Matthew Wettach bound for boys state

A pair of Mt. Pleasant High School juniors are heading to the American Legion's Boys State convention, set for June 10-15, at Camp Dodge in Johnston.
The American Legion Bob Tribby Post #58 named Matthew Wettach and Jack Thomas as the two selectees for 2007.
According to member Dean King, the post's selection committee takes recommendations from its members, school counselors and other community sources to find two quality young men for Boys State. He said part of the search criteria includes students who are community-minded, exhibit leadership and good character and are academically sound.
"We try to pick the cream of the crop from the junior class," King said, "and in these two I think we did it." (...)
Wettach is the son of Drs. Steve and Mary Wettach and grandson of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Wettach, all of Mt. Pleasant.
He is a member of the National Honor Society and a member of the Rotary Interact Club, represents students on the Mt. Pleasant Community Library board and is on the student council.

His extracurricular school activities include chamber choir, symphonic band, show choir and jazz band. He has appeared in numerous school and community presentations, most recently as Professor Fenton in the school-sponsored play, "Bullshot Crummond."
Wettach has received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, National Day Military Gold Award, Daily Point of Light National Award, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award and the Presidential Academic Award.

He has been honored by Gov. Chet Culver and Rep. Dave Heaton for his volunteer work and was selected for "Kids with Character" for his volunteer efforts. He currently ranks in the upper two percent in the junior class.
Wettach is also active in the Explorer Post 1846, interpreting Iowa history for visitors during Midwest Old Threshers and other special events.
Wettach is a member of the Swedesburg Luther League, presently serving as vice-president.

Boys State is a summer leadership and citizenship program sponsored by The American Legion for high school students between their junior and senior years.
The program participants are divided up into smaller groups that are given city names. The "citizens" of each of these cities then elect mock municipal officials and representatives to the mock state legislature.

If enough "citizens" are present, then a county level is added to the program between city and state. The participants also elect state officials, such as governor, lieutenant governor, and other state-level officials representing their real state.
The legislature then meets to organize, elect leaders, and to pass bills in a way that is similar to how their actual legislature operates. (...)

Matt said he felt honored to be selected for Boys State by the Legion.
"I hope to get a more accurate understanding on how government works, meet new people and new perspectives." (...) Wettach said he's hoping this will help prepare him for college. "It's going to be like a guys' dorm," he said. "We have five days to get to know each other." He noted that President Bill Clinton was a national boys stater, as were vice-presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney.


[ Source and full article ]

Clinton meets Wettach - Sen. Hilary Clinton came to Mount Pleasant

Hosted by Tom and Christie Vilsack at their home on North Main Street in Mt. Pleasant, Senator Hilary Clinton greeted over 100 visitors during a breakfast open house.
Most of the visitors were older community members, retired workers, but there were a few college and high school students who made the meeting.
Many stayed long enough to meet and briefly discuss an issue and then left for work or classes. Others stuck around to hear what the former Governor had to say by way of introducing the former First Lady of the U.S.
Vilsack credited Clinton for his first gubernatorial win, bringing the limelight of attention on a campaign to which few were paying attention.
He said Clinton was tried and tested as few presidential candidates are, adding that Clinton is ready to assume the mantle of President of the United States. "So we wanted to share our friends with her," he said.
Clinton recalled her work back in 1974 with Tom Bell of Mt. Pleasant, Christie Vilsack's brother, during the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. She credited the advancement of renewable fuels, plus recent education increases and child health care developments to the work of the Vilsacks.
(...)
High school student Matt Wettach said he was impressed with Clinton's talk. "She's very articulate and I think all the issues she talked about are what America needs.
"I'm also grateful that she came to Mt. Pleasant to show an interest in small-town America."
(...)
[ Read it all at: MP NEWS on ZWire ]

