2WLI0609HD_Transcript_Live and Let Learn

-  This week on Wisconsin Life: Meet a teacher whose classroom is a barn, a woman who uplifts her community through language and dance, a creative sculptor... of paper, meet a composer who creates music for television. It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life! 
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-  Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part by Alliant Energy, Lowell and Mary Peterson, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

-  Hello, and welcome to Wisconsin Life. I'm Angela Fitzgerald. I'm at West De Pere High School exploring urban agriculture with students and faculty. This Brown County high school partnered with a local non-profit called The Farmory to bring aquaponics indoors and into the classroom.

Aquaponics is a growing system that combines aquaculture-- which is raising fish-- with hydroponics or growing plants in water.
[gurgling water]

Both the plants and fish benefit from this system as the wastewater from the fish gets processed, then pumped up to the beds, becoming food for the plants. 
[snazzy music]

As part of the school's curriculum, students get hands-on experience running the aquaponics system and have the opportunity to share their harvest with peers.

We'll check out the growing system and greenhouse here later on.

But first, we head to Medford to see how a teacher brings agriculture and animals into the classroom.
 
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-  Main Street in Medford looks like many rural communities... home to the Taylor County courthouse... and is surrounded by farm country.

-  Medford is fairly rural.

-  So, maybe it's not surprising when you walk into Lisa Kopps' high school class that you find this. 
[chirping]

-  If you have a chick right now, can you perch it on your finger? You can see how they have the desirable instinct to just want to perch.

-  I did not grow up on a farm. Ever since I was little, I had a really big passion for animals. Chicks are flock animals, right?

-  It's a passion Lisa passes on to her students, and most of them didn't grow up on a farm either.

-  I'll have a class of about 25 to 30. Only about 2 to 3 kids are still on that production farm. So youth, even in this rural community, are almost two generations removed from that farm.

-  Putting these kids back on the farm... is just steps away from their traditional classroom.

-  All right, hey, you guys, let's go to the barn.

-  It's a really fun thing to be able to come to school and know that, "Hey, you're going to the barn today." 
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-  This is the Medford High School barn.

-  They're expected to be over here when class starts and they get back to the building when their next class starts.

-  We have chickens, a calf, pig, sheep, rabbit, and one cat. 
[scratch]

They're very comfortable with us. Hi!

-  There you go. Loosen it and get it over two ears.

-  Lisa saw the problem...

-  If we expect farmers to continue in this next generation, we need to teach them. Good job!

-  And the solution.

-  Good girl.

-  We need to show them what tasks, literally, need to be done to be that farmer. This is our bull calf we have here at school. It's more engaging for students to learn if you actually have the animal. And this barn is engaging. 
[bull calf whuffles]

-  You can put some more feed into here. Good job, girls

-  Chicken: Tuk-tuk-kah.

-  They have to collect eggs every day. Chickens, they lay eggs about every two days. And we need to go collect those. We sell those at school. They get a grade for doing chores. That's part of their class expectations: that they wear rubber boots, and they get in there and use a pitchfork, and they feed them, they water them, and they move them around, they lead them.

Walk him down the road, stretch his legs a little bit.

-  It's a lesson most of these students won't get at home... or anywhere else.

-  Lisa Kopp: This project is extremely unique. There are not a lot of schools that have a farm. So, the farm itself is run by high schoolers. It's owned by the district.

-  As the number of Wisconsin farms continues to dwindle... Lisa sees this hands-on classroom becoming all the more important.

-  And just get used to that being on her head. Yep, so if you want to put it on her feet.

-  We consume vegetables, we consume meat, and do you know where your meat is coming from?

-  We need to show the students that "Hey, some of these tasks-- raising sheep, raising pork, raising beef cattle-- you can do on a small scale at home." This is Marvin. He's a red and white Holstein. And he is growing really well. There are so many life lessons that can be learned on a farm setting. And I'm trying to replicate that farm setting here, in this school farm.

-  If one barn is good, two barns must be better.

-  We're building a new barn where my classroom will be next year. So, we're going to have to already expand the barn that we just finished building because of the student numbers going up, and the demand for another Ag teacher. Can you see how, over time, the lamb, it's kind of getting it? It learns to not fight it, is relaxing a little bit more.

