- Announcer: The following program
is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
- Angela: Coming up on Wisconsin Life :
Meet the organizer of an all-girls construction camp.
[upbeat music]
An illustrator helping kids discover their superpowers,
[upbeat music]
a furniture maker channeling Frank Lloyd Wright,
[upbeat music]
and a mixed martial arts fighter.
[upbeat music]
It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life !
[upbeat music]
- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hello, this is Wisconsin Life
and I'm Angela Fitzgerald.
It's time for me to get to work
as I join a crew from Operation Fresh Start to rehab a home
from the inside out.
This project is in the village of Oregon,
where everyone here is hard at work,
dry-walling, painting,
and doing everything it takes
to make this house a home.
Operation Fresh Start is a Madison non-profit
that offers education, mentoring,
and employment training for young adults ages 16 to 24.
Through various programs, participants can learn a trade,
gain work experience,
or complete their high school diploma.
This home in Oregon is one of several partnership projects,
bringing improvements to local communities
while offering hands-on experience.
Before I get my tools,
let's meet another hard-working Wisconsinite
as we travel to Madison
to meet a carpenter getting girls
engaged and interested in construction.
[pleasant music]
[guitar strumming]
- When I was young, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
What I saw there were a whole lot of adults around me
who hated their jobs.
And I did not want to hate what I did.
And so for me, this is perfect.
My name is Sandy Thistle.
I'm co-program director of Construction and Remodeling
at Madison College and organizer of CampBUILD.
[saw scraping]
[tape measure clicks]
[saw whirring]
CampBUILD, right now, after our first year,
is a Girl Scout camp
delivered to introduce girls of every age
to the skilled trades
and in particular, welding, electrical,
carpentry, and design.
So, this year, that was our focus.
And every single camper experienced all of those things.
[saw scraping]
[upbeat music]
CampBUILD
ranges from Kindergarten to 12th graders.
It's divided into five different age groups.
[drill whirring]
They built birdhouses.
They actually got to drill some of the holes.
[drill whirring]
And then, built toolboxes
and sawed with a handsaw.
[saw squeaks]
The middle schoolers really were amazing.
I taught every single middle schooler
how to use a circular saw safely.
And they blew my mind.
I underestimated them.
And I don't think I tend to underestimate girls,
but they were focused, they were brave,
they were patient, they listened really well,
they helped each other, and
holy cow, were they amazing.
[drill whirring]
[upbeat music]
One of my fallback activities is
how you find power in your swing driving a nail.
And really, it's 'cause
you get to wail on things really hard
and people don't get a chance to do that very often.
So giving them a little guidance around that
feels useful and it feels like fun.
[hammer pounding]
I am always thinking how do we broaden
who represents carpenters?
And believing that in order
to see themselves in this role,
girls need to see women who do this work.
Gender, it's such a construct, right?
We all do what we want and what makes us happy
and what we're good at.
And we each have a niche
where we have a strength
and how they fit together is really brilliant.
[pleasant music]
I'm hoping that I'm around long enough
to establish CampBUILD and that there continues
to be a need and that the world expands
and we really change the shape
of who does this work out in the field.
For me, this has been an incredibly satisfying career.
I love being a carpenter.
I love so many parts of it.
And I feel lucky to have found it.
And I think it's hard to find for girls.
- There we go.
- Sandy: And I want it to be easier for them to find
so that they could potentially--
I'm gonna flush this end up--
love what they do to the same level that I do.
[pleasant music]
- Angela: Next up, we head to Germantown,
where an illustrator is giving kids
a new super identity.
[upbeat music]
[eccentric music]
- Bryan Dyer doesn't have a superpower,
but he's always loved stories about people who do.
- Bryan: Superheroes, in particular, were my thing growing up.
Like, for the longest time,
I was gonna be a comic book artist.
[pen scratching]
- Angela: And like those heroes,
he planned to use his abilities for good.
- I thought, later on in life, when I'm a millionaire artist
and I have, you know, money to burn,
and I've got all this free time,
I would love to do art for kids in the hospital.
- Angela: Like many origin stories,
there were a few hiccups along the way.
After college, Bryan struggled
to find steady illustration work until one day
he had a conversation with his sister.
- I explained to her this idea I'd had for
creating superhero illustrations for kids in hospitals.
And once I gave her that whole pitch, she thought,
"Well, why don't you just do it?"
- Angela: Bryan created 'You Are The Hero.'
It's a non-profit organization
that creates superhero portraits
for kids with chronic illnesses, free of charge.
[Legos clattering]
Kids like Jayden Hebberth.
Jayden loves Legos
and talking about his favorite superheroes.
- Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk.
[uplifting music]
- Angela: At 15 months old, Jayden was diagnosed
with retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer.
He endured seven months of treatment
before being declared cancer-free.