No.# 1 in Iowa: Matthew Wettach earns presidential service honor

It was the first time in Todd Liechty's career in education that he has even seen The President's Volunteer Service Award, and the heavy medallion that comes with it, much less conferred one onto a student.
The Mt. Pleasant high school principal presented the award to Matthew Wettach last night prior to the start of the National Honor Society inductions, in which Matthew also participated.
Matthew was recognized Monday night at the Mt. Pleasant school board meeting as receiving the honor; only the paperwork and the hardware had not arrived from Washington, D.C. However, they were available last night and given to Wettach as the Iowa high school volunteer service selectee. "He's number one in Iowa," Liechty said.
Last December, the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C, named Matt a "Daily Point of Light".
Matthew created an ongoing program called "Write Smart," designed to provide the basic school supplies for kindergarten children in the Mt. Pleasant area who have been identified as economically disadvantaged.
Using the proceeds earned from his summer lawn-mowing job, he decided to provide each student with a backpack filled with the materials listed on area school supply lists.
In addition to the supplies, he enclosed a hand-written note encouraging the child to do his or her best in school throughout the year.
Project volunteers at the Tolson Community Action Center in Mt. Pleasant filled a total of 32 backpacks with materials. The cost of each pack with materials was $71.42 and the total cost of the project was $2,285.44.
"This is very rewarding that others notice the time you put into [volunteering]," Wettach said. "It's also encouraging to keep doing [the project]."
As a junior he has another couple of summers in which to mow lawns and raise money to put more book bags together for kids.
Principal Liechty described Wettach as "a great kid" and "a fantastic young man.
"He's very intelligence, but you'd never know it, because he is so easy to be around. He has so many things going for him, but he's humble and just wants to fit in."
He noted that Matt is the only student from Iowa to receive this award. He will go on now for national consideration among the other 49 honorees in the country.
"I'm not sure," Liechty added, "but I think he just might get the national award, too."
[ Full article: MPNEWS ]

Matthew Wettach: Iowa's Top Youth Volunteer in 12th Annual National Awards Program

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Matthew Wettach, 17, of Mount Pleasant and Candace Carlson, 13, of Council Bluffs today were named Iowa's top two youth volunteers for 2007 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 12th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Matthew was nominated by Mt. Pleasant Community High School in Mount Pleasant, and Candace was nominated by Lewis Central Middle School in Council Bluffs. As State Honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees - one middle level and one high school youth - from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America's top youth volunteers for 2007 at that time.

Matthew, a junior at Mt. Pleasant Community High School, founded a program that has provided backpacks filled with new school supplies to 125 kindergartners from low-income families over the past two years. "I remember when I was in grade school, some children would get picked on because they did not have nice new school supplies like everyone else," he said. "I would share my school supplies with them, but felt frustrated because I wanted to do more."

Matthew finally got his chance. During the summer of 2005, he began mowing lawns to earn money for a project he calls "Write Start." He approached a local community center to identify children in need, and asked kindergarten teachers for the list of supplies required of new students. Then Matthew diligently watched ads for the best prices on school supplies, and spent thousands of his hard-earned dollars at local stores. The purchased supplies were stuffed into backpacks along with personalized notes, and delivered to the community center for eligible kids to pick up. In addition, Matthew organized a drive to provide the kids with coats, hats, mittens and teddy bears during the holiday season. Matthew says he hopes to expand Write Start soon to other communities. (...)

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While in Washington, D.C., the 102 State Honorees will tour the capital's landmarks, attend a gala awards ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and visit their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. In addition, 10 of them - five middle level and five high school students - will be named National Honorees on May 7 by a prestigious national selection committee. These honorees will receive additional $5,000 awards, gold medallions, crystal trophies and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.

Serving on the national selection committee will be U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota; Arthur Ryan of Prudential; actor Richard Dreyfuss; Alma Powell, chair of America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth; Robert Goodwin, president and CEO of the Points of Light Foundation; Amy B. Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service; Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA; Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council; Michael Cohen, president and CEO of Achieve, Inc.; Kathryn Forbes, national chair of volunteers, American Red Cross; Joe Militello, president of NASSP; and two 2006 Prudential Spirit of Community National Honorees: Ajay Mangal of Pascagoula, Miss., and Geneva Johnson of the Bronx, N.Y.


