2013 Graduation

More than 700 students graduated from Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical this week. Winona’s graduation ceremony was held Tuesday at Winona State University. Red Wing’s ceremony was Wednesday at Treasure Island. In addition to the ceremony, there were a few other graduation activities that took place, including a guitar show for students to show their hard work, and nurse pinning ceremonies. Photos from all of these events can be seen on the college’s Facebook page.

Professional photography images taken during both the Winona and Red Wing commencement ceremonies will soon be available for purchase from the Jolesch Photography website. Click a link below for your campus.

Winona Commencement

Red Wing Commencement

Winona Nursing

Red Wing Nursing

2013 Outstanding Alumni named

Southeast Technical is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 Outstanding Alumni Awards, Michelle Finholdt for the Red Wing campus and Roger Holland for the Winona campus. The Outstanding Alumni Awards honors alumni who have reached significant achievements in their careers or made significant contributions to their communities and Southeast Technical.

Michelle Finholdt, Red Wing Outstanding Alumna

Michelle Finholdt graduated in 1994 from the Southeast Technical Professional Nanny program, now a division of the Early Childhood Education program. Upon graduation she created the non-profit childcare center, Under the Rainbow. They have grown from four children enrolled on day one when it was located on the Southeast Technical campus, to now, 180 enrolled in their new and expanded building on Technology Drive in Red Wing.

Finholdt says that there is always room for improvement. She is never satisfied with just maintaining the program. "It doesn't matter how long you've been in the business, you are always learning," said Finholdt. Each of her classrooms has an education plan suited for those students. The four to five year old program’s primary focus is to prepare the students for kindergarten. "Every year expectations are a little higher to enter kindergarten," says Finholdt. "All these little ones learn in a different way." In addition to preparing the children for kindergarten, Under the Rainbow focuses on language enrichment and literacy development.

Besides running a growing daycare center, Finholdt is very active in the early education community. Under the Rainbow serves as an intern site for Early Childhood and Nursing students from Southeast Technical; she served for six years on the Board of Directors for Child Care Resource and Referral which serves all of Southeast Minnesota; and currently serves on Southeast Technical's Early Childhood program advisory council.

Roger Holland, Winona Outstanding Alumnus

Roger Holland graduated in 1976 from the Winona Area Technical Institute (Southeast Technical) Tool and Die Program, now known as CNC. After 22 successful years in the industry and during a recession he was laid off. After finding new work, the following year he was laid off again. This time his employer told him why he was being laid off: his computer skills were not up to the level of new graduates coming out of technical colleges. This was the push he needed to return to school for an update. With two children in college and two in high school, his wife, Arlene (who is also an alumna of Southeast Technical) kept the family going while he returned to school and received an Associate of Applied Science degree in Mechanical Design and Drafting. While in school he worked for Trane Company in La Crosse. After completing his degree he took on the role of Machinist Trainer at Trane Company for four years.

When he found out that Southeast Technical (his alma mater) was looking for an instructor in the Machine Tool and Die program (now CNC) he knew it was meant for him. Over the years at Southeast Technical Holland has served on a variety of committees; volunteered to speak and present at various events; is active with MSCF; worked with the Custom Training department to provide ongoing training to area industry; provided continuing education courses for high school Industrial Technology teachers; often made recruiting visits to area high schools; helped move the CNC program to the Airport campus in 2005 and back again in 2012; and used his drafting and design skills to design the floor plan for the new computerized precision machining technology lab at the main campus.

"I like to help. I get a good feeling knowing my efforts have helped someone," said Holland. In addition to an active education and career, he is active in the community through his church, serving on a variety of city boards, booster clubs and as a youth coach. "I've been coaching since 1985," said Holland, adding, "I learned of my love for teaching through coaching."

Holland began working towards his bachelor’s degree in 2003. In 2012, at the age of 56, he completed his coursework and received a Bachelor of Science in Career and Technical Education from Bemidji State University. Most of Holland’s adult life has been dedicated to education in one form or another, either as a student or a teacher. "There is always something to learn, in everything you do," said Holland.

View past Outstanding Alumni Awards Recipients.

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships announced Monday that it granted national accreditation to Southeast Technical's concurrent enrollment program. NACEP accreditation validates the quality of college courses offered in high schools and ensures that the course content and expectations for student work match the standards of the sponsoring post-secondary institution.

"I am ecstatic that our Connect 2 College program earned NACEP’s national accreditation," said President James Johnson of Minnesota State College – Southeast Technical. "This accreditation validates to our partners throughout rural southeast Minnesota of the deep, collaborative relationships our leadership team and faculty have fostered with secondary schools. Students throughout the region benefit from the advanced post-secondary standing they earn by successfully completing our courses."

NACEP Accreditation Committee Chair Becky Carter remarked: "I'm very pleased to recognize Connect 2 College (C2C) at Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical as one of a select group of 89 concurrent enrollment partnerships nationwide accredited through NACEP's extensive peer-review process. Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical has demonstrated to its peers that the college courses it offers in high schools are of the same quality as courses offered on campus."

