MIAD BRIDGE

10 REFLECTION OF SERVICEby Jackie Berndt

THIS I BELIEVEby Mary Sievert

MIAD BEYOND MILWAUKEEby Carrie Vander Pas

I N T H I S I S S U E

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CONTENTStable of

VOLUME IISSUE 10FALL 2009

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THIS I BELIEVEMary Sievert reflects on the value and importance of the gift of life.

REFLECTION OF SERVICE Jackie Berndt reflects on what the meaning of service is and discusses its impact and importance within the community.

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HELP WANTED

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SPECIAL THANKS

Volunteer opportunities within the community

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

MIAD BEYOND MILWAUKEE Carrie Vander Pas reflects on her volunteer activities in her home-town of Appleton, Wisconsin

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

BRIDGE.MIAD.EDU

UNDER THE BRIDGESpotlighting those who build the bridge toward a better tomorrow — This MonTh: Francis BalisTreri

Student service in action within the MIAD community

EDITORfrom the

CARRIE VANDER PAS | EDITOR IN CHIEF | BRIDGE.MIAD.EDU

DEAR READER,

Welcome to the first ever MIAD BRIDGE publication!

This magazine features the work of real people making a real difference, and I am quite honored that I am able to share it with you. Each page is filled with ideas, questions, stories, theories and art.

The theme for this issue of MIAD BRIDGE is self-reflection and features several telling stories from MIAD students. First, Jackie Berndt explores her personal definition of service and its role in building a strong and successful community. Next, senior Mary Sievert talks about the importance and sanctity of life in her personal creed and homage to a friend.

Lastly, I have included a personal story detailing my experience volunteering at a local children’s museum and the insight and differences it has made in my life.

I am very proud of the work of all the writers, designers, photographers, and illustrators who helped make this issue possible. I believe that the level of student dedication towards community improvement will give you a brighter hope for the future and continual support towards MIAD and its students.

Thanks for reading,

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READERSfrom the

SEND YOUR LETTERS BY MAIL: 273 E. ERIE STREET MILWAUKEE WI 53202 OR EMAIL: [email protected]

DEAR EDITOR,I really enjoyed your article last month about the new exhibit at MIAD. I went to see it last weekend and it was amaz-ing how the artists were able to capture all the emotions of one event. Each piece had so much soul and everything was portrayed beautifully. I’m really glad I was able to tap into this hidden gem within our city. — Diane Brooks

DEAR EDITOR,On Saturday, May 22, I joined several other Milwaukee Public Schools students in an effort to improve our great city. As part ofan annual event called Re-building Together: Milwaukee, we helped give someone’s home the mini “facelift” it needed. With help from We Energies, we transformed an entire home in one afternoon! Together, we painted walls, pulled weeds, installed new light fixtures, replaced tiles, and took the occasional cookie break. (Hey, we’re kids, what do you expect?) At the end of the day, all of our hard work had paid off. The homeowner

was happy, and we felt good about helping someone in our neighborhood. By par-ticipating in this event, we hoped to send a message to students everywhere: Get out there and serve your community! If you help to keep your neighborhood clean, you are also helping to keep it safe. Step by step, with projects like Rebuilding Together: Milwaukee, our city will be a reflection of our hopes and dreams!— Jessica Holden

DEAR EDITOR,Thank you for printing an interview with Brian Smith. It is refreshing to hear that an artist wants to be the biggest and best, but maybe it is time to return to reality. I wonder if Brian could still create work under a live action environment. I would love to watch him work!— Amy Anderson

DEAR EDITOR,James Ericon’s article on the economy’s effect in Milwaukee was fundamentally flawed. A “fail to deliver” does not mean that shortselling occurred. Most fails are related to human error. Ericon also ignores that in the U.S. capital markets, only one-10th of one percent of the dollar value of the 19 billion shares that may be traded in a single day are related to failed trades. And he does not credit the actions by the SEC in pass-ing Rule 204T, which has been effective at stopping fails to deliver. Regretta-bly, Ericon never spoke to us regarding his story. Instead, he relied on a relatively low-level manager who worked who grossly misrepresented him.— Talbolt Reed

