Our free programs are on Mondays beginning at 6:30 PM.
If cancellation is required, an announcement will be made on
Lakes 92.7FM, WILW 96.3FM and Facebook.
OUR MISSION
Winchester Academy’s mission is to enrich the community by providing free, intellectually stimulating, informative, and engaging programs.
The name "Winchester Academy" implies a building and physical structure, but there is none. The Academy is a voluntary organization with a Board of Trustees comprised of area citizens that fosters lifelong learning based on ideas originating in Scandinavian folk academies. The Academy offers, on average, twenty-five programs annually. There is no membership required for attendance at programs. All are FREE of charge and open to the general public. Programs are usually held at the Waupaca Area Public Library on Monday evenings at 6:30. Other venues and days of the week are occasionally used for special seminars and musical programs (e.g., churches, or other sites that can accommodate larger crowds). Some programs might include controversial subject matter, but the Academy takes no position and seeks to provide balanced and reliable information.
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2024 Scholarship Recipients
Fall 2024 Series Information
November 4, 2024
6:30 pm
Waupaca Area Public Library Meeting Rooms
Law Enforcement:
Roles & Responsibilities
Speakers: Brian Hoelzel, Waupaca Chief of Police &
Andy Naylor, Madison Police Department Detective
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Hoelzel and Naylor will inform us about law enforcement by analyzing past and current trends, & by examining the public perception of what police do, all while offering unique perspectives from smaller/rural and larger/urban departments. Hoelzel has prior experience as detective sergeant as a member of the Central WI Drug Task Force, and a patrol officer where he was a field training officer & evidence technician. Naylor’s career in law enforcement began in 2012 with the Madison PD. He has been a mental health officer, a detective in the General Assignment Unit, the Special Victims Unit, and is currently assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and MPD’s Threat Assessment Team.
Program sponsors are Dan and Mary Naylor
November 11, 2024
6:30 pm
Waupaca Area Public Library Meeting Rooms
How Psycho Became Psycho
Speaker: Bill Gillard, PhD, MFA, Professor of English at UW-Oshkosh
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Gillard is the author of Robert Bloch’s Psycho Century: American Horror from Lovecraft to King (forthcoming) and other books. Wisconsin author Robert Bloch was a prolific writer during his seven-decade career. His best ideas frequently took several iterations to find their finished form, and his novel Psycho was no different. Gillard will look at the long arc of Bloch’s career and make connections to changes in the American horror landscape while also paying close attention to how Bloch evolved from a writer of supernatural horror in the 1930s to a leader in mid-century psychological horror.
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Program sponsors are Ann and Vance Linden
November 18, 2024
6:30 pm
Waupaca Area Public Library Meeting Rooms
America and the Holocaust:
Myth versus Reality
Speaker: Tim Crain, PhD, Former director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University
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The Holocaust took the lives of nearly six million Jews between 1941 and 1945. The US government knew that the mass murder of the Jews was taking place in 1942, but did little to stop the genocide. This presentation will explore the American response to the Holocaust, as well as review what could have been done to end the mass murder. The US believed that the best way to rescue Jews was to win World War II as rapidly as possible. The decision remains controversial.
This program is a collaboration with the Waupaca Area Public Library which is hosting the traveling exhibit "Americans and the Holocaust" - Nov 9 - Dec 19.
This program is sponsored by all of us in memory of Glenda Rhodes.
