Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: In Wisconsin

Original Air Date: November 30, 2006

Patty Loew:

Hello, and welcome to "In Wisconsin." I'm Patty Loew. This week, these troubled teens have been given a last chance to turn their lives around. See which ones met the challenge.

Cadet:

I've changed to a different person. I'm not the child I was before. I'm an adult now.

Loew:

Find out which one of these trees has the mettle to make it as Old Tannenbaum.

Woman:

So what's the name of this one again?

Man:

Fraser fir.

Woman:

Fraser fir. I like that one.

Loew:

And discover how this family received the best gift of all for an early Christmas, a gift of hope.

Woman:

This is such a magical, fun time of year, the little kids. You would hate for them to miss out on that.

Loew:

We'll also give you a front row seat for a gorgeous winter sunset, "In Wisconsin."

Loew:

Throughout this month, we've brought you a series of reports featuring five struggling teens working their way through the Wisconsin National Guard's Challenge Academy. The cadets survived five months at the boot camp-style academy. Now those who have stuck it out are on the downhill slide to graduation. Reporter Frederica Freyberg tells us that as some of the cadets celebrate their final days at the academy, they're also looking to the future with trepidation.

Frederica Freyberg:

By now, cadets have learned the ropes at this hard-core military-style academy.

Man:

It's 33 degrees today. Beautiful day. Wait until it's 20 below.

Cadets:

Yes, sir!

Freyberg:

A far cry from that first day when their heads were spinning with the crash course in drilling and precision and an all new code of conduct.

Cadets:

Honor. Commitment.

Freyberg:

But with just weeks to go before completion of the program, cadets that remain have met the challenge. Still, Academy staff say it is not a coast to the finish. Instead, the teenagers who have succeeded inside can see what they left behind on the outside around the corner.

Peter Blum:

What we see is fear. The kids are afraid. They're going right back to those environments where they had trouble, where the drugs were present, where abuse was present.

Freyberg:

Staff say that fear makes some kids act out, makes some want to quit in the final weeks, afraid of future success. That didn't happen to the cadets we followed through the program from enrollment to graduation. In all, we tracked five teenagers. Four of the five made it. The one who didn't was asked to leave for insubordination early in the program.

It was a cold day in January, 2006, when this class of cadets began the program. Five and a half months later, graduation day dawned sunny and warm.

What's it feel like?

Cadet:

Exciting. I'm nervous and jumpy.

Cadet:

Greatest day ever. It's the first time I actually achieved something that's really good.

Freyberg:

So, did you ever think this day would come?

Cadet:

No.

Danielle Smith:

It makes me feel proud that I can actually succeed at something, because I've never really been able to finish something.

Freyberg:

18-year-old Danielle Smith and her younger brother Joey enrolled together.

Danielle Smith:

We didn't try anymore. We thought that life wasn't worth it anymore.

Freyberg:

And they both held on. Danielle said she finally grew up at the Challenge Academy, realized she can succeed and succeed on her own. That realization was cemented one day halfway through the program.

In a life she describes as full of disappointment, Smith suffered one of her biggest while at the Academy. Her mother had promised she would come for parents' day to share in Danielle and Joey's progress in the grueling program. She never showed.

Danielle Smith:

The way that we do this is we just hold on to each other. When the hard times come through, we'll be just like, well, there will be better days, you know.

Freyberg:

Smith said that day she vowed she would succeed with or without her absent mother or other adults in her family.

Danielle Smith:

I've changed to a different person. I'm not the child I was before. I'm an adult now. And I have a lot of discipline, and I have a lot of commitment towards my goals now, and I don't quit.

Freyberg:

Danielle Smith's courage and commitment and discipline are the embodiment of what Challenge Academy is all about, qualities all the graduates share after five and a half life-changing months.

Randi Wetzel:

I think I'm more committed to myself. I have more self-discipline, more self-respect for myself. I'm not going to just go and do drugs because I don't feel good or something.

Freyberg:

Even before graduation, Randi Wetzel had lined up a job back home with plans to enroll in college for computer training.

DeShawn Jackson:

You don't get this in high school, ma'am, you just don't get this kind of attention in high school.

