Apr. 18, 2020 Noon
A FAQ video is produced at the end of each week by Kenosha County. Click here for the latest one.
Student Aid: Some area colleges have begun the process of disbursing emergency aid for students. Gateway Technical College has received $1.3 million while UW-Parkside has pulled in $1.9 million. Carthage says it’s still waiting for approval of its application. A Parkside spokesman said Friday that $100,000 had already been disbursed. Both Parkside and Gateway are taking online applications from students who’ve been impacted by COVID-19. The money can be used for food, housing, healthcare, childcare and other education-related expenses. The goal of the program is to try to keep students focused on their studies.
For weeks now, the schools have been teaching courses online, and preparing for the eventual transition back into the classrooms and labs. Gateway, for instance, expects to have trickles of students coming back to complete lab work at the end of the month. Gateway President Bryan Albrecht says social distancing requirements will be observed at all times.
Homeless: The Shalom Center, Kenosha’s only permanent shelter for the homeless, has been at capacity for the past several weeks. Normally that’s not a good thing. But it also means the shelter hasn’t had to worry about new clients arriving who potentially could be infected with COVID-19. Center director Tamarra Coleman says they’ve also undertaken a series of intentional steps to control the spread. Guests are encouraged to stay inside. Beds have been moved further apart. Masks have been provided to clients who do need to venture outside for whatever reason. The nightly soup kitchen only hands out ‘grab and go’ meals.’
Residents who use the Shalom Center’s food pantry no longer enter the building—food is delivered to them beyond the doors. Coleman says the pantry serves on a weekly basis some 350 households. That’s an increase of 15% since the pandemic hit. Food donations are appreciated and can be dropped off Monday through Friday between 8:30 and 3:30.
Online Learning: So how do you teach a hands-on course like welding online? In the COVID-19 era of teaching, Gateway Technical College welding instructor Kyle Worzalla says you do it by being flexible and creative, using the latest technology and harboring an expectation of eventually being able to return with your students to the welding lab. Worzalla is live-streaming from his welding shop at home, meeting with students through Zoom and paying special attention to those students who don’t seem to be as engaged as some of the others. Although things are still a bit up in the air, Worzalla says he expects his students will be able to return to Gateway’s welding workshops within the next few weeks to demonstrate competency.
-0-