Phuture Phoenix training
Usually, it’s University of Wisconsin-Green Bay students who are being taught about the Phuture Phoenix program. On Monday (Aug. 3), it was a delegation of UW-Eau Claire officials who were doing the learning.
A team from UW-Eau Claire came to UW-Green Bay to learn as much as they could about Phuture Phoenix, as the program is being replicated on the UW-Eau Claire campus.
Both universities will share funding from the 2009-10 Wisconsin College Access Challenge Grant — distributed by Great Lakes Higher Education Guarantee Corporation — to help create Blugold Beginnings, a program that will serve at-risk students in the western part of the state.
Phuture Phoenix training session
In March, Phuture Phoenix was chosen as the program to be replicated at another state institution. The $125,000 grant will go toward the development of the program at UW-Eau Claire.
Blugold Beginnings will be the third program nationally to follow the Phuture Phoenix model.
Phuture Phoenix co-creator Cyndie Shepard has started a similar program at Western Washington University called Compass 2 Campus. Shepard is the wife of former UW-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard, who is now president at Western Washington.
Phuture Phoenix was also a model for the Wisconsin Covenant program. Wisconsin First Lady Jessica Doyle is a strong supporter of the Phuture Phoenix program and helped announce the replication grant in March.
In the top photo, left to right — Ginny Riopelle, Phuture Phoenix co-founder; Cyndie Shepard, Phuture Phoenix co-founder; Kirby Harless, UW-Eau Claire Residence Hall director, Housing and Residence Life; Rogelio Encizo, UW-Eau Claire student intern; Sarah Gonzalez, UW-Eau Claire student intern; Jodi Thesing-Ritter, UW-Eau Claire associate dean of students; Lissa Martinez, UW-Eau Claire Blugold Beginnings College Access Challenge Grant coordinator; Mary Huffcutt, UW-Eau Claire Line Up For College coordinator; Stephanie Cataldo Pabich, Phuture Phoenix associate director; Kim Desotell, Phuture Phoenix director.
