Students Help Build Disc Golf Course (WI)

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100510/MAN0101/5100390/1984/MANnews

Students helping build disc golf course
CATO — Students from five school districts are getting some work experience outside the classroom, and their efforts will benefit anyone who enjoys disc golf.


The project, organized by the Manitowoc County Transition Advisory Committee, involves about six-dozen high school students from Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Valders, Reedsville and Brillion. They are helping to construct a disc golf course at Lower Cato Falls Park, located along Manitowoc County JJ about eight miles west of Manitowoc.

Grand opening of the 18-hole course is set for June 13, according to Tracie Wurm, school psychologist and director of special education at Valders High School and a member of the transition committee. The MCTAC is a group of representatives from the county's six school districts and from community agencies. It works to help students with disabilities transition from high school to the work force or postsecondary education.

The students are "very excited" about the disc golf course project, according to Wurm.

She said the participants are students who face challenges in the classroom, such as learning disabilities, but "out there they don't have any challenges."

The students love to work with their hands, and the project is giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment, according to Wurm.

For the Valders students, working on the golf course is just one part of a class that seeks to help them transition to life after school, according to teacher Sue Strieter. Her students learn about employment skills, such as attendance and punctuality, and practice interviewing skills. They also undertook projects related to the disc golf course: making brochures, soliciting sponsorships and designing T-shirts.

"They're getting ready for moving into the adult world and the job corps," Strieter said.

Building the disc golf course is teaching the participants "soft skills" needed in the work world. Those include cooperation, teamwork, following directions and seeing a project through from beginning to end, Wurm said.

Going to the park to work on the course is a high point for the students, according to Strieter.


"Coming out here and working is definitely something that they look forward to and that they enjoy doing," she said as 14 Valders students spent a warm, sunny school day at the park. It was their second on-site workday.

"I like this better than school," said 17-year-old Blaec Zahn, a junior at Valders, who was staining benches. He said he also has helped clear the fairway by removing rocks and brush.

A contest was held among the students to design a new logo for the disc golf course, and Zahn submitted the winning entry. He took a photo of the falls, and using graphics, he inserted a picture of a disc basket in front of the falls.

Hayley Murray, 16, is the only girl from Valders involved with the project.

"She keeps all of the guys in line," Strieter joked, and Murray agreed.

Murray said being in nature makes her not afraid of who she is, and she has found it easy to work in groups on the project.

"I used to never like to work in groups, and it's gotten me above that," she said.

Murray said her communication skills have improved, and she's not getting into arguments like she used to.

Jake Pieschel, 18, a senior at Reedsville, said he likes manual labor. He "can't break a sweat in class," he said.

Pieschel said he is anxious — both excited and a little nervous — to see how the disc golf course comes out. He said it will be nice to say he had a part in it.

"It'll make me feel kind of proud," he said.