DEAR EDITOR,Can you write a story on Habitat for Humanity in Milwaukee and tell us what is going on there? I’m very curious to see the community being rebuilt!— Sunida Chaiyapan

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BRIDGEunder the

SPOTLIGHTING THOSE WHO BUILD THE BRIDGE TOWARDS A BETTER TOMORROW

director and illustrator for many firms. He was also executive director of the Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design. His clients have included Coca Cola, McDonald’s Restaurants, 7-Eleven Stores, RJR-Nabisco and many others.

Today, Fran no longer works as a professional designer, but a part-time educator at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). He is a Visual Resources’ instructor, accepting projects from various non-profit organizations. Visual Resources

by: Warissara Muangsaen

solutions and carry it through the production process.

There are a total of eight students in Visual Resouces. Each would come up with creative solutions for a brief, and the client would then pick one of the solutions and produce it. Clients in Visual Resources class included organizations in Wis-consin, and some from overseas.

Gaining so much from Fran, I really see him as someone who has contributed great deal of service to the community. As Visual Resources is the only

A s a former Visual Resources student, I have known

Francis Balistreri for almost a year now. He is an experienced designer and creative profes-sional capable of developing strategic solutions for clients. Also a skillful artist, Fran has his sculptures scattered over the United States. Over several years, he has worked as a staff designer, art director, creative

is one of the more unique class-es MIAD has to offer. It is a design class operated by an instructor (formerly Rebecca Balisteri, and now Fran) and a selected group of students from various ma-jors. Fran always told me that he sees Visual Resources as a small design firm rather than a class. In this class, students have an opportunity to meet with real clients, come up with design

As a student I am honored to have a successful designer as my mentor to help guide me through my last year in my design study.

Francis Balistreri

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Francis Balistreri

class in all of MIAD that has the opportunity that the design would be used and produced. Thus, the student’s design would be a service to various firms and non-profit organizations, both local and international. As a student I am honored to have a successful designer as my mentor to help guide me through my last year in my design study.

PHOTO BY ADAM WIDENER

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SERVICE in my definition is doing something with the thought of re-ceiving something in return. Most “service” is only done for something in return, businesses, deals, money, etc. Service is important because it is how people make a living. This kind of service is not the only kind of service, though. There is service that is done for close to nothing in return. This kind of service is done to strictly help oth-ers and is the most rewarding. This service is important because it is a conscious choice to be truly kind hearted and have good morals. Ser-vice can still be genuine and kind

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SERVICE in my definition is doing something with the thought of re-ceiving something in return. Most “service” is only done for something in return, businesses, deals, money, etc. Service is important because it is how people make a living. This kind of service is not the only kind of service, though. There is service that is done for close to nothing in return. This kind of service is done to strictly help oth-ers and is the most rewarding. This service is important because it is a conscious choice to be truly kind hearted and have good morals. Ser-vice can still be genuine and kind

hearted if this person is still receiv-ing something in return, though. Be-cause some people serve others and feel good about themselves for do-ing it, and that feeling is something in return for doing a service. Some people do service because they feel it is their duty, like people in the army, although they too, in return receive something for it. Whether it be hon-or, importance, or just free medical insurance or school tuition. I feel like my definition of service is somewhat similar to other people’s definitions of service. Giving to receive. Most people when they think of “service”

OF SERVICEby: J a c k i e B e r n d t

MiaD senior Jackie Berndt reflects on the meaning of service and its importance in building a successful community.

