Fountain of Knowledge
We go through the stages of our lives while learning along the way. We eventually, quietly reach a spot where we become the teacher, and the young world around us is thirsty for the knowledge that we’ve acquired. MYS has had the opportunity to have a variety of student interns over the years. They have come to us to learn, and we share with them what we know, and usually learn a bit from them also.
To learn to be a professional in a human services field is no small task. One can master the academic components, but then you still need to learn about people. To learn about yourself and how to interact in positive, influential ways with others is no small task. Those who seem best in this field seem to have life experiences to mold and prepare them for working with others. They were raised to be caring, taught to be compassionate, and experienced early on to care for others. So, off to school one goes. Once an individual has acquired the class credits and steps into the field to try their skills in an agency setting, everything has the opportunity to start to gel, and in some cases, not.
We at MYS have been very fortunate to have several wonderful students to share our knowledge with, and in the process learn ourselves. Our latest student, Ms Jennifer Midlikowski, is the daughter of our adult program coordinator, Sue Midlikowski, and a senior in the BSW Program at UW-Madison. Jennifer has spent time in prior years volunteering her time at Reynolds as a peer mentor, talking with our boys and playing monopoly and other games with them. She cam back this summer with spirit, knowledge, talent, and a hunger for more experience. She applied herself in a full time capacity in our adult program to assist our young men with developmental and mental health disabilities. She worked in all three adult homes, and in all scheduled shifts. In a very short period of time, she acquired the confidence of fellow staff, the trust of our residents, and demonstrated herself to be a competent, valuable member of the MYS team. For those of you who had the pleasure of meeting her, you can support the observation of Jennifer’s character, personality, beautiful spirit, and strong desire to improve the lives of others. We very much enjoyed Jennifer’s time with us. We hope we shared our knowledge treasures in positive ways with her, and in turn she reminded us of our own desires to participate in our careers, how to have fun in our jobs, and how much fun it can be to learn. We have confidence in Jennifer’s future, and know that the lives she touches will be improved.
Doug Adams, MS

As usual, our young adults had another busy month to include a couple of fun outings. On August 24, John F, Mike S, Pat, Travis and Kyle accompanied staff on a trip to the Marshfield Zoo. While the weather was a little less than cooperative, everyone had a great time to include a picnic and visits with the animals.


Then, last Saturday nine of our young men joined 3 staff for a trip to Green Bay. Sam, Kyle, Mark, Travis, Pat, John F, Mike S, Mike P, and John P all loaded into our new 15 passenger van around 8 AM., arriving at Lambeau Field at 10:30. After investigating the Pro Shop and some of the sites at Lambeau, the crew headed out to Bay Beach for lunch and fun. The guys enjoyed the rides at the park and even did some go-carting.
After Bay Beach the guys got to take in the new zoo. They all enjoyed the otters and the moose in particular. On the return trip they all stopped at McD’s in Shawano, and arrived back home at 8:45 PM. All in all it turned out to be a fun day for all.
As it turns out, this was Travis’ last outing as a resident of Hamilton House. Travis will be leaving us, but will continue to be welcome to visit. We all wish Travis the best in his new adventures. Good Luck Travis!

Late August also always brings the end of another racing season. Once again it’s been an exciting season. This year the young adults of MYS have developed into quite a strong following for our race team; attending all the races and loudly demonstrating their partisanship. In the close of another season, Doug has submitted another wrap-up report:

Another Race Season…a look in the mirror

Here we are after our 6^th year of what began as a simple desire to try a new youth project. What was to be a "fun" year with the goal to be "casual", we still found ourselves in 5^th place overall in the State Park Speedway point standings.. With 9 wins to date this year, we had a very fun and exciting year. Over the years we have had many exciting accomplishments
We have set fast time 3 times, once setting a new track record at Golden Sands Speedway. WE won 8 fast dashes, 4 feature wins, and 21 heat wins. We won "Best paint and Design" and "Hot Dog of the Night", both in the same night. We also received the distinction of "Gentleman’s Award" as well as "The Most Improved Driver" award.
Our team built 4 cars, and raced 5 cars, usually 2 at a time. Our other drivers also landed wins. My son Deven, now 18, started when he was 14 and has tallied 4 heat wins and a fast dash win. A friend and teammate, Detective, now Lieutenant, Bill Kolb has 2 feature wins and about 5 heat wins to his credit. My son Derek and another racing friend, Jeremy Faust also participated in driving duties.
What began as a youth project, and met the original goals with success, has since also become a regular adult resident activity. A loyal following of young adults and staff in our programs have also acquired the recognition of our team to be "the most fan friendly" due to their exuberant cheering each week at the track. My wife Barbara and my nieces Haley and Alyssa Greene are regular fans and awesome statisticians.
Our community also has offered terrific support. 2510 Family Restaurant, Walters Buildings, Wausau Imports, Auto Select of Schofield, Wimmer Family, Brickner Group and Hilltop Autowrecking have all offered support to make our team a success. Special Thanks also to the "playgrounds" including State Park Speedway, Marshfield Super Speedway, Golden Sands Speedway and even Monster Hall Speedway in Marshfield, and all the super staff who man these facilities.
We have awesome memories, great experiences to share, super times with our residents and staff, lessons learned about business, competition and life, and great pictures and videos to share.
Thanks…and remember…objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than they are.


ATTENTION! Annual End of Season "Drive A Racecar " Day will be the morning of September 7. PLEASE contact Doug if you are interested and we can be sure you get some time in the driver’s seat. Learn what the thrill of racing is all about!