Travis Resch – President
Travis is a Quality Manager for a local manufacturing facility. He was born two months premature, and the end result was 40-60% hearing loss. From the ages 16 to 30 Travis went without hearing aids. Finally, his girlfriend (wife now) convinced him to get new hearing aids, and he has never looked back. He has a great job, an amazing wife and two wonderful daughters. He believes that no child with a hearing disorder should go without hearing aids. His goal is to do whatever is necessary to raise awareness and monies to help support the cause for Hear in the Fox Cities.
Colleen Van Rooy – Vice President & Co-Founder
Colleen works at CaptionCall by Sorenson as a CaptionCall telephone Installer. Having hearing loss herself, she loves all the hearing assistance technologies that are available today. Colleen lends a hand in many different volunteer capacities including, a Member at Large for Wisconsin State HLAA, assisting at Pillar’s, a homeless shelter in Appleton, and volunteering her time at the Fox Valley chapter HLAA. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband Chuck and their four children, three of which have hearing loss too. Colleen enjoys working with our Hear in the Fox Cities team helping children receive hearing aids and living life to its full potential!
Andrew Hetzel Jr. – Member at Large
Mr. Andy Hetzel Jr. is the owner and CEO of Fytertech Nonwovens, a manufacturer and marketer of janitorial paper and spill control products, headquartered in Green Bay, WI. Mr. Hetzel serves on the Hear in the Fox Cities board as Treasurer and member of the fundraising committee. As someone with a longstanding severe hearing loss who has worn hearing aids since childhood, helping children and young adults obtain hearing aids is a mission that is personal to him.
Jennifer Sartori – Secretary
Jennifer has been a teacher of the D/deaf and hard of hearing for the past 30 years. She also received her master’s degree in teaching students who are English language learners. She has worked as a community interpreter and is currently the Head Chair for the Northcentral Technical College in the Educational Interpreter Program board. She is a passionate volunteer spending time as a Fox Cities Victim Crisis Responder, providing emotional support and resources to those who find themselves in extremely difficult situations. She is also a volunteer guardian for two young men with hearing loss. Jennifer strives to provide a wrap-around support to those she serves with hearing loss advocating for social, emotional, and academic rights. She wants to be part of the movement to provide hearing aids to all in need because she sees first-hand the impact not wearing them has on the students and adults she serves.
Dr. Juliette Sterkens – Public Advocacy
Dutch-born and Oshkosh, WI-based audiologist Dr. Juliëtte Sterkens has 45+ years of experience in audiology, hearing rehabilitation, and assistive listening. Retired from her private audiology practice in 2012, she’s been on her encore career as a consumer and assistive listening advocate with the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). She has received several awards for her nationwide advocacy work, including the Wisconsin Audiologist of the Year award, the American Academy of Audiology Presidential Award, and the UW-Oshkosh Distinguished Alumnus award. She maintains a list of hearing loops at www.centerforhearingaccess.org/Wisconsin. She loves to travel—a good thing, as her daughter lives with her husband and two children in Australia, and her son in the Netherlands.
Annie Knudson – Member at Large
Annie is a devoted mother and wife. She lives in Appleton with her husband and son, Isaiah. Annie wanted to become involved because Isaiah got his first hearing aids with help from Hear in the Fox Cities. We can’t ever stop thinking about how grateful and thankful we are for the help we got from Hear in the Fox Cities. Annie has had severe hearing loss her entire life. She grew up poor in South Korea. Annie was sent to the US with her younger brother when she was 12 and didn’t get adopted until she was 15. She got her first hearing aids at 16 years old and it changed her life dramatically. Annie has worked in Cosmetology and in child care. She currently is homeschooling Isaiah, but when he was in school, Annie was heavily involved with community outreach and managing school fund raising events. Annie wants to help other families like hers. To help people with hearing problems so they can have a better, happy life.
Amanda Huycke – Member at Large
Amanda Huycke worked for many years as an Early Childhood Special Educator for Outagamie County’s Birth-3 program. During her time there she witnessed first hand how beneficial early detection and intervention for hearing loss can be. She stepped away from her career to become a devoted stay at home wife and mother of 4 children. When her son Connor was in fifth grade, he was diagnosed with a hearing loss and received his first pair of hearing aids. The change was extraordinary for Connor academically and socially. Seeing this change in her own son along with the other life-changing outcomes from her previous students has made her passionate about providing hearing aids to all children who need them. She has been with Hear in the Fox Cities since the beginning. These days, she works as a library media assistant at Neenah High School. She loves spending time with her family, traveling and reading a lot of books!
Nicolle Girard – Member at Large
Upon graduation from the Educational Interpreter Technician Program at Fox Valley Technical College, I was a substitute interpreter and had some long-term sub jobs for a couple of years with the Appleton Area School District. In 2010, I signed my first contract with the district and I have been there ever since. I’ve worked in and with every level in the schools, from 4K to seniors in high school. I have seen, first-hand, how important early and consistent hearing aid wearing is to our young people. Their ability to hear their teachers, families, and peers makes all the difference in the world. We see it every single day. It is really remarkable. The earlier that children with hearing loss can gain access to better hearing, the better their chances for success.
I do not have any human children, but I have two adorably spoiled cats. If I could have dogs where I live, I’d have a couple of those, too.
Dr. Stephanie Long – Co-Founder and Treasurer
Dr. Stephanie Long is an Audiologist and one of the Founders of Hear in the Fox Cities. She received her Bachelors degree from the University of Iowa, Masters degree from Northwestern University, and her Doctor of Audiology from the University of Arizona. Dr. Long has helped individuals with hearing loss for over 20 years, with 14 spent caring for children in the school setting. Her work with Hear in the Fox Cities has earned her many awards including Audiologist of the Year and Outstanding Services Award from the Wisconsin Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA). She also recently won the Wisconsin 2019 nominee for the ASHA Louis M. DiCarlo Award and a finalist spot for the 2019 Oticon Focus on People Awards for her work through Hear in the Fox Cities.
Dr. Brittany Uitenbroek – Advocacy & Web Master
Dr. Brittany Uitenbroek is an Audiologist in Stevens Point, WI working with both children and adults with hearing loss. She received her Bachelor’s in Communicative Disorders from University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and her Doctor of Audiology from Northern Illinois University. She is also state licensed, board certified from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and is a member of the American Academy of Audiology. Knowing that untreated hearing loss can significantly impact children’s speech and language and academic performance, she supports Hear in the Fox Cities mission to provide amplification assistance to those in need so that every child may hear.