To earn accreditation from NACEP, concurrent enrollment programs conduct a self-study, document how their programs adhere to NACEP's 17 standards, and are evaluated by peer reviewers from NACEP-accredited programs. NACEP’s standards were developed and refined over many years, serve as a model for quality standards in 15 states, and are adaptable to a wide range of higher education institutions.

Community Connections Golf Tournament and Dinner

Southeast Technical Foundation is now accepting registrations for the 8th Annual Community Connections Golf Tournament and Dinner at Mount Frontenac Golf Course. The proceeds from this event will help support Southeast Technical students in need through scholarships and programmatic initiatives. Each year about 700 students graduate from Southeast Technical. Approximately 80 percent of our graduates stay in the area, and 91 percent find jobs in their chosen fields, contributing their talents to our workforce and community.

Thanks to the many generous contributors to our scholarship funds, the Foundation awarded more than $108,000 in scholarship support to 115 qualified and deserving students in academic year 2012 -2013.

Register or more information

Southeast Technical Student wins "Platform Committee Member of the Year"

The "Platform Committee Member of the Year" honor is given to one student annually by the Minnesota State College Student Association. Jenna Lubinski was nominated for the award by several of her fellow student leaders and then selected by a committee of MSCSA students to receive the honor. The Platform Committee is MSCSA's elected board that recommends their legislative stances for the year.

Lubinski is President of Student Senate and has been very active with the Platform Committee. One of Lubinski's fellow students nominated her because of her leadership and dedication to making sure her fellow students are being heard.

Jenna is a full time student at Southeast Technical, studying Retail and Sales Management. In addition, Jenna serves as Student Senate president on the Winona campus; works as the Southeast representative of the Minnesota State College Student Association (MSCSA); is a DECA member; works in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) on campus; networking with other students; and lobbying for higher education at the state and nations capitals.

Jenna was instrumental in working with her fellow student senate members at the Welcome Back Picnic to register students to vote. In addition she worked tirelessly to reach out to other campuses to make sure their voice was being heard in the MSCSA.

See her acceptance on YouTube

Aaron Paul remembers his aunt playing Motown songs on her acoustic guitar for him when he was a toddler. "Music has always been a part of my life," he said. Since Aaron was 15 years old he has dreamt of building and fixing guitars. Two years ago he came to Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical and completed the Band Instrument Repair program, then enrolled in the Guitar Repair and Building program. After 15 years he is now truly working towards his dream.

Aaron says, "Until you come here and see how it’s done you don’t really put much thought into how it was made." Building his first guitar Aaron remembers, "When it reached that point where it actually started to look like a guitar, I thought, wow! I did this; I made this with my hands." Aaron says you can tell if you have an instrument that is made by hand just by holding it, "The quality is better. I think a hand-made acoustic guitar beats hands down a factory made." Guitar Repair and Building students from Southeast Technical are highly trained. They learn to check the sound by tapping, listening and making precise adjustment for the best possible sound. "It's still always going to come down to a person for that sound," said Aaron about factory built guitars.

Aaron hopes to someday put the skills he's learned in both music programs at Southeast Technical into use in a full scale shop of his own. Running the office will be Tanja Niemi, his now fiancé who is also a student at Southeast Technical in the Administrative Assistant and Supervisory Management programs. In mid-April Aaron performed in the annual Southeast Technical Variety Showcase. During his performance Aaron worked his proposal right into the lyrics of the song. Aaron and Tanja have been together for a couple of years. They had already been planning to get married and had decided to "skip the proposal." He decided not to skip it after all, "She deserved that grand statement and attention." Under a spotlight and in front of more than 150 people he popped the question. Aaron plans to make their wedding bands from wood left over from the guitar he built.

This semester Aaron started building an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar. He has chronicled these builds on his blog, If You Build It, They Will Play. You can see Aaron's hand-made guitars along with about 50 others at the annual Guitar Show on the Red Wing campus. In addition, Aaron inherited that acoustic guitar his aunt used to play for him. "I recently repaired it, so it would play the way it should," he said, adding, "That was a great feeling." Aaron's journal of repairs to this special piece of family history is also featured on his blog.

The Minnesota State College Student Association Instructor of the Year honor is awarded annually to only one instructor chosen from among 47 campuses across the state. Beurskens was nominated for the award by one of his students and then selected by a committee of MSCSA students to receive the honor.

"I for the first time believed in myself because of a teacher that wouldn't let me give up on myself. Because he taught me in order to be a better writer I needed to be a better reader," wrote Southeast Technical student Alyshia Brinkman in her nomination.

Beurskens has taught college writing and literature for nearly 20 years. "He is an incredible instructor, passionate about his students and their writing, well deserved," expressed Jo Poncelet, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, adding "We are lucky to have such amazing faculty!"

Beurskens accepted the award at the MSCSA Spring General Assembly on Saturday, April 20 at the Breezy Point Resort in Breezy Point, Minn.

See his acceptance on YouTube