Freyberg:

DeShawn Jackson says all the attention and routine paid off for him. At graduation Jackson was awarded most-improved cadet. He plans to join the military saying he thrived on the structure of Challenge Academy. Only Joey Smith seemed on shakier ground, nervous about going home to friends and family he left behind.

Joey Smith:

They'll expect more out of me, I guess.

Freyberg:

Are you up to that?

Joey Smith:

Yeah, in a way.

Blum:

Later today, some of their "friends" will be offering them drugs. And it's our belief that they will have the tools and the courage of conviction to make those good decisions.

Freyberg:

But Challenge Academy can only provide the tools graduates need to succeed, actually using them is a different matter. Follow-up statistics show that 10% to 20% of the graduates will return to their old ways. They will, after all, be returning to the environment where they failed to succeed before.

Julie Drinkwine, mother of Joey and Danielle Smith:

I said I'm not for sure if I will be there, so if I'm not, don't get all high hopes, because, you know.

Freyberg:

Joey and Danielle Smith's mother did come to graduation, and offered that explanation for disappointing her children on parents' day. Graduation day gave her a chance to see just what they've become.

Drinkwine:

And I'm very, very proud of my children, and lo and behold they are going to succeed.

Freyberg:

All the graduates are paired with mentors in their home communities. For the Smiths, that pairing is likely to be key.

Dick Kreager:

We had them out to the house for supper. We enjoy fishing. There's potential there, but they need some help and some adult guidance.

Millie Kreager:

Danielle asked if she could call me grandma, and I said you sure can.

Freyberg:

DeShawn Jackson's foster father expects good things from his new graduate.

Chris LaMont:

I think that it will instill had him some self-discipline, probably, hopefully the ability to make the right choices.

Freyberg:

As Jackson sets off on a new course, he may well speak for all the graduates in expressing his gratitude for the guidance given over the months at Challenge Academy.

Jackson:

Thanks for pushing me. They just kept on pushing, made you a better person, and they just expected you to be the best you could all the time, and I thank them for it.

Loew:

The graduates have moved on to the post-residential phase of the Challenge Academy program, paired with mentors in their hometowns and tried to make new starts. We tracked down the cadets to find out how they're doing.

DeShawn Jackson is busy. We're told he's working several jobs and bought his own house in Kenosha.

Randi Wetzel is working full time as a waitress and sales clerk, and also going to school full time at Fox Valley tech. She plans to attend Fox Valley tech for two years, then transfer to UW-
Oshkosh to get her bachelor's degree in computer science.

Joey Smith has abandoned his plan to join the military. He says he's reconsidered after seeing the situation in Iraq. He's looking for work.

Joey's sister, Danielle, has abandoned her plans for now to go to beauty school. She's also looking for work and reconnecting with her family. Joey and Danielle met their maternal grandfather for the first time over Thanksgiving.

You can find out more about the Challenge Academy by logging on to our Web site at: wpt.org/inwisconsin Once there, you'll find the link that will allow you to watch all four reports in our series.

Loew:

It's the week after Thanksgiving. And for some, the kickoff to the official holiday season. If your celebrations include a Christmas tree, of course you'll have to answer the age-old question, real or artificial? And if you're one of the 35 million or so Americans who go the real tree route each year, and then battle to keep it alive through the holidays, this report by Andy Soth is for you.

Man:

That's a lot of buds. That's what that is.

Andy Soth:

UW-Stevens Point students Andrew Koeser and Nick Jensen study forestry because they both love the outdoors. So what are they doing in Centerpoint mall in downtown Stevens Point?

Nick Jensen:

I mean, I like to be outside, but in this case I'm pretty much in a forest right now. We have 56 Christmas trees set up in a room. It's pretty close to being outside while you're still indoors. What we're doing is we constructed a study examining water uptake and utilization, and conifer are normally used as Christmas trees.

Soth:

In other words, they're trying to find out if it really makes a difference to water your Christmas tree. They're experimenting on 56 trees from four varieties. Half are watered and their consumption measured.

Jensen:

325, Andrew; 325 for number 50.

Soth:

The other half are not watered at all. While the students are now halfway through the month-long experiment, their first challenge was finding a place to conduct it. No room on the UW-Stevens Point campus was large enough, so they asked about the vacant mall storefront.

Andrew Koeser:

I think the space is really working out well. We get a lot of interaction with a lot of people.