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FEATURE

of service though strictly only think of specific instances where it involves a business like auto work, restau-rants, or hair salons or something. Most people when they think of “ser-vice” don’t think of feeling obligated to donate their services without re-ceiving anything in return. Service is crucially important when it comes to a community, though. To form, what always is yearned for, a beloved com-munity, it takes a lot of service from the members of that community. To have a tight-knit community and so-cially welcoming city, everyone has to be involved and to get involved

“Even though I don’t see an immediate result from what I am doing, I know that I am benefiting other people.

S ervice in my definition isdoing something with the

thought of receiving something in return. Most “service” is only done for something in return, businesses, deals, money, etc. Service is important because it is how people make a living. This kind of service is not the only kind of service, though. There is service that is done for close to nothing in return. This kind of service is done to strictly help others and is the most rewarding. This service is important because it is a conscious choice to be truly kind hearted and have good morals. Service can still be genuine and kind hearted if this person is still receiving something in return, though. Because some people serve others and feel good about

without receiving anything in return. Service is crucially important when it comes to a community, though. To form, what always is yearned for, a beloved community, it takes a lot of service from the members of that community. To have a tight-knit community and socially welcoming city, everyone has to be involved and to get involved with a community there can be numerous ways to do so.

“When you provide a service, you are helping those who are unable to help themselves in order to better their quality of life.” This is the first statement Kristen Palzkill said when I interviewed her about community service that really summarized her belief in service. In her interview she stated that she

themselves for doing it, and that feeling is something in return for doing a service. Some people do service because they feel it is their duty, like people in the army, although they too, in return receive something for it. Whether it be honor, importance, or just free medical insurance or school tuition.

I feel like my definition of service is similar to other people’s definitions of service. Giving to receive. Most people when they think of service think of specific instances where it involves a business like auto work, restaurants, or hair salons. Most people when they think of “service” don’t think of donating their services

never used to do community service that she thought would really make a huge difference, but still meant something. She referred to opening doors for strangers, buying a meal for a homeless man, and helping babysit her friends’ kids when they were in need and didn’t have money for babysitters. After doing some service, she really understands the connection between community service and the community itself and how everything can relate to making it better as a whole.

Kristen is now doing community service at the Urban Ecology Center. She enjoys working there because she likes nature and being outside.

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of with a community there can be numerous ways to do so. “When you provide a service, you are helping those who are unable to help them-selves in order to better their quality of life.” – Kristen Palzkill. This is the first statement she said when I inter-viewed her about community service that really summarized her belief in service. In her interview she stated that she never used to do commu-nity service that she thought would really make a huge difference, but still meant something. She referred to opening the doors for strangers, buying a meal for a homeless man

“Even though I don’t see an immediate result from what I am doing, I know that I am benefiting other people.

KRISTEN PALZKILL

The center is very close to her home and she didn’t even know it existed. She was shocked to realize that even herself, who is very eco-friendly, didn’t realize that the ecology center was within walking distance of where she sleeps. What she does for the center is help them design posters for upcoming events that they have. She hasn’t been working with kids or community members but does realize that designing the posters helps free up time for people who work at the center to focus more on community projects and teach-ing kids, which in return helps build strong relationships with the community itself. She said that she hopes to be able to work hands-on with some people at events

who need help are the cause of many of the problems that communities face (loitering, graffiti, robberies, murders, etc.) that they don’t see that if they were to help them, that some of those very problems may go away, or at least decrease. Doing community service makes you see why some things are the way that they are, and makes you realize that you can make a difference, no matter how small, in the community in which you live.” – Palzkill.

Even if what you’re doing, you don’t see a direct effect on the community, you are still taking one step closer to achieving a beloved community. A service isn’t just doing anything to get something in return, it is making a conscious effort

but knows that even though her service is on a very individual basis, it is still affecting the ecology center’s involvement with the community. She stated, “Even though I don’t see an immediate result from what I am doing, I know that I am benefiting other people.”