[uplifting music]
His right eye had to be removed.
- Kristin Hebberth: And I sent in a picture
and he's like, "What kind of powers do you want?
And so, we're like, of course, like bionic, amazing vision
'cause he's only got one eye, so.
And then, like, really cool glasses.
- Angela: Bryan lets the kids pick their hero's name,
colors, and superpowers.
He takes care of the rest.
[triumphant music] Meet Super Jay!
- And, I like, just started bawling.
I was like, "Oh, my gosh, Jayden, look at it.
It looks just like you."
And Jayden was like, "Oh, my gosh, that's so cool!"
- Seeing him and his mom just embrace it
and saying, you know, "He's got the super eye,
and he's got these super goggles,"
that was a really fun one to do.
- Angela: Keegan Denecke was seven years old
when she started having severe shoulder pain.
Her parents took her to a doctor for testing.
- Paul Denecke: So, we went in to the pediatrician
and he mentioned blast cells and leukemia,
and those are the only two things that we heard.
Everything else is just a blur.
[somber music]
- Angela: Keegan spent two years and two months
in treatment for leukemia.
- Keegan: It's a lot of bumps
and there's a lotta high points,
but there's also a lotta low points,
and it's hard, but you gotta battle it out.
- Angela: A battle that was no match
for Keegan's alter ego,
[triumphant music] Star Girl!
- My favorite colors at the time
were purple and pink,
so I chose those and yellow for the star.
[pencil scratching]
- Angela: Keegan's been cancer-free since December 2015.
Her dad says Bryan's drawing helped them
through the hard times.
- I don't know that people fully understand
that when you're going through that treatment,
the little things mean so much.
So, to see something like that,
to see your daughter as a superhero,
is really uplifting.
It's really a cool thing.
- Your illness is not your identity.
You know, you are the hero.
This is what you are.
This illustration,
this is how everybody sees you
and this is how you should see yourself.
[uplifting music]
- Angela: Liam Kirsch saw himself as a dinosaur.
At 13-months-old, his fussy behavior worried his parents
so much that they took him to the hospital.
- Stephanie Kirsch: It ended up being a grapefruit-sized tumor,
and so we were admitted that day.
It took a couple weeks,
like a week or so, to figure out what kind of cancer it is,
and then that's when he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.
- Angela: A cancer that affects muscle tissue.
Liam received chemotherapy and entered remission,
only to see the cancer return.
That's when he became
Bryan's first 'You Are The Hero' drawing.
Choosing a name was easy.
[heroic music]
Dino Liam, the cancer crusher.
- Yeah, he loved it.
He loved it 'cause then in his head, as a kid,
you know, he really thinks he is a dinosaur in a way.
[laughs]
- Angela: While Bryan's drawing provided a boost,
Liam's cancer battle was only beginning.
After another year in remission,
it came back a third time.
- Joe Kirsch: This was kinda what he was used to,
was his whole life was at the hospital
and dealing with it,
and he handled it,
handled it like a champ and--
- It almost just became our normal routine
after a while though.
You know, it's just how we lived.
[somber music]
- Angela: The tumors multiplied
and Liam was moved into hospice care.
On August 13th, 2017, Liam passed away.
He was four-years-old.
[somber music]
- Stephanie: He passed away and we had to follow the hearse.
You know, the hearse came and picked him up
and then we followed that to the funeral home.
That was it.
And then, you have to turn around and go home.
No, it's terrible.
[wind blowing]
- Angela: His parents made sure his spirit lived on
by putting Bryan's artwork
on Liam's tombstone.
[somber music]
- Obviously, I am incredibly...
humbled by that,
by their choice to do that.
And I visited it myself.
It took me about a year before I could finally muster up
the kind of emotional fortitude to go and see it.
I went by myself.
And it was a very emotional experience for me.
Like, I just kind of stood there quietly for a while.
[somber music]
- The girls will be in the car and we'll drive past
and they just wave out the window and say, "Hi, Liam."
So, it's...
Really thankful for it.
[somber music]
- Angela: It's a tribute to the impact of You are the Hero.
- Bryan: The response from parents
and response from the kids, in particular,
like, that's why I do this.
- Angela: In almost five years,
Bryan's drawn more than 140 illustrations.
- Paul Denecke: Every time I see him, I thank him
and thank him for what he does
and what he did, not only for my daughter
but for all these kids.
- Stephanie Kirsch: We just think it gives them kind of an outlet
to you know, see themselves in a different form
and see the strength that they do have.
- It just lifts their spirits up
and it lifts everybody's spirits up.
Like, who doesn't wanna be a superhero?
- Angela: So, while Bryan may not be more powerful
than a locomotive, or able to leap tall buildings
in a single bound, he's used his talent
to help those who need it the most.
And that's pretty super.
