonprofits and businesses move forward with state grants and some other things because of these services.

Yeah, you could save somebody several hundred dollars, especially as we mentioned,

an LLC, if you get it for free, that would be a really great thing.

That's right, exactly.

And so, you know, for the folks that are in the six counties that I serve with the SBDC, in addition to these SSBCI services, I'll be able to work with all of them as well on different, you know, updates to business planning, whatever it might be.

So, you know, please take advantage of these services.

It's fun for me being a Richland County resident myself to be able to work.

with some of the folks in Richland County and Richland Center, as well as everybody in the entire territory.

But please reach out, I'd love to hear from you.

You cover a lot of ground, don't you?

Yep, six counties.

So it's two and a half hours between one end and the other.

So it's quite a bit of territory, but it's such a beautiful drive.

So it's never a burden.

We talked about the things coming up in the next month or so.

Are there some other things as we close out 2026, like in the fall that you're looking forward

to?

Yeah, there's some big things.

I appreciate you asking that and I'll definitely have to come back because we have some interesting stuff going on.

On August 27th in Verroqua, we're having another one of our small business clinics and those are the full day of free consulting and lecture style sessions to help businesses.

So if you are interested in attending that, we do have some information on our website so you can go to the wisconsinspdc.org.

You know, not only do we feed you and caffeinate you throughout the day, but you're going to get an opportunity to meet other businesses looking for legal accounting, marketing, AI services.

And we're doing two tracks in Viroqua, which is going to be really special.

We're working with the Food Finance Institute, who are some colleagues of mine.

So we'll be doing a farm food-based business track and then just, you know, a standard small business and entrepreneur, the lecture style.

sessions are going to be really, really great.

Um, we've got some legal folks, the department of revenue is coming.

Um, it's not to be missed.

And of course it's free of charge.

So marker calendars, take the day off if you need to and come and join us.

I'm impressed by, uh, people thinking outside the box and diversifying their, their farms and agriculture.

We've had some of them on this program, but, uh, there are so many neat, outstanding ideas, you know, uh, farm to table kind of businesses and things like that, uh, really.

popping up, it seems like all the time, Nora.

Yeah.

Well, our region has some of the highest concentration of organic and also family farms in the nation.

So why not maximize on our strengths, right?

You bet.

So again, AI is the topic of that session coming up on Monday at the Richland Center Community Center, 830 to 11.

And we hope that a lot of people will sign up for that.

Yep.

Oh, absolutely.

And I will be there also.

So if you have questions about anything else related to the Small Business Development Center, to any

anything that we've talked about today, please join us and take part in these really valuable sessions, but I will be at all of these sessions as well just in case you have any other questions.

And I'm always here to support, so you can find me online, WisconsinSBDC.org.

My direct line is 608-262-2994.

Wonderful.

Always good to see you.

It's always good to see you.

We need to do this more often.

Absolutely.

Anytime.

Have a good rest of your summer

too.

Yep, you too.

Thank you so much.

Nora

Rowland Schmidt joining us here on this portion of The Morning Show.

The End

On the morning show today, we're talking about a great opportunity for small businesses.

She's been our guest before.

Nora Rowan Schmidt is in the studio with us to talk about this upcoming thing.

Nora, first of all, maybe you can talk about what you do and who you represent.

Sure, of course.

Oh, it's so exciting to be here.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, Phil.

It's always good to see you.

Good to see you.

So I am a business consultant with the Small Business Development Center of Wisconsin.

So we offer free and confidential business consulting services to anyone in Southwest Wisconsin.

That's my role is six counties in the Southwest that also covers Richland County and Richland Center.

And there are services to be had for small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the state.

I think if you're a small business or even if you're thinking about a small business,

Pays to check out because there are a lot of things available that they may not know about,

right?

Oh, absolutely.

As I said, the services are free and confidential.

We hear from so many folks that they're paying consultants for different things.

LLC formation, for example, is really common using online services that charge fairly hefty fees.

And we offer all of the support for folks creating their own LLCs online with our support free of charge.

So please, if you're an entrepreneur and you're thinking about starting a business or if you're a current business owner on Main Street and you've got some questions,

of farm business, whatever it may be, please be in touch with us, WisconsinSBDC.org.

That's great that there's money available.

You just will take advantage of it, right?

Oh, absolutely.

You know, anytime that services are free for businesses, it's, it's a no brainer, um, particularly education and, and business consulting services.