“Doing community service has opened my eyes to how bad some people really have it. The child poverty stats made me really sad, and they are children that have no choice and no means to better their situation. I think that some people may think, well, nobody’s helping me or the people who need help aren’t deserving of it, or the people

to make someone else’s well being better. Whether it be raking leaves for a neighbor, helping serve food at a local food pantry, or even opening a door for someone, they are all steps of whole-hearted help that have lasting effects on people building up a wonderful community to live in.

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THIS I

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by: Mary Sievert

BELIEVEThe moment you hear someone

is sick every memory you have with that person is pulled out from the file folders deep within your mind. I distinctly remember every moment on my Maddie timeline — every birthday party, sleepover, school day, and trip. I remember the day walking to softball practice that I found out about Maddie’s cancer. I remember receiving the terrible phone call two years later from Emma, my best friend. “Mar, Maddie passed away tonight.”

FEATURE

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My steadily increasing heart-beat filled my ears and pounded into the receiver of the telephone. Every Maddie memory I had came racing through my mind. The memories wrapped themselves into a ball that lodged itself tightly within my throat. In my lifetime, I had only been to one funeral. My great grandfather lived to be one-hundred years old. Here I was at my second, Maddie Paguyo, victim of a brain tumor at the age of fourteen.

Emma and I entered my church arm in arm. Boards and posters covered in photographs, awards, and report cards from Maddie’s life surrounded the large lobby.

I never looked at them; I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I have always regretted that. I saw Dannie — Maddie’s best friend and Emma’s little sister. I grabbed her and held her tightly, the fresh smell of perfume in her hair. “I’m okay,” she told me. I realized in that moment what was going on. Maddie’s family and close friends had months to say their goodbyes. This one day was for the rest of us to get our chance. It was surreal. I sat in the pew of the sanctuary where I had slept through services, sung, colored, received my first communion and been confirmed.

Emma’s head rested on my shoulder and for the first time in my life,

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Every person who had known Maddie whether directly or indirectly was gathered in one room. I thought to myself, “who would be at my funeral?” Emma’s head rested on my shoulder and for the first time in my life, I contemplated death; how quickly things can be taken away.

A slideshow of pictures brought both tears and laughter. Maddie’s poetry was read, her middle school choir sang, and one by one, her friends stepped towards the altar

and spoke. Dannie walked down the long aisle towards the podium and Emma’s grip tightened on my hand. She was our mutual little sister, our baby, put in such an adult position and handling it with such poise and maturity. We were proud of her com-posure yet torn apart by her pain.

I believe that we all have one moment in our young lives in which reality suddenly snaps into place. Maddies death was that moment for me. Maddie taught me that life is short. She always wanted to be a teacher, and at the age of fourteen, she did just that. She taught all of us that life can throw terrible things your way but you must roll with the punches. I believe that every moment, and every memory must be cherished. Nothing is forever.

I contemplated death; how quickly things can be taken away.

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MiaD senior carrie Vander Pas reflects on her volunteer activities in her hometown of appleton, Wisconsin.

MILWAUKEEby: Carrie Vander Pas

Illustrations by Jessica Nieczyperowicz

T he presence of student and faculty involvement in the

arts around the Milwaukee is quite obvious in both strength and numbers. Hundreds of artists have donated countless amounts of time, talent, and labor to make the city of Milwaukee a beautiful and enriching artistic experience. To further encourage students to give back to the commu-nity, the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) has created a course called “Service Learning” that does

just that. In their junior year at MIAD, students are required to donate a specified amount of hours of his or her time toward a community-enriching project of his or her choice. Many choose to continue to serve and beautify the city of Milwaukee through gardening, rebuilding communities, and participat-ing in art groups — I, however, chose to serve the community that I am from: Appleton, Wisconsin.

Appleton is a smaller city that is nestled along the Fox River in

FEATURE

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the heart of the Fox Valley area. The Northeast Wisconsin area is not necessarily known for its involvements or contributions to t h e a r t s , b u t t h e c i t y o f Appleton has taken many measures to change that — from statues to art galleries to the performing arts. Another place that helps to foster an enriching educational and artistic experience is “The Building for Kids” located in downtown Appleton.

