Students can earn a $500 scholarship during The Branch’s fall session

WAUSAU — Students from a variety of colleges and universities in central Wisconsin will participate in The Branch’s fall session which kicks off on Saturday, October 8 at Northcentral Technical College’s Wausau campus. The Branch is a workforce development initiative introduced by the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce, Northcentral Technical College and Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. in 2016. The Branch teaches collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking as teams work on challenges sponsored by local businesses.

Once again this fall, college students who are accepted into and complete the program will receive a $500 scholarship. Many will qualify for credit at their college, too. The program also invites those who are not students, but who would benefit from this opportunity to ‘upskill,’ to apply for the fall session. Those interested in participating can review the fall schedule and apply on The Branch’s website through Monday, October 3.

“The Branch asks students from around the region to solve complex problems and to be entrepreneurial while connecting to the companies that need this local talent.” said Dave Eckmann, President/CEO of the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce. “We live in a very talent-competitive economy and will for the next 25 years, making this program very important to develop and retain the young members of our community.”

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, including the most recent held in May, can be viewed on The Branch’s YouTube channel.

The spring session included 11 students: Shaun Bohan, Jodi Peters and Cody Weber of Northcentral Technical College; Aaron Baker of UW-Stevens Point; Jasmyn Reckner of UWSP at Marshfield; and Zoe Anderson, Audrey Cleveland, Alexis More, Alexia Nelson, Lisandro Ortiz and Gabe Weiks of UWSP at Wausau.

AROW Global Corp, Ansay & Associates LLC, Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce, Incredible Bank, M3 Insurance, North Central Health Care, Ruder Ware LLSC and Westphal Staffing Inc are sponsors of the program. UWSP at Wausau and the Wausau River District are program partners.

For more information or to register as a coach for a team, visit The Branch’s website. Businesses that are interested in becoming involved with the program can also register projects through the site or contact Lukas Lindner, workforce and programs assistant at the Chamber, at [email protected] or 715-848-5966.