• A series of presentations to incarcerated youth at the Washington County Detention Center, in which teens will learn about problem-solving strategies, focusing on problem solving, consensus building, and developing resources to achieve positive goals upon release from detention. The purpose of this effort is improve social-emotional learning, goal setting and seeing positive adults as resource to assist in their future success.

• Planning for a West Bend School Dist. (McClane and Jackson schools) Family Engagement Night in collaboration with Washington County Elementary School Counselors. The effort will engage youth in Social Emotional Learning strategies that they will use throughout the year with teamwork being a central theme at schools.

• A series of meetings with Germantown’s Youth Futures Youth Committee where students learn leadership skills in order to design, plan and deliver prevention activities to their middle and high school peers.

• A monthly board meeting (“Germantown Youth Futures”) for Germantown key stakeholders where we collaboratively plan year-round positive youth activities that promote positive peer norms, AOD prevention messaging, and adult/youth connections.

The administrator for the Village of Kewaskum contacted Paul to facilitate a process that would
engage the village’s board and staff in the development of a strategic plan. After meeting to
discuss the needs of the organization, a process was designed and presented to the Village Board.
Through discussion, the Board opted to include a community visioning session to help inform
the strategic planning process. Paul facilitated the public visioning process in August. Then, he
facilitated two planning sessions with the organization’s board and leadership staff.

At the first session, seven staff members reviewed the visioning session results; developed draft
mission and vision statements; identified organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and challenges; and brainstormed goals. At the second session, seven board members and staff
finalized the mission and vision statements, identified values, and refined the goals identified by
staff. Then Paul met with administrator to develop definitions for the values and identified next
steps for plan implementation.

Through evaluation (N=14), 92% of participants agreed that discussing a vision statement assisted
them in understanding the general direction for their organization’s future, 92% agreed discussing
a mission statement helped clarify their role as an organization, and 100% agreed that identifying
and prioritizing goals increased their ability to identify issues and set priorities. Participants
evaluated Paul’s facilitation as a 4.7 on a 5-point Likert Scale (1=poor and 5=excellent). One
participant commented “Difficult crowd. Worked well.” Another commented “Very good. Was not
boring.” A third commented “Paul is great at facilitating these exercises.”

Extension Washington County’s Carol Bralich and Paul Roback were two of the three educators named by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension as recipients of the 2022 Excellence in Education & Outreach Award.

Carol and Paul were honored at UW-Extension’s 2022 All Colleague Conference held this week in Madison. These awards, presented by Dean Karl Martin, acknowledge Carol’s and Paul’s exceptional performance in their work for Extension through teaching, outreach, collaboration, and public service.

Selection criteria for the Excellence in Education & Outreach Award included

• High impact of programming and outreach on intended audience
• Passion for learning with a positive attitude
• Commitment to expanding access, outreach, and inclusion in programming 
• Characteristics of innovation, adaptability, and flexibility
• Effective relationships at multiple levels (learners, colleagues, partners, etc.) 
• Enthusiasm for the purpose, vision, and values of Extension

Congratulations to Carol and Paul!!