Woman:

What's the name of this one again?

Man:

Fraser fir.

Woman:

Fraser fir. I like that one.

Soth:

Have you had anyone come in and just sort of say, "Well, Duh? "

Koeser:

Actually you have a lot of people, they've been doing the study for 20 years in their own house.

Soth:

And those people have offered their advice, like putting in sugar or aspirin and using hot water.

Koeser:

And I've heard of vodka, too, but I'm not sure why people would want to waste vodka on a tree.

Soth:

Vodka or no, two weeks in, it becomes clear that the trees getting a drink are doing better than the ones being cut off.

Man:

What we found was that the unwatered and the watered closely paralleled one another, then separated.

Soth:

These results may seem obvious, but what the students are interested in is if the trees use water the same way a rooted tree would. After all, even a two by four in a bucket absorbs water.

Les Werner:

Does the water that we add to the pan, does the water that we see leaving that pan, which we're assuming to go up the tree, actually make it out to the ends?

Koeser:

You can see here, this is what they call a thermal dissipation probe.

Soth:

These wires report water and sap flow to a computer. It's sort of like an E.K.G. for a tree.

Werner:

You'll find this one is watered and this one wasn't.

Jensen:

Just clamp it around like that.

Soth:

This device measures moisture released by the needles, or transpiration. This is probably more information than you need to choose your tree, but it is very interesting to the people who grow them.

Karen Cooper:

It was incredibly interesting to all of us, because it's so practical to our world.

Soth:

Jensen and Koeser are speaking at the Wisconsin Christmas tree producer's Association winter convention. Their president provided the 56 trees for the experiment, and they're anxious to hear the results.

Man:

Okay, second question. Did any of your trees break bud?

Jensen:

Yes, actually...

Soth:

While all the watered trees generally do better, the experiment is turning into more of a competition between species. Which will perform best? The feisty Fraser fir? The Balsam. The scrappy Scotch Pine, or the ultimate underdog, the Spruce.

Well, while I'd never have an artificial tree, I'd love one that I wouldn't have to water.

Jensen:

This is a Fraser Fir and it hasn't been watered in four weeks, and it's amazing that it still looks even close to a watered one after that long. You can grab the needles. Most of them don't fall off. There's some kind of water content in them. You can feel they're still kind of succulent. So this is a great example of a species that may not need that amount of watering.

Soth:

This is one contest where Fraser just won't go down. But what about the lowly spruce?

Jensen:

There's always the drastic examples of a spruce, where you can really tell if a tree hasn't been watered.

Soth:

Perhaps only Charlie brown could love this tree, but it's clear these two forestry students love doing research.

Jensen:

It's fun just working together. It's a good time.

Koeser:

It's just been a great experience.

Woman:

Oh, yes. Must be a spruce.

Loew:

As Andy told us, the Fraser Fir was the top performer, while the Spruce couldn't take the punishment. Turns out that the Balsam and Scotch Pine also held up well. It also turns out that Americans must have a good sense for what makes a good Christmas tree, because the Balsam, Scotch Pine, and Fraser Fir are all among the top sellers.

Loew:

The holiday season is also a time of giving, and the woman in our next report takes that sentiment to heart. "In Wisconsin" intern, Laura Kalinowski, met up with Marsha Jordan last December and discovered how Jordan brings hugs and hopes to children who could use a little of both.

Woman:

A coat and snow pants.

Child:

Oh, Emily!

Laura Kalinowski:

Christmas Elves have already been to the Simpson home in Brodhead. Elves enlisted by a charity organization called "Hugs & Hope." Hugs and hope was founded six years ago by Marsha Jordan of Rhinelander. She had met a little boy suffering from a brain tumor. Jordan wanted to do something to help. That help has grown into a nationwide nonprofit organization.

Marsha Jordan:

Our goal is just to provide smiles for kids who may not have a lot to smile about, so we do that through several different programs. Mostly, we send a lot of what we call happy mail, thousands of cards each month, and then we provide birthday parties and, of course, at Christmas we provide Christmas presents.

Kalinowski:

Nearly 3,000 volunteers give around 300 terminally ill children and their families something to smile about, especially around Christmas.

Jordan:

We like to make every Christmas special for each of these kids, because we don't know how many more they'll have, and they go through so much suffering throughout the year, we really like to see them enjoy the holidays.