-  Lisa sees it as securing the future for farming and the community that rallied around her dream.

-  Oh, my gosh. The Medford community has been so helpful. And they do see the need for this education because a lot of the youth are not on the farm. They're not thinking of these career paths and their future.

-  I actually donated six pigs to this project because I feel strongly about it. I'm really happy that she made it happen. She's such a huge role model.

-  It is for our next generation. And if we don't show them how to do these things, they're not going to do it.

-  Our next story takes us to a composer's studio in Janesville to see how television finds its rhythm.

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-  I've always wanted to do this.

Just always been drawn to it. I love it so much.

When I'm just creating, it just comes. It just, you know, just goes out. Then I don't think very much about it.

Well, when you tell somebody that, "Yeah,” you score film, "That I make music for film and television," it's kind of like, "Well, you're not in Hollywood, so I don't understand that." Like, "How are you doing that from Janesville, Wisconsin?" 
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I think there's... a picture of me in a little sailor suit, and I'm like two years old, at the piano. I've just always been drawn to it. I love it. I was obsessed with this. I was constantly at the piano. I had a little TV that had a video player in it, so I would actually put it right on top, and I would watch movies and compose, and then try to sync them up, and then rewind the videotape, and then press 'Play,' and then watch it. I would do that all day.

I just always wanted to do music for film. I thought it was so important the role that music has in any film. I started reaching out to a bunch of music supervision agencies, and just email after email, and it started to happen. And so, I started getting busier and busier and busier. And I... You know, I'm so responsible, I turned some of these huge-- these unbelievably huge gigs down because I was in school, pursuing social work. So, I think I got some opportunities for the Super Bowl one year, but I decided, "Well, I've got this paper that's due tomorrow. And so, I'll probably just do the paper." You know? And so I turned some of these opportunities down, and then I realized later on that that's a crazy thing to do and that I should totally go full into this, and, you know, 100% jump in and pursue my dreams.

One of the most well-known ones, of course, is the Super Bowl spot that I did, and that was featuring Kim Kardashian in a T-Mobile commercial. 
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-  These are the batteries. The tab makes it super simple.

-  I did one that was about hearing aids.

-  How does that sound?

- [man exhales audibly]

- Duracell saves the day. 
[with great emotion]

-  I think so... That's amazing.

- [almost inaudibly]
 "Thank you."

- scores,Now with Wisconsin From the Air, it's a little different.

There's not a lot of dialogue, so the music can't hide beneath anything. It's pronounced.
 
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It's out in the front, you know? It's right next to the picture, so you have to treat it differently.

We're trying to guide, you know, the viewer to feel certain emotions or to, I don't know, solicit certain responses. So, my job then is to take the tones, take the feelings that the producer, the editor, the director were going for, and then have it make sense for the actual film. 
[majestic instrumental]
 
I like the rushing to create something awesome overnight and send it out because you don't have time to think, you don't have time to pick everything apart and be a perfectionist. I think that's cool, and I like that. But I think what I'm really going to be trying to get into is doing more scores because I love the accomplishment of creating something grand.

-  I'm at the greenhouse in West De Pere High School learning about urban agriculture and aquaponics. This is the aquaponics system students maintain as part of their curriculum. I got a chance to learn more about their program and how it all got started.

The idea for an aquaponics system in a high school started with an important local partnership. Agriculture teacher Jeff Neuser knows that history.

-  So, the aquaponics system that we have here at West De Pere was created, through a partnership, by The Farmory. So, The Farmory is a local organization that wanted to do a movement for to help answer the global food crisis.

-  Claire Thompson of The Farmory explains more.

-  A big component of our program is education. We work with youth groups. We work with school districts, high school, and elementary school districts, university and technical colleges, to try and expand STEM and agricultural education opportunities to those youth. As well, we provide job training and education opportunities to adults through internships, apprenticeships, and volunteer opportunities. We started with the kernel of an idea. The concept is downstairs in our first pilot test system. We have a second system at West De Pere High School, which we refined our ideas and our materials and our processes. And now we're planning a buildout of this facility, which is a 20,000-square foot former armory building.

-  Much like The Farmory, the aquaponics program at West De Pere High School continues to grow.

