Wisconsin
Former foster child becomes Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council vice president
Angel Shelton never imagined herself holding a leadership position as she spent her teen years in the foster care system in Milwaukee. Now, at 20, she’s the new vice president of Wisconsin’s Youth Advisory Council, hoping to advocate for the needs of foster youths.
The Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council began in 2005 and consists of current and former youths in foster care who work with government officials to advocate for foster youths in the state.
“I wasn’t planning on running for this position,” Shelton said. “I guess God had other plans for me.”
Issues she plans to highlight as vice president include the need for improved transportation, more social workers, increased support and expectations for foster parents, and more mental health resources.
She became acutely aware of foster youths’ needs before and during her time in foster care.
“When we do get a little support, we have to put our foot on the gas to get it fully,” Shelton said.
Entering a life-changing program
At 16, Shelton met Christine Woods, independent living supervisor at Wellpoint Care Network, who placed her in supervised independent living at 17.
“Ms. Woods was like an angel that walked up to me and opened all the doors to my journey,” Shelton said.
Woods later encouraged her to participate in Youth Transitioning to Adulthood, a program that supports youths aging out of foster care by assisting with education, employment, housing, health and care connections.
While in the program, Woods made Shelton feel secure and introduced her to new opportunities, like becoming a secretary and vice president of the program.
Woods said she admired Shelton’s vulnerability and acceptance of constructive feedback and encouraged her to become a member of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council.
“In the beginning, Angel was shy, and now she’s just out there, and I think it’s because she knows people are listening,” Woods said.
After a year of serving as vice president of the local Youth Advisory Council and filling other roles, Shelton delivered an impromptu speech for a seat on the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council and won all the votes to become vice president.
“Her speech was a standing ovation,” Woods said.
Becoming vice president marked Shelton’s latest step in leading efforts to improve the lives of youths in foster care.
Providing better transportation services
As a leader on the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council, Shelton is prioritizing transportation services.
She remembers being late for school each day and knows there are many foster youths with mental health challenges or disabilities that struggle with transportation.
Also, in a conversation with a peer, she was made aware that some youths aren’t given enough funds to take public transportation.
A call for social workers
Although Shelton had a supportive social worker before aging out, she knows all foster children don’t have the same experience.
She hopes to push for more compassionate social workers who will spend more time with the youths.
“They need to understand that we don’t have parents to call on, so we need more social workers who will be present and hands-on,” she said.
Shelton wants social workers to check in with children weekly and in person, instead of once a month.
“I see both ends of the stick between young people and other people of authority like social workers and the system, but I want them to understand how we feel,” she said.
Improving support for foster parents
Another goal of Shelton’s is for foster parents to participate in workshops that provide proper training and expectations for their role, like providing youths with hygiene products, laundry bags and more.
“I want this to be a mandatory workshop where they’re held accountable,” she said.
Shelton hopes the workshop reminds individuals that youths should be treated with dignity.
“With some foster parents, once you transition out of their house, they are going to put your things in bags and out,” Shelton said.
While living in a group home for two weeks, Shelton noticed a lack of hygiene products as well.
“I ended up telling somebody that I couldn’t live like this, and that’s when I was switched over to my own place,” she said.
Supporting mental health
Losing a friend to suicide motivated Shelton to open up about proper care for mental health.
Her goal is to provide more mental health services for at-risk individuals who are 12 to 19.
“Certain feelings are so normalized now, that some don’t even realize they’re battling something,” Shelton said.
Woods says Shelton can utilize Wellpoint Care Network’s mental health services to link individuals to different forms of therapy like art, music, games and other outlets.
To ensure every voice can be heard, Shelton said the council will be creating a TikTok account that posts every day in 2026.
The posts will feature videos from foster youths, parents, staff and professionals asking questions, and the council responding with answers.
“I wanted to create a different system nationwide for everybody, not just (Youth Transitioning to Adulthood),” Shelton said.