Kalinowski:

The Elf project, one of Hugs and Hopes many programs, helps families like the Simpsons. Kaitlyn was born without the right side of her heart. She underwent a heart transplant when she was just nine and a half weeks old.

Jeanne Simpson:

She did great with that transplant until she was four, and she had a tooth that got an infection in it that we didn't know about, and that caused her to reject. It was a very bad rejection. She almost lost her battle, and she fought and fought.

Kalinowski:

Miraculously Kaitlyn received a second heart transplant. Nearly five years later Kaitlyn is full of life, but the bills from her medical treatments make Christmas a difficult time. That's where the Elf project comes in.

Simpson:

And it helps make your Christmas nicer, at least for the kids, because they are assured they'll get presents. And it's such a magical, fun time of year for little kids. You would hate for them to miss out on that due to financial stresses and things. It's a great program.

Kalinowski:

Hugs and Hope uses volunteer Elves from groups including businesses or churches.

Phil Callen:

Callen Construction's mission statement is that we care for people, our customers in their homes.

Christi Rebro:

I saw a five-child family, and I thought a company like ours can handle something like that. So we went around and posted all around the office, I put it in our company news letter, and we raised money for them, and we went out and bought all their gifts and everything.

Donna Peters:

It's really hard to know that I have really healthy kids and that they have children that they don't know how long they're going to have them. I think it's better than buying for my own family. It's more of a blessing.

Kalinowski:

A blessing. That's what the Simpson family calls Marsha Jordan.

Simpson:

She has the hugest heart, she must, to be willing to invest so much of her time and her life to reach out to families that have sick children and to try to pull it all together for them to ease their pain and their stress, and to try to smooth it over as best they can, she must be a wonderful person.

Kalinowski:

A person who cannot believe that her simple desire to help turned into a nationwide nonprofit charity.

Jordan:

I would like to see us help as many kids as possible throughout the country. We have limited resources, of course, but who knows what the future might bring. And I don't really think about what I would like to see in the future. I just take one day at a time, because I had no idea it would come this far.

Kalinowski:

From Rhinelander to Brodhead and coast to coast, with hugs and a wish of hope from some very special Elves.

Callen:

Bye, Kaitlyn. Merry Christmas.

Loew:

An update to that report, the Simpson family tells us they're doing well and that Kaitlyn is in good health and has begun riding horses. The folks from Callen Construction still keep in contact with the Simpsons.

Loew:

A few updates on some of our recent reports. We brought you a beautiful visual poem two weeks ago by the state poet laureate. It featured the whooping cranes that gave birth early this year to two baby chicks in the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. It was the first time they have done this in 100 years. One of those chicks was lost in September, apparently to predators, but now refuge officials have good news. The parent cranes and the surviving baby whooper left Wisconsin earlier this week to begin their migration south.

In another wildlife-related update, there's been a development in the status of the Butlers Garter Snake. As we told you this fall, state legislators were considering removing the snake from the state's threatened species list. Lawmakers met this Tuesday and rescinded their prior motion to delist the snake. That means the Butlers Garter Snake remains classified as a threatened species in Wisconsin. The committee asked the DNR to return in March of 2007, to report on the species' conservation progress.

You won't find us on the air next week. We'll be taking a break while Wisconsin Public Television features some special programming. Our next episode on Thursday, December 14, will include a report on a land trust that's galvanized an entire county to preserve its natural areas.

Man:

There's lands that ought to be protected right here in your own back yard, and these land trusts have really been formed with that in mind. It empowers people at the local level.

Loew:

We'll meet a pair of artists who are spreading their oversized love of art to the next generation.

MAn:

They'll think about it a year from now, five years from now, and they'll think about it 10 years from now, because forevermore they'll know that they participated on this.

Loew:

And reporter Andy Soth will tell us about some UW-research into a teeny, tiny technology that may be the next big thing.

Soth:

The iPod nano has been the happy recipient of incredible publicity, but proponents of nanotechnology say its potential is infinitely greater than this underfed music box.

Loew:

Until then, here's a breathtaking look of a winter sunset over the Brule River in Douglas county. Thanks for joining us, and for "In Wisconsin," I'm Patty Loew. Have a great week.

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