Today, the focus is on AI and that, uh, probably scares off a little people, a few people when you mentioned it, doesn't it?

I think it does.

You know, AI is something that it's, it's here for many folks.

Um, you know, there are so many teens and young

people that are using AI every day.

I think we could all learn a tremendous amount from them.

I think there's a lot of confusion about AI.

It can be a real resource for businesses.

It can be a time saver.

It can assist with drafting an email or even creating a schedule.

So there are some things that can be really, really valuable.

And you want to kind of get that point across.

You have some meeting schedule for parts of our area coming up, don't you?

We do.

So we have some really sophisticated AI.

training sessions that are coming.

And when I say sophisticated, it's because we've got a professional consultant.

His name is Michael Brown.

He's an expert in many different things, AI.

And thanks to a USDA grant and a partnership with Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning, who is really the energy and enthusiasm and funding behind all of these wonderful sessions, Michael is going to be doing a variety of sessions in the Southwest, one specifically in Richland.

Center coming up on July 13th.

These sessions are going to be an opportunity for people to have a hands-on experience with AI with a professional.

So Michael is going to be able to guide participants through different methods of using AI, different problem-solving strategies, and also to kind of highlight and demonstrate how different AI services work.

I think the fact of the matter is AI is here.

We need to embrace it and kind of learn about it, don't we?

Well, I think, you know, I'm not so sure if we have to, but I think it may prove to be advantageous for many businesses to give it a try and see what happens.

Could you tell us a little bit about Michael, a little bit more about him?

Well, Michael is a wonderful person.

I met him a year or so ago and he has a, not only is he tremendous as far as just human being status, but he's also really dedicated to helping other people learn as much as they can about AI and figuring out ways that AI can truly benefit the work that they're doing in their businesses.

He's incredibly knowledgeable.

So this is a real rare opportunity for Richland Center and other

counties in the Southwest to have his expertise.

Great.

Well, we'll give him a call.

We'll be back with more on the morning show in just a moment.

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Michael Brown joins us by phone.

We're talking about this upcoming opportunity for small businesses in five Southwest Wisconsin County.

So Michael, good morning.

Thanks for joining us today

Good morning.

Thank you for having me.

Let's talk a little bit about rise above and what you're involved

in Yes, so rise above partners is my consultancy over here in Verroqua.

I run a

A few different operations over here.

I'm a single person operation and I am invested heavily in AI.

I use AI to build some of my own products and I also use it to help small businesses make the most of what they've got so they can experience some strong growth without having to output major capital.

So what are the things, some of the things you talk about, Michael, because to some using AI, that might even be like swearing.

I mean, how do you convince them?

It does feel like a mixed and rather divisive word these days.

I feel like I've got a pretty good handle here on how to thread the needle of ethics and responsibility and then also practical use because I

At the end of the day, I really think people don't want to be stuck doing the busy work.

They don't want to have to read through all the fine print to understand language that they may never use again.

They don't want to have to sort through mountains of information.

And AI is really, really great at making quick work of stuff that used to take a long period of time.

Well this day and age too Michael, where everybody's having trouble staffing.

This can be your assistant many times, can it?

Yes it can, yes it can.

Everything from drafting emails to sorting receipts to making sense of contracts or even identifying new opportunities.

So in other words you're going to try to convince people that they should be using AI.

In certain instances, yes.

I'm still one who believes in understanding the work.

I don't want to see anybody say,

i'm just gonna hand everything over to a i and i don't ever have to understand anything uh... that's that's not uh... that's not the right way to go about it uh... they i think they'll make mistakes and see still need to be a uh... domain expert you didn't even really know what you're talking about uh... but it can be can really help you accelerate uh... the things that you used to do uh... in any given day given week

when you're uh... talking to small businesses you talk about potential risks

Yes, we definitely talk about the risks.

Whenever you sign up for one of these accounts, there's always these caveats that say AI can make mistakes.

And there's a fun term in the AI world called hallucinations, which is really just mistakes.

And so you can use AI to, again, make a quick work of something that used to take a long time, but you've still got to be the proofreader.

You still need to know what you're talking about.

You can't hand the keys over and put it into full self-driving mode.

Nora anything you want to add you've been listening to our conversation here

Oh, I think you know what Michael is saying is is spot-on and I think you know his approach to AI is one of the reasons that I think he's you know such an outstanding person to lead these sessions in the Southwest I think Coming at it from not only just sort of an educational perspective, but also just a really understanding

what some of the potential challenges can be with it and being respectful of a variety of opinions on the subject.

