Operation Dream

Becoming mentors. Learning professional skills. Meeting Aaron Rodgers. These are just a few of the things that students from Operation DREAM have been up to. You may have heard of Operation DREAM on this season’s first itsAaron.com commercial, where Aaron surprises two of its members. Operation DREAM is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing mentoring and support to Milwaukee’s at-risk youth, and every Sunday, about 20 students in the program come to University School, where USM students provide tutoring. I have been very fortunate to participate in this amazing program, and I have enjoyed both meeting and learning from the students. Whether we bonded over our shared interest in the Packers or the pizza brought as a snack, students from both sides have had a lot of fun!

- Ben'14

Soccer Wins State!

I didn't really pay attention to the soccer team early in the season, but they started to catch my attention later on as they continue to have success on the field. When playoffs came, I became a huge fan and started going to all their games. These guys have more skill than I thought they would. I got really into their games and started to do what I do best...show my spirit!

They had themed games like "pink out" and blue and gold and our dedicated and growing student section got more into it every game. The soccer boys had some close wins in overtime that ended with the student section going crazy. At state, our number of fans was bigger than it had ever been for soccer games. Losing our voices for the boys was totally worth it for our Boys Soccer State Champs.

From the Goalie (Jack):

I wasn't ready for my high school soccer career to be over. But since it had to come to an end, we made sure we came out on top. The energy in the USM community following our birth to the state tournament was palpable and it was only heightened during our two state games. It was an incredible experience to play in front of the school community and it is something I will never forget. It was an incredible honor to bring home the state title for the team and for the school!

Chris '15 and Jack '14

Cutting Costs for Celiacs

This blog highlights something one of our bloggers did over the summer:

Over the summer I started a nonprofit organization called “Cutting Costs for Celiacs.” The mission of my organization is to give monetary assistance to low-income families in Wisconsin who have celiac disease. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder that does not allow its patients to eat gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, and rye. The reason they need assistance is because food share (called food stamps in other states) does not give extra money out to people with dietary restrictions, even though eating gluten free can cost 2 to 3 times more than a diet containing gluten. 

I heard a story about a 7-year-old girl whose parents could not afford her gluten-free diet and therefore made her live every day with stomachaches and diarrhea. So I decided to start a nonprofit so people would not have to live their life with the pains of eating food they cannot digest. 

The mission of Cutting Costs for Celiacs is to provide grocery assistance to medically diagnosed celiac children in low-income families in Wisconsin. Cutting Costs for Celiacs is dedicated to providing children with Celiac disease the nutrition they need to maintain a healthy gluten free diet. I recently turned in my articles of incorporation and hope to be incorporated soon! The support of the USM community has been amazing. My spanish teacher started an incorporation and many USM teachers volunteer a lot. The whole community has been trying to help in any way that they can.

Lexie