“The Building for Kids” first opened in 1992 with a mission to “build children’s imagination, creativity, and confidence.” They accomplish this mission through a wide variety of unique exhibits designed by kids, for kids. One of these is the DaVinci Art Studio, which I was able to participate in through the duration of the summer. The DaVinci Studio is directed by Patty Lipka and offers a great amount of activities for children and parents to participate in together. One of the most important aspects of the museum is that it emphasizes interaction among parents and children and encourages both to have the same amount of fun.

I was fortunate enough to help show parents that they didn’t have to have the skills of Raphael, Michaelangelo, or even Leonaro DaVinci to experience the joy of creating art with their child.

I began my service at the museum by working with staff members and other volunteers cutting out and decorating fish, mermaids, and seahorses for an upcoming theme in the DaVinci Studio. The museum likes to give a reason for patrons to return, so the theme is alternated every 4-6 weeks to keep things new for its guests. It was fun to be able to help create small

One of the most important aspects of the museum is that it

emphasizes interaction among parents and children and

encourages both to have the same amount of fun.

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characters. Though illustration is not my strong suite, I impressed myself with my capabilities and was overjoyed to see the happiness the artwork I helped to create brought to other people.

Throughout the remainder of my service at “The Building for Kids,” I continued to help with many things art-related, birthday parties, and even science projects. The experience was extremely rewarding and educational and — through what I was able to accomplish there — helped me

fantasyland for the children to enjoy, and the way their faces lit up when they entered the room made all of the hard work worth it. My experience in the continuing weeks was quite similar, only I was able to do more and different activities. In my second week, the director of the museum had enough faith in me to let me teach my own drawing class — which was both nerve-wracking and exciting. I had the unique opportunity to work with kids on an individual basis and help them to learn how to draw their favorite animals and cartoon

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to realize a lot about my talents, my capabilities, and myself. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to work with members of a community I feel very close to, and that I was able to share my love of art with others.

From internship opportunities to international experiences and everything in between, it is obvious that MIAD goes to great efforts to give back to communities near and far to showcase the beauty and power that art can have. Whether it is rebuilding a home, pulling weeds, cutting lawns, or painting a mural on the side of an abandoned building, each opportunity is enriching to all parties that are involve d. T hrough the gift of community service, students – including myself – are able to discover new passions, grow and develop as an artist, and become leaders and individuals.

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RIPPLEthe miad

STUDENT SERVICE IN ACTION WITHIN THE MIAD COMMUNITY

It’s the first day of school. You are excited and nervous with anticipation of your first class, maybe more on the nervous side. There are too many thoughts in your head to even concentrate: what should I to bring to class; what classroom am I in; what will the teacher be like;

are people going to like me; will the upper class students going to shove me in a locker? It’s a wonder you even survived the elevator. First days can be intimidating but maybe it would have been a little less scary go-ing into it with knowing a few things a head of time. How could we let incoming freshman and new students

feel more welcomed and have a sense of belonging right when they come into school? The Associate Dean of Students, Jennifer Crandall, has had a great deal of experience working with young students and knows how scared they are in the first month of school.

MIAD Mentors are the people you want to know. Not just because they know their way around school, but because they are caring role models dedicated to helping students grow and succeed at MIAD.

Jennifer has seen a lot of students within the first month of school come into her office feeling lost, not fitting in with other students, homesick and concerned with getting a job. There needed to be a group of students that would talk to these incoming freshmen, make them feel at home and get them excited for school.

To get things going, last year Jennifer did a little research to start a pilot program with a group of students who work in the Learning Resource Center (LRC). The LRC, located in the library, is a place where students come to get tutoring services. They mostly help on papers, how to get ideas flowing, making better connections with their audience, and how to have better time management. In this pilot mentor program, they were also there to help those who just needed someone to talk to and just have someone listen. Things seemed to be working out well with the tutors and the students coming in for extra help, but they wanted to make it better.