-  So the future is awesome because this system is brand new. It is fairly new to the industry and we are working out kinks with it. The whole industry is trying to figure out ways to better the involvement of it. So, we have done everything from growing the different types of microgreens to using it in our culinary program to one day, hopefully, be able to produce enough to use in our lunch program. And one day, maybe even be able to create enough that we could sell and create a local market. 
[snazzy music]

-  Teachers aren't the only ones excited about opportunities this food system offers.

-  So, what do you do? What is your role within the system?

-  We trim down the microgreens when they get tall enough. We keep them stocked for the nutrients from the fish waste within the system.

-  So, I heard that The Farmory was coming in and they offered to bring it to our school and I thought it was a really good idea and interested me.

-  Nice! Well, how does your school plan to use the microgreens that are grown?

-  Currently, we use some of the microgreens in our culinary arts classes. And then, soon we want to get to the point where we can use some of the microgreens and the fish in our lunch program at school.

-  Wow, so providing some tasty treats to students.

-  Right.

-  Tasty treats that might spark a lifetime connection to food. And what are your next steps, your plans once you graduate?

-  I plan to go to Platteville as of now for Ag Education so, to be an agriculture teacher.

-  So, coming full circle.

-  Right.

-  It takes a lot of hard work to bring these delicate plants to life.

Now, we leave the plants behind to meet an artist in Algoma who finds inspiration from the world around her.

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-  And I'm gonna go right to the bottom and come across the bottom and lift it straight up.

-  For most people, paper is paper. It brings the news or carries a message.

-  Actually, you can see how the paper really glosses itself. It becomes very, very shiny because all the fibers are lining up and lying down.

-  If people connect it to art, it's that paper can contain it in the form of a drawing or a story or music notes on a sheet. For Kirsten Christianson, paper is art.

-  Okay, now I'm gonna snap it on one side, tap it like that so it comes off the screen, and lift it. And there it is and that's a good sheet. I know that when I'm making the paper it's going to develop into this creative thing.

-  This is not a hydraulic press, but it's a pretty darn good press.

-  Most paper comes from trees cut down and trucked to the mill.

-  Should had a pine branch in there.

-  For Kirsten, paper comes from old rags, flax, and cattails by the river. 
[water swishes]

-  A combination of cotton rag, what's called abacá, which is banana leaves, that are very... have really strong, long fibers.

-  Paper can bind us to our daily reality: to-do lists and work reports.

-  If anybody sees a stack of handmade paper, it isn't like newspaper. You know, it's so different. The texture, the thickness, the size, the shape.

-  For Kirsten, paper is uplifting,

-  Well, I think paper is meditative: the craft of it, the rhythm of it, the all-absorbing quality of it, and yet, it's very light,

-  Especially compared to her early work.

-  My medium was carving stone, and I loved marble, particularly.

-  She remains a sculptor, but now with paper.

-  I was rethinking things, wanting to be lighter and more buoyant about my life. 
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-  Buoyancy is a repeating theme in Kirsten's life...

-  Yes, boats, and water, and wind, and just that thing of being out in the water and having, you know, no tethers or anything.

-  She loves to sail and lives in Algoma, near Lake Michigan.

-  Well, I love the sound of the water.

-  But I think there's something to water; looking into depths and seeing layers and reflection, and color reflected in the water. 
[swishing water]
I'm just going to stir it a little bit. I'm just going to move over here a bit and then get right in front and then I'll...

I think that it builds a dialogue with you. It's you and your hands, and the water, but the fiber, and if you're using natural materials, that is really a dialog. It isn't just you.

-  For most people, paper is flat.

-  My background being sculpture, I like to cast with it.

-  Kirsten uses her old techniques and her new paper medium to make art that comes alive and seems ready to float away.

-  It's called, "Canoe Aloft."

-  Even when working in two dimensions, her ideas reach beyond the edge.

-  When I'm doing that flatwork. I am creating that paper, but it doesn't stay flat for long. I mean, in the sense that you're building layers. So, there is a dimension to it.

-  I'd love to have extensions beyond the four corners, the four sides.

-  For most people, paper is a means to an end. For Kirsten Christianson, paper is a process, with endless possibilities.

-  So, paper is... I think it is innovative. You're making it, and then you think, "Oh, I could try this. "I could add this. How would this work?"

Oh, it's very rewarding... very rewarding.