Watching her sister shine
Seeing Shelton in a leadership role didn’t surprise her oldest sister, Desirae Shelton, but hearing she won vice president brought her to tears.
“She is living proof that where you come from doesn’t define where you will go,” Desirae Shelton said.
She admired how her sister carried pain but turned it into purpose as she grew more confident and willing to speak up for herself and others.
“I just want Angel to make youth feel seen and supported,” she said. “I hope she brings attention to what kids go through emotionally.”
Plans for the future
In May, during Foster Care Awareness Month, Shelton will lead an annual mental health panel for the council, professionals, foster parents and relatives to discuss their lived experiences, needs and other topics.
An Avenues West resident and nursing student at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, Shelton plans to become a nurse practitioner or a professional in the mental health field.
In the next few years, she also wants to start a nonprofit that provides mental health services and a group home for at-risk teens.
“Whether I’m helping people in foster care or the juvenile system, mental health is at stake for both,” she said.
For more information
You can learn more about the work of the Wisconsin Youth Advisory Council by attending its monthly meeting. They’re held every second Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wellpoint Care Network, 8901 W. Capitol Drive.
Individuals who are interested in becoming a part of Youth Transitioning to Adulthood can click here to register for its monthly mandatory orientation.
Here’s an NNS story that highlights the challenges of finding homes for children in foster care.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield shares his biggest spring takeaway
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield shared his biggest takeaway from the spring following the Badgers’ four-set win over Northern Illinois.
MADISON – Kelly Sheffield has coached All-Americans, national players of the year, national champions and future Olympians in his 13 years as Wisconsin volleyball coach.
So Sheffield’s unique praise of Decelise Champion – a star pin-hitter from Puerto Rico who committed to the Badgers last fall – carries a lot of weight.
“Her highest-end potential is certainly as high as about anybody we’ve ever brought in,” Sheffield said. “She’s got a lot of work to get to where she’s capable of, and that’s on us as coaches and on her to help reach those dreams and goals. But when you’re watching people around her age, she’s different.”
That work is beginning earlier than initially expected after Wisconsin announced that Champion will reclassify from the 2027 recruiting class and join the Badgers as a freshman for the 2026 season.
Champion – currently 16 years old and turning 17 in September – will arrive with a resume that includes experience on Puerto Rico’s senior national team and the elite Italian club Volleyro Casal de Pazzi. That’s all while being strong enough academically to earn a GED degree and the necessary NCAA waiver for a few missing core classes.
“What made it really a lot better is that all of her grades at the different schools she’s been at have been fantastic,” Sheffield said. “She’s an excellent student. Was crushing it at a really, really good academic school in Italy in her third language.”
The timing of the June 12 announcement accounted for the second-last open roster spot for the 2026 season, but Champion and UW’s efforts to make the reclassification possible go back much earlier than that.
“We’ve known she’s wanted to do this since February,” Sheffield said. “We told our team in February that was the plan. And then we didn’t let anybody know publicly until she was done with her season. She just didn’t want to be a distraction for her team.”
Badgers have even more competition at pins
Wisconsin already had plenty of competition at the pin-hitting positions before Champion’s move to the 2026 class.
Grace Egan had a major role on the 2025 Final Four team, and Eva Travis had an impressive spring after transferring from UC-Santa Barbara. Others include Grace Lopez, Madison Quest and the highly-touted freshman duo of Halle Thompson and Audrey Flanagan.
Even with the upcoming addition of one more pin-hitter – and one with such a high potential – UW did not lose any players in the spring transfer portal cycle. Even the idea of someone leaving seemed outlandish to Sheffield.
“If they’re just going to get up and leave because somebody came, I would say that that person is probably chicken s—,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield’s praise of Champion’s proposal obviously does not come with a guarantee of playing time either at the crowded pin-hitting positions.
“I would say, yeah, she does have a chance of being out on the court for us this year,” Sheffield said. “But we’ve also got some other really talented people that play the pins.”