[ Read more at the Source: Biz.Yahoo.Com ]

Matt Wettach honored by D.C. group

Matthew Wettach of Mt. Pleasant has been named a "Daily Point of Light" by the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.
Matthew has created an ongoing program to provide the basic school supplies for kindergarten children in the Mt. Pleasant area who have been identified as economically disadvantaged.
The need for the program was identified by area educators, the community Action Program and the Southeast Iowa Head Start Program.
These entities provided Wettach with suggestions on what types of supplies were needed, how to implement the project, and identify the group of students who would be attending kindergarten in the fall.
With this information, Wettach began his "Write Smart" project in August of 2005. Using the proceeds earned from his summer lawn mowing job, he decided to provide each student with a back-pack filled with the materials listed on area school supply lists.
In addition to the supplies, he enclosed a hand-written note encouraging the child to do their best in school throughout the year.
A total of 32 back-packs were filled with materials by project volunteers at the Tolson Community Action Center in Mt. Pleasant. The cost of each pack with materials was $71.42 and the total cost of the project was $2,285.44.
Extra back-packs were sent to Louisa and Des Moines County for distribution by their Community Action Directors.
In October, Wettach followed up on his "Write Smart" project with a Halloween book, stickers, pencil, small treat and a personalized note, which cost $2.95 per child. Community Action Director Sheila Church suggested that with winter here, a coat drive may also benefit area children.

You can read the entire story in the MPNEWS Dec. 28 issue.

[ Source: MPNEWS.net ]

Matthew Wettach: Freshman shares history through works of great-grandfather

Matthew Wettach, freshman at Mt. Pleasant Community High School, presented his nationally recognized History Day Project at the Dover Museum in New London on Sunday.
Two summers ago, Wettach was given the option of participating in the 24th Annual National Contest of National History Day by his middle school teacher. Wettach knew that he had a great project in the photographs of his great-grandfather, Pete Wettach.
Pete Wettach's photography has played a large part in chronicling Iowa's history and was recently featured on Iowa Public Television.
Wettach knew that he would be able to utilize his great-grandfather's works to "express different aspects about the Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal."
His project did well on all levels, and eventually Wettach was asked to travel to the University of Maryland in Washington, D.C. to present his project. Wettach's hard work paid off, and he was awarded 2nd place at the national level.
While the project competed two years ago, Wettach still occasionally presents his project to interested parties. Over the past year and a half, he has presented his project approximately five times.
Wettach is the son of Steve and Mary Wettach of Mt. Pleasant.
[ Read it at: Mt. Pleasant News ]

Matthew Wettach places second in National History Day contest

"One thing that surprised me was that farmers were already in economic distress ten years before the Great Depression in 1929," said 13-year-old Matthew Wettach.
Wettach, who recently returned from the National History Day (NHD) contest held at the University of Maryland at College Park outside of the District of Columbia, won second place in his division. In his documentary, "Rights and Responsibilities: The New Deal Comes to the Corn Belt," Wettach used the Depression-era photographs of farmers in Iowa taken by his great-grandfather, Pete Wettach. The photographs helped young Wettach illustrate the hardships farmers in the Midwest went through in the 1920s and 30s.
The NHD picks a theme for the annual contest and then contestants must choose a topic that illustrates that theme. This year's theme was "Rights and Responsibility in History" and Wettach chose to investigate the New Deal as his topic.
About a year ago, Wettach attended a reception at Terrace Hill held by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and First Lady Christie Vilsack. The event honored and displayed the photographs of Pete Wettach.
"When I saw my [great-grandfather's] photographs being honored at the governor's mansion in Des Moines, I decided to tie the photographs in with my Rights and Responsibilities project," said Wettach.
Sue Loescher, talented and gifted (TAG) teacher in Mt. Pleasant, said the NHD process is very competitive. Students not only utilize technology but creativity as well. She said Wettach's hard work paid off.
[ Read it at: Mt. Pleasant News ]