PRESS RELEASE — The Branch hosted a Demo Day event for the program’s fall session on Tuesday, December 3 at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau. The event included presentations by college students to leadership teams from Church Mutual Insurance Company and the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Wausau River District Inc. Beginning in September, students in The Branch have worked as teams on a pair of innovation challenges for these organizations.
The fall session included 14 students: Laura Guldan and Kaitlyn Kulp of Northcentral Technical College; Jayson Pfister and Jose Vasquez of UW-Stevens Point; Sarah Burnett of UWSP at Marshfield; Dakota Bokath, Ana Capetillo, Merrissa Immerfall, Chris Kloiber, Jennifer Maerz, Jennifer Sodke, Ryan Stevens and Kieran Talley of UWSP at Wausau; and Benton Edmondson of Wausau West.
“Unemployment is extremely low in the Wausau region, so there are significant workforce challenges for businesses.” said Brad Gast, Dean of Business & Industry and Continuing Education at Northcentral Technical College. “The Branch aims to help them find the talented workforce they need.”
The Branch is a workforce development initiative introduced by the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce, Northcentral Technical College and Church Mutual Insurance Company in 2016. The program aims to build business and retain talent in central Wisconsin. The program’s previous Demo Day events, can be viewed on The Branch’s YouTube channel.
Along with Church Mutual Insurance Company and the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce, Ansay & Associates LLC, AROW Global, Incredible Bank, M3 Insurance, North Central Health Care and Westphal Staffing Inc are sponsors of the program.
“The Branch allows students to become engaged with local businesses.” said Dave Eckmann, President/CEO of the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce. “These businesses have challenges which they would like some fresh eyes upon. The Branch gives students real-life experience in our companies. At the same time, these programs give our companies access to the talent that exists in our communities.”
College students are encouraged to apply for The Branch’s spring and fall 2020 sessions. For more information or to register as a student or mentor, visit The Branch’s website. Businesses that are interested in the program can also register projects through the site or contact Brian Otten, marketing manager at the Chamber, at [email protected] or 715-848-5947.
Top photo : Students in The Branch’s fall 2019 session presented their project solutions to the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce and the Wausau River District on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at Northcentral Technical College.
