CVTC students return for new term

From chippewa.com: “CVTC students return for new term: New conference center, program among changes” — A group of Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) students sat in the commons of the Business Education Center Monday morning with laptops open and running. They were already reviewing a schedule of homework assignments and upcoming quizzes for the new school term, which just opened that morning.

They had a number of common classes because they were all enrolled in the liberal arts program. CVTC is seeing an increase in the number of students enrolling in liberal arts, which include general education classes in communications, math, science and other areas. The reason for the increased interest in the program is economic.

“It didn’t make logical sense to spend twice the money for the same program,” said Alex Martinez, a second-year student and Eau Claire North graduate. He plans to transfer to UW-Eau Claire to study finance after earning his general education credits at CVTC.

Tuition at CVTC is about $4,000 a year, compared with an average of about $7,000 at Wisconsin’s four-year universities.

 

“This will be my last full year at CVTC, then I’ll be transferring,” said Ethan Thomson, another Eau Claire North graduate. “I am going to UW-Eau Claire for the Earth and Space Science Education program.”

Kassonere King, who attended both North and Memorial high schools in Eau Claire, wants a four-year degree in Diagnostic Medical Sonography. She’s in her second semester of liberal arts classes at CVTC.

 

“It’s cheaper than a lot of other places and I wanted to stay in my hometown for my first year,” she said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to stay here or transfer to a college in the Twin Cities.”

Program focus

Most students arriving for the first day of classes were focused on specific CVTC programs. Cheryl Huebner of Elmwood and Danielle Fregine of Baldwin met one another at the Health Education Center, ready to start their classes in the AODA program. They both had personal reasons for their career choices.

“I have been through chemical dependency. It’s my goal to give back. I want to work with teenagers,” said Huebner, who admitted to being a bit nervous on the first day. “I haven’t been to school in 30 years.”

Like many CVTC students, Huebner will be balancing raising a family and holding down a full-time job with her studies. “But this is my chance. I have to change my career,” she said.

“Someone very, very close to me decided to use a variety of drugs, which motivated me to not only help people who use drugs, but the people they affect,” Fregine said.

Over at the Manufacturing Education Center, Steve Forster of Mondovi and Corie Bergeron of Chippewa Falls were ready to get started in the Electromechanical Technology program. They both come with manufacturing experience.

“I’ve been working in manufacturing for seven years,” said Forster. “One of my jobs was at Phillips Plastics and I was intrigued by the automation. I thought I would go back to school and get a degree and learn how to fix them myself.”

Bergeron worked with automated equipment at National Presto. “I had a lot of interaction with engineers in the manufacturing department,” he said. “I like the troubleshooting and problem solving, using my brain.”

Changes

New this year at CVTC is a two-year Industrial Mechanical Technician program, an extension of the one-year Industrial Mechanic program. This program prepares graduates to install, maintain, operate, diagnose and repair equipment used in manufacturing industries.

Also new in the manufacturing area is a water jet metal cutter in the Welding program. The equipment uses water under high pressure to cut metal, avoiding the damage to the metal that heat cutting can cause.

A major facility change can be found at the Business Education Center, where a new dividable conference center has replaced the former auditorium. The center gives CVTC an ideal space for holding large meetings and banquets. Use of the conference center is open to the public.

Retired State Patrol trooper now works as a counselor

From leadertelegram.com: “Retired State Patrol trooper now works at counselor” — Lee McMenamin reached a professional crossroads a few years ago.

McMenamin, 55, retired from a 25-year career with the Wisconsin State Patrol in August 2008.

What McMenamin, of Bloomer, saw during his years in law enforcement prompted him to pursue a second challenging career instead of riding off into the sunset and relaxing in retirement.

“It’s an honorable profession, and it’s something that needs to be done,” McMenamin said of law enforcement. “I loved every job I had with the State Patrol. I never had a bad day with the State Patrol.”

But during his later years as a law enforcement professional, “I was left with a feeling, ‘What is it all about? What did I accomplish?’ I was left with kind of an empty feeling as far as a career,” he said.

“I realized most of what law enforcement is dealing with is people with alcohol or drug addictions. With most crimes, the thread almost always gets back to somebody dealing with an addiction.”

The alcohol and other drug abuse counselors he met during his law enforcement career impressed him.

“You know, I thought that was something I could do,” he said.

In August 2008, McMenamin enrolled in Chippewa Valley Technical College’s two-year alcohol and other drug abuse associate program.

“I was retired a couple days before I became a full-time student. I became the old guy in the back of the classroom,” McMenamin said.

Even though McMenamin never had a defining “aha moment,” he said he had been thinking about this career possibility for a few years before retiring from the State Patrol.

“The longer I was involved with law enforcement, the more I was convinced these were good people dealing with a disease,” McMenamin said of those with drug and alcohol addictions who get into trouble. “I felt a need to explore what it is that keeps otherwise good people from being law-abiding citizens.”

Gail Kinney, chairwoman of the college’s AODA associate program, said McMenamin – who now works as an inpatient AODA counselor at L.E. Phillips Libertas Center in Chippewa Falls – was not an atypical student.