The outside and right-side hitters already on UW’s spring roster will have at least one key advantage over Champion in her freshman season – time.
Egan, Lopez and Quest are returning players (although Egan and Lopez spent their spring recovering from injuries). Travis, Thompson and Flanagan all enrolled in time to spend the spring with the Badgers and impressed in UW’s spring matches.
Champion’s arrival, on the other hand, will follow her participation in an Olympic-qualifying event for Puerto Rico. Sheffield expects that to be Sept. 2, which is the day before fall classes begin and already after UW’s first four matches of the season.
“She’ll be drinking out of a fire hose early on, no doubt about it,” Sheffield said. “Even though she’s been playing with her senior national team this summer, it will be a lot of things coming at her in her secondary language at 16, so there’ll need to be some patience along the way.”
His advice to Champion when she was on campus earlier in June was to “be where your feet are.”
“When she’s with her national team – even though we will have started our preseason, playing matches – don’t worry about us here,” Sheffield said. “Be where your feet are. Be the best you can be for your team there. … Then when you get here, you’re not thinking about your national team.”
Champion’s NCAA eligibility clock starts earlier
Champion’s reclassification comes with the drawback of beginning her NCAA eligibility one year earlier in her volleyball career.
Had she stayed in the 2027 recruiting class, she theoretically would have begun her college career shortly before her 18th birthday and exhausted her eligibility at age 22. Instead, she will begin her college career shortly before her 17th birthday and likely exhaust her eligibility at age 21.
Those scenarios take into account the NCAA Division I Cabinet’s unanimous approval on June 23 of a new eligibility model that will give players five seasons of eligibility in five years. (That replaces the current system with four seasons, redshirts and other waivers.) The NCAA noted that its decision is not final, however, until the meeting concludes on June 24.
“We’re certainly excited to have her this year, but if you kind of think over the course of five years, it’s probably worse for us that she comes a year early,” Sheffield said. “You expect her to be better at 20 and 21 than what she is at 16 or 17. … It really wasn’t something that we were pushing for, but she was ready.”
Of course, volleyball at age 16 or 17 looks different for someone like Champion who has been competing against much older players as a senior national team member and studying halfway across the world from her hometown of Dorado, Puerto Rico.
“When you talk to her, she doesn’t come across as somebody who’s 16,” Sheffield said. “She’s very mature, very easy to talk to, very driven. She’s independent. … She’s had a lot more life experience than most people her age, and that certainly comes across when you’re around her.”
Wisconsin
Cult-classic filmed in central Wisconsin returns to big screen, with enhancements, this weekend
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) – A giant spider isn’t actually invading central Wisconsin this weekend.
But an enhanced, big-screen version of the cult-classic 1975 film The Giant Spider Invasion is crawling back into local theaters — and it’s bringing some central Wisconsin nostalgia with it.
The movie was famously filmed in Merrill and Stevens Point, and the updated 2026 release adds enhancements designed for a modern theatrical experience.
What’s new in the 2026 enhanced version?
Executive Producer J.B. Thompson says the team took the original 1975 film and enhanced it for the big screen in 2026, giving audiences a refreshed way to experience a movie that’s long been a Wisconsin oddity — and a point of pride.
Actor and Producer Dan Davies is featured in newly filmed scenes created specifically for this updated release.
Stevens Point’s role in the original film
While much of the film is associated with Merrill, Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza says Point also played a major role in the production — another reason the film’s return matters to local history buffs and movie fans alike.
Why does this movie still capture attention 50 years later?
Whether it’s the over-the-top creature feature story, the uniquely Wisconsin filming locations, or the nostalgia of seeing familiar places on screen, the group says the film’s staying power is real — even five decades later.
Screenings this weekend
The enhanced version of The Giant Spider Invasion is set for local screenings this weekend in Central and North Central Wisconsin. To purchase tickets for showings in Stevens Point, Marshfield or Waupaca, click here.
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