-  Art can be a personal journey or it can bring people together. That's what we discovered in Madison where a woman works to connect her community. 
[Children singing in Hmong]
[tambourine]

-  If our kids know who they are, they're happy with who they are, they don't have to ask themselves this question, "Do I want to be American or do I want to be Hmong?"

-  On a warm spring night in Madison, kids dressed in traditional Hmong costumes perform for a captivated audience.
[clang, clang]

It's a celebration of a project started by Mai Zong Vue along with her husband, Peng Her. And it may the only one of its kind in the country.

-  Tcha!

-  Ha.

-  Tcha!

-  Ha.

-  Remember to make the "h" come out. 
[children annunciate in Hmong]

-  Yeah.

-  The Hmong Language and Culture Enrichment Program resembles a full-time school.

-  We have close to 60 kids this year. Six to thirteen. Yeah, all the cute ages. 
[chuckles]

-  This six-week program immerses students in Hmong language. 
[student speaking Hmong]

-  And Hmong culture.

-  That's before the wedding, right?

-  Mai Zong helped launch the program in 2013. It was a direct response to Madison School District data showing Hmong students were doing poorly.

-  As parents, we were just shocked. What's going to happen to this community?

And what's happening to the legacy that our parents left us? 
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-  Mai Zong's family came to Wisconsin when she was 14 years old.

-  Our parents taught us to work hard. They fought in the war because they believe in freedom. And made lots of sacrifice to bring us here.

People like myself, I call it the "1.5 generation."

-  The children of this 1.5 generation have only known America. And they have to reconcile two different worlds.

-  In the Hmong community, we value families and communities as a whole. And that can be complex for our kids who don't understand our culture. They're raised to be quiet and be respectful but then at school, they're not being noticed.

-  Anything else you want to share?

-  I would feel kind of, like, scared, embarrassed, maybe?

-  The kids having that sense of belonging, working with people that understand them. I think makes a huge difference in terms of that eagerness to learn and that desire to go to school. 
[teacher speaking Hmong]
 Yes?

-  How do I say, like, I'm wearing...

-  
[teacher speaking Hmong]

-  Girl: Okay.

-  Ready? Go, go, go.

[laughing]
 
[speaking Hmong]
 
[teacher speaking Hmong]
 
[student speaking Hmong]
 
[teacher praising child in Hmong]

-  The Hmong Language and Culture Enrichment Program is designed to address the academic and identity gap for Hmong children. It does it with a combination of paid staff and a steady flow of volunteers, often former students.

-  I really just want to give back to my community and help these kids learn more about themselves and their identity.

-  Make new friends, get to know each other, make them realize that they have a bigger family than just themselves.

-  And the program is having a real impact.

-  I feel a lot more confident talking about myself and my culture ever since I've been here.

-  I feel like I could show my Hmong instead of holding it in.

-  I'm very proud of what I'm doing. I'm aiming for and hoping that this legacy that our parents left will blossom because we fed it through our children, who can pay it forward to the rest of the country.

-  I've definitely learned a lot about what it takes to grow delicate produce in an urban environment. If you'd like to learn more about the West De Pere High School aquaponics program or any stories you've seen here today, visit WisconsinLife.org.

And we're excited to tell you about a new project set to launch November 22nd. Wisconsin Life Food Traditions is a multimedia exploration of food traditions and identity found throughout our state. Here's a sneak peek. Wisconsin is very important to me. It's a part of who I am. Growing up as a Mexican Wisconsinite, as a Mexican American, you're always stuck in an in-between because you don't know if you fully belong to like the Mexican background or to the American background or what that even means. There are many commonalities between my hometown in Mexico and my hometown here. We share the love of cheese, and hopefully someday, here in Racine, I am able to open an Ag business in which people from my hometown can produce artisan cheese and coexist and share this cheese at the cheese fairs with other Wisconsinites.

I continue to hold these transnational ties that connect me to the land here and there. So, for me, home is... both.

-  As always, we want to hear from you so send us your ideas at WisconsinLife@wpt.org.

I'm your host, Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin Life. Eat well!

So, now some people may know what microgreens are. I personally don't. So what are microgreens exactly?

-  A small leafy plant. 
[both laughing]

-  Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part by Alliant Energy, Lowell and Mary Peterson, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.