MILWAUKEE – We are putting the spotlight on a bilingual teacher from Milwaukee Public Schools – during Hispanic Heritage Month.

It is another day in Alondra Garcia’s classroom at Allen-Field Elementary School in Milwaukee. The space is filled with vibrant colors, butterflies and enthusiastic second-graders eager to learn. 

“She likes to celebrate everything that I like to celebrate,” said Jolaniz Acosta, a student. 

“(English: She reads to us and I can understand it,)” said Damian Gomez, age 7. 

Garcia said she designs lesson plans to keep this diverse class of students engaged. 

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“My goal as an educator is to make sure I empower them,” Garcia said. 

And it hits home. Ms. Garcia is a first generation bilingual teacher – and she said she sees herself in every single one of her students. 

“I always remembered in the back of my head that little girl who wanted to learn to do something to be someone in the future,” Garcia said. 

Like many of her students’ stories, Garcia’s family left their home in Mexico to make a home in Milwaukee. 

“My goal as an educator is to make sure they’re able to find their voice and that they’re able to use their voice as a power, as something that’s going to get them far in life,” Garcia said. 

Garcia’s job does not end inside the classroom. In fact, it keeps on going in the community – as an activist fighting for immigrant rights and other issues affecting Latinos in Wisconsin. 

“Status does limit you, sadly, and I was a former DACA recipient for 12 years. Just recently, I obtained the U-Visa status. So that, eventually, will lead me toward permanent residency. I’m grateful my whole family qualified for that,” Garcia said. 

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Garcia said she inherited her drive from her father, Gilberto Garcia Calderon, who said he is proud to see his daughter’s efforts to serve and help others. 

“(English: Seeing her work and involvement just tells me she’s on the right path,)” Garcia Calderon said. 

It is a purpose Garcia said she hopes will pave the way – and inspire the next generation. 

You can view more stories about Hispanic Heritage Month on FOX6Now.com.

The biggest economic development project in recent memory in Grenada County is finally complete.

After more than two years of work, Milwaukee Tool this week opened its largest manufacturing plant in the United States.

The 500,000 square-foot facility will employ more than 800 people from eight surrounding counties and is an investment of $60 million.

The location of Grenada along Interstate-55, about halfway between Jackson and Memphis, has become a hot spot for projects as Ice Industries recently announced a $4 million expansion of its facility, which primarily serves the automotive, HVAC, appliance and off-highway markets as a one-stop stamping, welding and painting center.

“Anytime you have a really good manufacturing presence with a brand name that people will recognize, it just says that the community is open for business. It also says the state is open for business. That’s a positive image for us and for manufacturing,” Matthew Harrison, the CEO of the Greater Grenada Partnership, told the Clarion Ledger.

Manufacturing is the most extensive form of employment in and around Grenada, with up to 35% of the workforce employed in at least one area of the industry.

“Per capita, Grenada is probably the most significant manufacturing community on Interstate 55 in Mississippi,” Harrison said. “The amount of manufacturing here is about double the state average. We are still doing some research on that but right now … the amount of people working in manufacturing is staggering.”

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The cluster of manufacturing in the workforce retail hub consists of the counties of Grenada, Tallahatchie, Calhoun, Webster, Yalobusha, Carroll and Leflore.

The Milwaukee Tool facility building is a visual statement for those driving the I-55 corridor, much like that of Nissan in Madison County and Continental Tire in Hinds County.

“You are not going to miss that facility,” Harrison said. “That’s great for Grenada, and that’s great for the state. All the traffic and the interstate traffic between Memphis and Jackson and people coming into the state to do business, whether it is industrial clients, prospects or consultants or it is just people doing business between the communities.”

The new Grenada facility is a link in the chain of the company’s other locations throughout Mississippi. Milwaukee Tool currently has manufacturing, distribution and assembly facilities in Greenwood, Jackson, Olive Branch and Clinton, having invested more than $209M in expansion in the state over the last seven years.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.

A Milwaukee man has been accused of swiping items from the same Walgreens store three times during a week’s span. The items were mostly cleaning and sanitary items, like soaps, toilet paper, razors, lotions and other household goods.

John Dzwonkowski, 38, now faces two counts of felony retail theft, according to police records and Fox 6.

A criminal complaint indicates that Milwaukee police were first contacted on Sept. 18 at a store on Howell Avenue. 

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Officers spoke that morning with the store manager who told them that a “thief” entered the store around 7:40 a.m. and began “removing soaps, cosmetics and toilet paper and placing the items into a backpack. The defendant then walked out of the store without paying for the merchandise.”

The complaint states that the stolen items were approximately $178 in retail value.

Officers were called to the same Walgreens location just two days later after another complaint of theft, this time with the defendant “removing razors, lotions and other cosmetic items and placing them into two bags,” the complaint says. The stolen merchandise this time was valued at $435.

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Shoppers walk by a Walgreens in New York. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

Then on Sept. 25, footage from a surveillance camera shows the same defendant at the same Walgreens taking “107 cleaning and household good items valued at $889.63 in a black garbage bag,” according to the complaint.

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The defendant reportedly left the store but then returned inside, “walked to the soda cooler, grabbed a 20 oz. soda, and walked out of the Walgreens without paying for the soda.”

Court records show Dzwonkowski was scheduled to make his initial appearance this week.