When 40 new students enter the program each fall, only one or two are 18- or 19-year-olds fresh out of high school. The vast majority are older, usually ranging in age from the mid-20s to the mid-50s, Kinney said.

Students share a common motivation.

“The common thread is most people in this world have been touched by addiction, and that piques their desire to keep it from happening to others,” Kinney said.

The program’s difficulty surprised McMenamin.

“The number of people who start and finish the program … there’s a big gap there,” he said. “But the training has to be hard. It’s dealing with a disease that’s very cunning. It’s devastating and blunt.”

Kinney admitted the program is difficult.

Addiction is a brain disease, and students must understand the workings of the brain and the drugs involved, she said.

“Some students find it wasn’t what they thought it was,” Kinney said. “There’s other things we have to know than just talking to people. The rigor of the program is higher than most people think.”

Addiction changes the brain, Kinney said. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Haven’t you learned your lesson?’ Addiction takes everything from you before it takes your life.”

Kinney is not surprised at how quickly McMenamin adapted to his new career.

“Lee was an exceptional student. He was hired as a counselor before he even graduated from this program,” she said.

McMenamin has the right mindset for this profession, she said.

“He’s had an appropriate dose of humility,” she said. “He’s always had that attitude, ‘There’s something new to learn here.’ We all think we know something about addiction.”

As a CVTC student, McMenamin served internships with the Fahrman Center in Eau Claire and the St. Croix County Department of Human Services.

After graduating in May 2010, McMenamin first worked for Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. His primary client was the Eau Claire County Drug Court, where he worked as a counselor for a year.

Drug Court works with criminal offenders who have drug or alcohol addictions. Offenders can reduce their incarceration time by successfully completing the court’s treatment program.

“These are good people who need another chance,” McMenamin said. “I don’t know how many chances that is, but they deserve it.”

The Drug Court team, which consists of criminal justice, treatment and social services professionals, “truly get it that second, third and fourth chances are the key,” he said.

Seventy to 80 percent of Eau Claire County Jail inmates have some type of connection with drugs or alcohol, Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer said.

Some who get in legal trouble realize their issues with substance abuse and can correct their problems on their own, Cramer said. “Unfortunately, we see some of the same people over and over again who do not self-correct.”

Drug Court has shown some success, “but it’s a long road,” he said. “I know people who slip and fall and have to start all over again.”

McMenamin believes education and treatment for criminal offenders with addictions is at least as important as incarceration.

There are sanctions for participants who aren’t successful with Drug Court, but the bottom line is treating the addiction, he said.

“I understand punishment is sometimes necessary, but I truly believe it can’t stand alone,” he said. “If we successfully treat the disease upfront, we won’t spend as much money as a society on incarceration.”

Drug Court coordinator Patrick Isenberger said he admired McMenamin’s transition from one challenging career to another.

“It’s fascinating and it’s admirable,” Isenberger said. “He’s doing that for a reason.”

McMenamin said while talking to some of those he arrested over the years, many times he thought, “This is really a nice guy. Either he’s really fooling me or he’s a really nice person who is acting bad for a reason.”

That is when he realized substance abuse was a key consideration for criminal activity, he said.

Cramer hopes initiatives such as Drug Court and the county’s new evidence-based criminal justice approach aimed at addressing each offender individually instead of using a traditional cookie-cutter approach will show dividends.

“Hopefully they will start showing with numbers going down in the jail or in the number of cases we refer to the district attorney’s office,” the sheriff said.

With the State Patrol, McMenamin started as a trooper for Dunn and Chippewa counties and worked his way through the ranks as a sergeant, training instructor, lieutenant, chief of personnel, deputy commander and then finally commander of two of five of the State Patrol’s regional districts.

McMenamin was married to State Trooper Deborah McMenamin, who was killed in 1989 after she pulled over a car for speeding on Interstate 94 near Eau Claire and a passing van drifted onto the right side of the road, striking her patrol car and then hitting her. She was 31.

He’s now married to Mona. He has three grown children and nine grandchildren.

As McMenamin worked his way up to one of the State Patrol’s top administrative positions, something kept gnawing at him.

“Law enforcement could have been a struggle for me if I would have let it,” McMenamin said. “But I was a cop that never concerned myself with the final outcome.

“There are some cops who get eaten up by (criminal) sentences,” he said. “Somewhere along the line I shifted toward the philosophy of there’s more to this than the criminal act.”

McMenamin has been working at the Libertas Center since October.

“I came here because it was really one of my targets when I decided to become a counselor. This was the place I really wanted to get to work in,” he said.

“I hear it every day. Patients say, ‘You people treat me so good and with respect,’ ” he said. “We bolster their dignity and self-respect to give them the tools they need to deal with sobriety. It’s a disease, not a lapse in character.”

Law enforcement officials are coming to realize the importance of treatment and education, McMenamin said.

“They’re getting there,” he said. “And as a taxpayer, we should all be on board with treatment and education instead of incarceration. It just costs less.”