During the second semester of last year, a letter went out to anyone

by: Wendy YoungMIAD Mentors

a MiaD mentor is a knowledgeable and experienced guide, a student advocate, and a caring role model.

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Another new addition to this year is the First Year Experience (FYE), which also happened during orientation week. Throughout the years, freshman would attend majors seminar once a week for about an hour during lunch to learn about all of the different majors offered here at MIAD.

Although it was informative for the students, it was not working out as well as it did in the past. It took some time to think of something new but FYE became another new program for this year. FYE main goal for the first five weeks of school is to give the freshman an understanding of the foundation academics for what to expect and where they will be going throughout the school year.

These five sessions act as a way for them to engage themselves into conversation about art and design as well as finding connections with one another. It can lessen the gap between fine art and design and realize that we all are interconnected and compliment each other.

FYEinterested in becom-ing a MIAD men-tor. Those interested were to write a letter stating why they should be considered as a mentor. Jennifer and Ricky Heldt went through numerous letters and chose students based on their GPA, their personality, how well they communicated in writing, how much they showed in-terest working with students, and showed great leadership ability.

This was a new program for MIAD, so they conducted more research across other campuses developing a process for the mentor training and how they could work this into the MIAD community. A MIAD mentor is a knowledgeable and experienced guide, a student advocate, and a caring role model. Many of their

responsibilities include ways to help new students make the transition from high school to college life while giving them a sense of belonging to the MIAD com-munity. Another aspect of being a mentor was helping out with the freshman orientation. They also were a big part of Parent Orientation Day. With the initiation of programs for new students, MIAD hopes that it changes the way students look at school. Jennifer Crandall has expressed that she has already seen drastic differ-ences in the new students. “I have seen less students come into my office feeling upset or worried about the change from high school to college, or having an urge to go back home. The mentor program has proven to be successful and I’m excited to see what else the mentors can do this

FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCEby : Wendy Young

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WANTEDhelp

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

For more information and sign up, please visit:_____h t t p : / / b r i d g e . m i a d . e d u

SAVE THE ENVIRONMENTNovember 3rd - Donges Bay Gorge; November 12th - Me-quon Nature Preserve; No-vember 17th - Bratt WoodsAll workdays are from 9am - 12 noon. Please dress for the weather!

HEALTH FAIR VOLUNTEERSMore than 20 million Ameri-cans - one in nine adults - have chronic kidney disease, and most don’t even know it. More than 20 million others are at increased risk. The Na-tional Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin (NKFW), along with other affiliates and divisions of the National Kidney Foun-dation, conducts programs in research, professional educa-tion, patient and community

services, public education and organ donation.Volunteers are needed to pro-vide education to the public about organ donation and transplantation at health fairs and in-service presentations on behalf of the National Kid-ney Foundation of Wisconsin.

GENERAL OFFICE HELPMailing out educational ma-terials, stuffing envelopes and applying stickers to materials.

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67% 81%

90%

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seeKinG VolUnTeers

oF MilWaUKee creaTiVes sUBscriBe To anD reaD

MiaD BriDGe

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MiaD BriDGe

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THANKSspecial

TO ALL WHO MADE THIS MAGAZINE POSSIBLE.

M I A D B R I D G E273 E. Erie StreetMilwaukee, WI 53202

a MiaD Publication

Editorial: 555-555-5555Advertising: 444-444-4444Fax: 333-333-3333

PUBlisherMilwaukee Institute of Art & Design

creaTiVe DirecTorAnne Ghory-Goodman

eDiTorCarrie Vander Pas

PhoToGraPhYCarrie Vander PasAdam Widener

illUsTraTionJessica Nieczyperowicz

conTriBUTorsWarissara MuangsaenJackie BerndtMary SievertCarrie Vander PasWendy Young

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