July 19, 2024

By Lane Kimble

MADISON, Wis. — If Dakoda Funk is anything, he’s disarmingly honest.

The 15-year-old from Milton is one of more than 750 people across Wisconsin to take the new Work Zone Safe Wisconsin (WZSW) online course since WTBA launched it in April.

“It was pretty easy,” Funk noted.  “I feel like I learned a couple things, just to be more aware of my surroundings.”

Funk just took the classroom portion of driver’s education and is a few hours into his behind the wheel practice with his temps.

For only an hour of his time, though, Funk – who stays busy playing football and wrestling, hoping to one day become a diesel mechanic or heavy equipment operator – not only committed to saving lives, he also put himself in a spot to win some money.

“I didn’t expect it, that’s for sure,” Funk said.  “It’s really nice.”

Monday in Madison, WTBA and the Wisconsin County Highway Association awarded Funk with a $500 Work Zone Safe scholarship.  Once a month, WTBA and WCHA will recognize a teen who successfully completes the course with a check.

This month’s presentation came during an annual gathering of driver’s education teachers from across south-central Wisconsin.

“This is so important,” WTBA Executive Director Steve Baas told the crowd.  “Our members decided to get behind this program and put this turnkey operation online where anybody anywhere in this state can take this course and learn to be a safer driver.

“I want to congratulate Dakoda and thank him and the hundreds of other students taking this course and equipping themselves to be smarter, safer drivers.”

WZSW is a modernized approach to work zone safety, which WTBA spearheaded with statewide partners.  The online course guides you through the rules, regulations, and challenges you’ll encounter in work zones.  More than a dozen personalized stories of the men and women working behind the barrels and their families put names and faces to the sobering statistics.

Funk’s mother, Anna, sees the free course as a good tool for drivers of any age.

“I didn’t really know [Work Zone Safe Wisconsin] existed until all of this, but from what I’ve heard of it and tried to look up online, it seems like a good thing, especially with all the different construction zones,” Anna Funk said.  “And in our area, you see it a lot.”

Funk got one more pleasant surprise Monday just before receiving his check: his driver’s education teacher from Milton, Steve Steinke, happened to be at the conference.  Steinke instructed Funk and his classmates to take the course.

Dakoda hopes other teens follow his lead in truly making the roads safer places for us all.

“They probably should, because most people don’t know about all this stuff,” Funk said.  “And, it gives you a chance to win $500.”