- It is an absolute joy to work on this stuff.
I sit here, four years later,
and I can honestly say to myself,
"I can't imagine doing anything else with my life."
[inspirational music]
- I'm in Oregon, rehabbing a home
with Operation Fresh Start.
The work being done here is a perfect example
of the program's positive and long-lasting effects.
[upbeat music]
Operation Fresh Start provides opportunities
for young adults to build skills, pursue education,
and work with mentors in the Dane County area.
Executive Director Greg Markle is helping the group
rehab a home in Oregon.
- Our mission is to provide disconnected youth
a path to self-sufficiency.
So, it's helping young people achieve
a high school diploma, a driver's license,
and move on to
a career where they can take care of themselves,
and hopefully, a family someday. - Very nice.
Are there certain career paths
that they are getting some experience with?
- Yeah, so part of our biggest program, called Legacy,
is they're actually doing work in the community,
building affordable housing or doing major conservation work
on Dane County or City of Madison parks.
- It's great that they get that hands-on experience, though.
- Yes, and they get that experience of being successful
and building something which is going to be there
and doing something which helps the communities.
We actually are building this
in partnership with an organization called
Wisconsin Partnership for Affordable Housing.
It will go to a family
who needs affordable housing in the end.
And we're doing all the construction,
so we're gutting the place out,
rebuilding walls, having some folks come in
to do some electrical work,
and in the end, it'll be a nice house for a family.
[upbeat music]
- Angela: Katherine Kamp, the executive director
of the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development
knows how important this work is.
- This has been about 10-year relationship.
I think it's one of those perfect collaborations
between non-profit organizations.
We wanna promote access to affordable housing.
Part of that is making sure
that we have enough construction workers
in the future to be able to do that work
because that's part of what keeps housing affordable.
- And so, what is the most, I guess,
enjoyable or gratifying part
of seeing a project to fruition?
- Katherine: I love to see the kids at work,
learning how to do things.
And the pride that they have
in the work that they've done is pretty phenomenal.
- Angela: A pride that shows in the efforts
of these young men and women.
Are there other programs for students who maybe
aren't leaning toward building homes?
- Yeah, so the young people get some experience on that
where they learn some hard skills,
but really the soft skills of employability.
And then, we help them move into whatever direction
that the young person may want to go.
A lot of our young people actually end up
going into the healthcare field.
Yeah, after doing siding when it's 20 degrees out, [Angela laughs]
a nice job in a hospital sounds pretty good.
- Like, this may not be the life for me.
Let me try something else. - Exactly.
So, we help them figure that out through some counseling
and sort of some interest surveys.
And then we help them move in whatever direction they want to,
as far as their career.
- Angela: From building trades to life skills,
Operation Fresh Start is making its mark on the community.
- The impact on the youth is huge.
A young person coming to us generally hasn't had
a lot of success recently in their life.
And may be thought of from the community
as someone who can't have success.
What we see is them turn it around
and understand that they can be successful
and that they can build things
and that they can build their life
and build a good future for themselves.
[upbeat music]
[people laughing]
- It's a lot of hard labor,
but the payoff makes it all worth it.
We now catch up with a woman in Milwaukee
who builds on a much smaller scale
as she crafts furniture
using the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright.
[piano music]
- I always fantasized about working
on a Frank Lloyd Wright product or building.
And I never imagined in my entire life
that this would happen, but it has happened.
My name is Nicole Atkinson
and I've been building the furniture
for the Frank Lloyd Wright Burnham Block in Milwaukee.
Frank Lloyd Wright is the most famous American architect,
but he likes to say, "Why stop there?"
He says, "I'm the most famous architect, hands down." [laughs]
The Burnham Block is a series of six houses
on one block and they were built in 1915.
The idea behind it was that this would be like a spec block,
a show block for building houses for middle-class people.
[piano music]
You could pick out your floor plan.
The lumber would be pre-cut and shipped to your site.
You know, a carpenter
with lesser skills could put it together.
So you could literally flip through your catalog,
pick your design, so we're really lucky
in having all of those images that show the furnishings.
Because his plan was to sell furniture
to all these houses as well.
[saw whirring]
I went to school for mechanical design
and my first job was at a furniture company in Oshkosh.
[saw whirrs]
There were a bunch of grouchy, old German craftsmen
at that factory, and they'd teach me things.
One of the gentlemen would say,
"I don't lend my tools to anybody, but..."
And then, he'd lend me tools to take home
and I started building furniture in my apartment.
Just kept building and building over the years.
They sent out a post looking for tour guides
for the Burnham Block.
I signed up.
They saw my background and then invited me
to be on the interiors board.
Figuring out what furnishings would go in the house.
They were working with another woodworker
and I saw that the work that he was doing,
and I thought, you know, "You guys,
you need to hire me, we can do this more affordably."
