Industry Tour to A.O. Smith!

Lead to Succeed students from Bradley Tech, SUPAR, PLI, Neu-Life, and Milwaukee 4H had the opportunity to tour A.O. Smith and learn about the company's focus on becoming a global leader in water technology. A.O. Smith Corporation is known for their energy-efficient solutions to products worldwide.

This fieldtrip served as a great way for students to learn about a variety of careers within the water and manufacturing industries. From chemistry to computer engineering, Lead to Succeed students discussed it all!

What project ideas do you see circulating among your team of students?

"The group at Bradley Tech is doing an amazing job of being passionate and innovative with their [social entrepreneurship]  Mobile Water Lab project. They are taking all of the feedback from the last Spreenkler meeting and tweaking their original idea to fit to the best possible plan they can make. They are extremely knowledgeable and diverse group which covers most of the angles. You can really see some leaders develop. They are taking control and keeping the group focused instead of one of the project managers having to do so. Overall this is a great experience and a great way to teach yourself and others at the same time." Nate, Social Entrepreneurship Project: Bradley Tech

"The students like to come up with ideas about water and how it is used. They're interested in showing others what they have learned in the form of an easy to understand & interactive graphic. The students can identify resources that will be helpful in this endeavor." Thomas, Youth Water Website: Milwaukee 4H

How's the mural at Waukesha South coming along?

"Diversity plays an important role in all of our lives, and for this reason we have, and will continue to work hard in order to show our community just how important diversity is. Through group discussions on the topic of diversity our team has become more invested in the topic, and it has resulted in three beautiful and meaningful diversity murals. This year our group wishes not only to enrich the ideas of the group last year, but also bring all of our ideas to life on the walls of our school." - Zanella L., Multicultural Mural: Waukesha South High School

Painting starts soon! Check back for more updates & photos of the mural!

Updates from our Project Managers!

Our College Project Managers give us some insight into their weekly activities, strengths, and weaknesses:


"Meeting with the Neu Life Center's Lead to Succeed group was an impressive experience. I was surprised to see the artistic talent my group has as well as how much work they have already accomplished. My team’s creativity and dedication are their biggest strengths in this project. My goal is to continue to cultivate these strengths as well as others to help decrease our areas of weakness.  I think a weakness affecting our group is the lack of experience with the rain barrels we are trying to create a business pitch for. My group has fantastic ideas on ways to give their rain barrels competitive advantage, yet the some of these ideas cannot realistically be implemented. However, it’s helpful to our group that I’ve used a rain barrel before, so I’m familiar with their practicality and usage. Together, I’m hopeful that my group and I will be able to create a successful rain barrel business plan that will positively contribute to the Neu Life Community Resource Center while decreasing Milwaukee County’s luring freshwater crisis. - Monica, Social Entrepreneurship Project: Neu-Life

"I really enjoyed my first session with my project team! I was very comfortable around them and they seemed to feel comfortable around me, as well. The thing that surprised me the most was that my facilitator asked another project manager and myself to lead the group in a discussion that we had limited time to prepare for. I believe that one of my team's strengths is working together but their downfall is talking when others are speaking. To prepare for the LTS sessions, I have typed a planning guide that was created by my team. I found out that my team's community would like to encourage people to be more diverse and open to other cultures." - Gamilah, Multicultural Mural: Waukesha South High School

"The first session with my project team went really well! I was nervous as to how the girls would respond to having a mentor, but luckily I was received well and we were able to be productive and personal at the same time. I was amazed by how mature and respectful they were, especially when we needed to be productive. Our strengths are that the girls already know each other so there's no awkwardness between them, and they work really hard. Also, they are determined to do a good job on this project. Our downfall may be that they are such friends and will have trouble concentrating and staying focused- but so far I haven't seen any weaknesses with the girls in my team." - Jenna, Youth Water Website: St. Joan Antida High School