Indeed.

Anything you want to comment on, Michael?

No, I just want to kind of elaborate a little bit more.

I know that there's a lot of talk about what AI can and can't do.

And I firmly believe that it should not be replacing people, but it can certainly be used to help evaluate opportunities and help a business grow in a smart way.

The last thing I want to see is for someone to jump into

a new venture within their business and then that new venture put their main business at Jeopardy and NAI exists to help us all kind of evaluate and make sense of things and take little risks here and there without putting our, without putting our main business at stake.

You know, I look about technology and, you know, just having heard of AI just not that long ago, it seems like, how things have changed.

How do you keep ahead of technology and some things for the future, Michael?

That's a great question.

Everybody asked that.

I actually do use AI to stay on top of AI.

I have research engines that I've built for myself.

I listen to podcasts, but my main objective in doing these things is to filter back and try to get to trusted sources so I can separate the noise from the real true signals.

So I pretty much go to sleep every night thinking I've either finally got caught up or gotten a little bit farther ahead, further ahead, and then I wake up in the morning and say to myself, look how far behind I am.

Well, the first session is coming up on Monday, July 13th here at the Richland Center Community Center.

I want to get people to make people aware of that.

Who should come to the session?

Who would you suggest if someone is maybe just thinking about a startup?

Is that a good place to start as well?

A startup is a great idea.

An established business.

that is looking at themselves and saying, I want to grow, but I don't have time to grow.

AI is going to be a great way to figure out how to automate some of your processes, some of your day-to-day, so that you can focus on where you need to go next.

So startups, small to medium-sized businesses, whether that's owners, operators, department heads, there is an opportunity for everyone to learn something.

And you're going to be doing similar presentations at some other area, places across our listening area in the coming days and months too, aren't you?

Yes, we are.

Yes, we are.

We have, uh, I believe six more sessions, uh, plus a virtual for a total of eight and two of those are actually in Spanish.

Oh, okay.

So how do the sessions work?

Do you, do you sit down with individuals or, uh, how do you present it, Michael?

It is an interactive seminar and requesting people bring their laptops preferably.

Phones can work, but the screens are super small and asking some or getting help on anything on a phone can be difficult.

So laptops in hand, a lot of questions and answer, presentation of key and core materials so that we're not teaching about any one specific

tool or how to implement or create one specific thing.

I'm mainly interested in helping people understand how these tools work so that they're equipped with the right information and knowledge so that as the tools evolve they can kind of keep pace with it rather than learning one thing and then a month later it's obsolete.

So what kind of computer skills do you need somebody that's pretty proficient or somebody like me that asked my kindergarten granddaughter for help?

You know the absolute best part about these what are called large language models is that really the only thing you need to be able to do is get on the web and type.

LLMs are really conversational and you know people refer to these sessions as chats.

If you don't know something when you're chatting the LLM is going to respond to you like a person and help you figure out your next steps.

So really all you need is the laptop, internet access, and the ability to type some words.

How should people register for the event?

That's a great question.

That is a great question.

We have registration on through Zoho, but Nora, you know specifically the

the landing page here, correct?

Sure.

So we have a couple of different options.

The Southwest Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Facebook page and Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Facebook pages both have links to registration.

Wisconsinspdc.org.

If you go to that website, click on education and then classes.

They will all show up there.

And I believe Phil, you had mentioned that some of this

will be available on your Facebook page.

It will.

People can find it there and along with our audio as well.

So it's coming up.

Michael, anything else you want to add about it here today?

I guess the only thing I really wanted to add was to make sure that people knew the dates and the times.

July 13th in Ritzland Center.

July 20th in Dodgeville.

July 27th in Plattsville.

August 6th is the virtual Zoom.

and August 10th is in Monroe, August 17th is in Darlington.

And I would guess that these things can be held maybe regularly because as we mentioned, new technology comes in, new businesses and new business ideas come around quite often too, Michael.

Yes, yes, and I have offered a handful of these classes in the past, one through the Food Enterprise Center with Sue Noble and the Vernon Economic Development Association.

And I look forward to offering one of those again in the fall.

I also offer, you know, bespoke one-on-one sessions to individuals if they're interested in doing more hands-on, one-to-one learning.