And I've been working for them ever since.
The group that's restoring this
own five of the six houses right now.
Smallest house, called the B1,
has been fully restored inside and out.
So, we're basically
following Frank Lloyd Wright's plans to the tee.
We even have some of his drawings from a hundred years ago,
so we've got the drawings for the table and benches,
the icebox, some of the--
the table and chairs that were in there.
I don't have free reign, as far as the museum house.
So, the second one that we're doing is one of the duplexes.
So, that's been restored on the exterior.
They're currently working on the interior.
And then, that's the one
that we're gonna be furnishing for an Airbnb
to help support the restoration of the rest of the block.
The beds are gonna be queen size and twin size
as opposed to what would have been the size in 1915.
We're gonna hide a mini-fridge
inside Frank Lloyd Wright's original drawing of an icebox.
So we're kind of having one foot in 1915
and one foot in 2019.
They used American Sweet Gumwood,
which at the time was a very inexpensive wood.
It was easy to get.
And what they did is they stained it to look like cherry.
[saw whirring]
So, I convinced the interiors board
to just go with cherry because that's what his intent was,
so the pieces I'm making now are almost all cherry.
[orchestral music]
There's a duplex right next door
that I've been taking things over as I get them done,
storing them there.
So, there's 26 pieces that I'm working on.
[orchestral music]
I think everything I make now
has some kind of Frank Lloyd Wright twist to it.
This has been a labor of love.
The work that I've put into this has been a dream come true.
[orchestral music]
[upbeat music]
- Angela: For our final story,
we journey to Arcadia to meet a father
with a special talent.
[upbeat music]
- Felipe: Can I come in too?
- Princesa: Yeah.
- Angela: Princesa clearly relishes playtime
with her father, Felipe.
It's very different
from how she sees him playing at the gym.
[energetic music]
Felipe Martinez Donis is an undefeated
mixed martial arts fighter.
- Felipe: Six and O amateur.
I just found out today I'm the number one in Wisconsin.
- Angela: Those who know him wonder
how such a gentle soul does so well in a fighting sport.
- Felipe: A lot of people do ask me that.
They don't picture me being a different person
in the cage, you know. [audience cheering]
- Angela: The cage represents freedom for Felipe,
who fled desperate circumstances in Guatemala.
- Felipe: My flag up there, you know,
for everyone to look at it.
I am a citizen of this country now,
but like, looking at the Guatemalan flag,
it just reminds me of where I am from.
- Angela: His family had to escape the destruction
of a hurricane.
- It just left us with nothing.
And my dad took a great risk.
- Angela: Thousands were displaced by
the hurricane and flooding that struck Guatemala
five weeks after Katrina.
At Felipe's family farm, it destroyed the crops
that Felipe's father had gone into debt to plant.
- My dad had to borrow a lot of money.
He wasn't able to pay that back,
so they were, it was actually people looking for my dad.
- Angela: Fearing for his life, he crossed Mexico
by bus and by foot.
- Felipe: It took him about two to three months.
- Angela: At the border, he asked for refugee status.
- The judge granted him an asylum.
This is my dad.
- Angela: When Felipe was 15, his father sent for him.
- He is a great man.
I could never be able to pay him
everything that he's done for us.
- Angela: But it wasn't easy moving to Arcadia
in snowy Wisconsin.
- Felipe: We came in the middle of the winter around February.
February 12th, and it was just snowing like crazy.
No friends because anywhere you go,
you had to speak the language.
And my dad said, okay, you guys came here for a reason.
You guys came here to better yourselves.
- Angela: Which Felipe did by throwing himself
into all kinds of school activities,
especially wrestling.
- I didn't know a single thing about what the sport even was
and the coaches were very helpful.
- Angela: At the time, Felipe was also wrestling
with learning a new language.
- Go to the legs, how to go to the head.
And then, when he said go to the head,
I'd go to the legs.
As I was learning English, I was learning wrestling.
I had to get uncomfortable and get out of my zone.
I was always asking for help.
If you're afraid to ask for help,
then you're not gonna get anywhere.
And that's what I've learned.
- Angela: It's still that support from others
that drives Felipe to succeed.
- Oh, yeah.
- Felipe: I mean, teammates, my God.
But everyone that I work with here
is out to make me better every day that I come through.
Just to feel your hand being raised
after everything you've done, you've worked through.
All the work that you put in with your coaches
and your teammates, and to get that reward
of all that work that you put in.
It's cool to me.
[pleasant music]
- Until our next adventure,
I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin life .
If you'd like to learn more about the people and places
you've seen today,
including Operation Fresh Start,
visit WisconsinLife.org .
If you know amazing people or places around the state,
share with us by emailing stories@WisconsinLife.org .
That's a wrap, everybody.
[upbeat music]
- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.