Monticello Foundation Awards Scholarships

The Monticello Foundation, Inc. recently awarded 18 scholarships in the amount of $2,000 each to the following Monticello High School graduates: Alex Henning, Emma Fenner, Ashley Risley, Kallista Baebler, Brittany Disch, Jordan Garrison, Emily Koch, Mackenzie Zanow, Courtney Leuzinger, Alyssah Kubly, Madalyn Holtz, Christian Wahl, Samantha DeVoe, Lauren Schilder, Emilie Gietzel, Megan Lehr, Kathleen Gierhart and Jessie Garrison. Since 1995, The Monticello Foundation has awarded $381,750 in scholarships to Monticello High School graduates. Scholarships are awarded from the interest earned in the Foundation’s portfolio, which is funded from community donations and the Annual Foundation Golf Outing. We are very proud of these students. Here is a little information about each one:

<strong>Emilie Gietzel, Class of 2016</strong>
My time and experiences in the Monticello FFA, showing cattle with Voegeli’s Brown Swiss Farm, and working at Greenwoods State Bank while in high school led me to the pursuit of a career in Agricultural Business. I am currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I am majoring in Agricultural Business Management. After graduation, I would like to become an Agricultural Loan Officer. I keep busy with full-time course work, a part-time job, and active involvement in organizations such as the Association of Women in Agriculture as well as the Agricultural Business Management Club. The Association of Women in Agriculture is a professional organization that allows me to expand my professional network in addition to community involvement and many volunteer opportunities.
I am extremely grateful to the Monticello Foundation for their continued support of my education. Thank you to the teachers, staff, and community members of Monticello for their help in preparing me for success in my educational pursuits.
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Jordan Garrison, Class of 2015</strong>
Thank you to the Monticello Foundation for selecting me as a recipient for the Monticello Foundation Scholarship. I am very grateful for the continuous support of the Monticello community in helping me to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree. I am currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and am studying Elementary Education, with a minor in Special Education. I plan to student-teach in the fall of 2019, and I am anticipating to graduate in December 2019. After I graduate, my goal is to come back to a small school and teach. Along with going to school, I work a few part-time jobs. I work at the UWW Children Center in Whitewater as a mentor TA, I am the supervisor at The Police Service/University Housing Desk in Whitewater, Small World in New Glarus, and Little Learners in Monticello. I also participate in intramural volleyball and softball in my spare time. In the summer time, I come back to Monticello and coach T-Ball and the Senior League Softball Team. Thank you again to the Monticello Foundation Scholarship and community for their generous support.

<strong>Kallista Baebler, Class of 2016</strong>
My name is Kallista Baebler and I am currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I will be graduating with a major in Business Administration, with a double emphasis in Finance and Marketing after only three years. This is an achievement that I am very proud of along with receiving a University Leadership Award last spring. This year I am continuing my job in the Dean of Students Office on campus as a student worker. I am also very thankful to have the opportunity to intern with UWGB’s Women’s Basketball Team. This internship has allowed me to get an inside look at sports marketing and the inner workings of player development.
Outside of classes and work, I have continued to be engaged in student organizations. This year I am the Director of Funds Enhancement for the Green Bandana Brigade (GBB). The GBB is the official student section in support of Green Bay Athletics. Not only do we go to sporting events to cheer, but we also spread school spirit and showcase the student athletes in videos that make them relatable. I am also a general member of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH). This is a chapter of the top 1% of leaders living on campus that focuses on service and recognition. This year I am also a volunteer at UWGB Nites on campus. This is an event that is put on once a month to provide free late-night activities to students. Students have crafts, games, and food available to them with volunteers to help them and make sure everyone is having fun.
I have also been volunteering with Lucky 7 Dog Rescue, a non-profit organization in Green Bay, since this August. Lucky 7 transports dogs from Texas to Wisconsin in hopes of finding them forever families and helps in cases of local surrenders. Volunteers can foster dogs, help at the office by answering questions, and help at fundraisers and other events put on by the rescue. This organization has become very close to my heart since I not only volunteer in my free time, but I was also able to rescue a blind puppy with the help of my parents.
I would like to take a moment to thank the Monticello Foundation for supporting me throughout my college career. I have been able to take advantage of the amazing opportunities and experiences Green Bay has provided me with because of the Foundation. The Monticello Foundation has helped me focus more on studying, getting real-world experiences in my career path and involvement in organizations I am passionate about and less about the finances of college due to their generous scholarship each year.

<strong>Katie Gierhart, Class of 2012</strong>
Thank you to the Monticello Foundation for selecting me as a recipient of the Monticello Foundation scholarship. I feel deeply grateful and honored to have been chosen to receive one of the Monticello Foundation Scholarship. These funds will help significantly as I pursue my Cross-Categorical Teaching License, with an emphasis in Emotional Behavioral Disabilities. Some of my personal and professional goals moving forward are highlighted below. As I discussed in my application, one of my proudest moments was earning my undergraduate degree from Edgewood College in Early Childhood: Regular and Special Education. After completing my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate enough to be offered and ultimately accept a special education teaching position here in my hometown, Monticello. Currently, I am volunteering at the Green Cares Food Pantry packing boxes monthly, the Zwingli Kalberwurst Dinner, and the Community Club Chicken Barbecue in the summer and winter. Again, thank you so much for the scholarship. It is greatly appreciated.

<strong>Lauren Schilder, Class of 2014</strong>
Thank you to the Monticello Foundation for selecting me as a recipient of the Monticello Foundation continuing college scholarship. After three years of undergraduate coursework at Concordia University- Wisconsin, this past academic year I studied at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the Radiation Therapy Program. I was an active member of the Radiation Therapy Club on campus where we mentored undergraduate students looking to apply to the program. We also spent time volunteering with cancer patients at Rochester’s Hope Lodge and Gunderson Hospital in La Crosse. I continued to work part-time as a CNA in home-care and memory-care facilities.
In July, I began the 13-month clinical internship portion of the program at Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center in Milwaukee. It has been a dream of mine for many years to work for this organization, so I am grateful and honored to learn and study here under some of the country’s best oncologists and medical physicists. I am in clinic full-time as well as still taking courses taught by the doctors and staff in the Radiation Oncology Department. In my limited free-time, I continue to work for the American Cancer Society and volunteer at various events around Milwaukee. My favorite events of the year were walking in the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma in memory of my grandfather, and volunteering at the annual Gamerosity Game On Day event for Childhood Cancer patients and survivors.
It’s been a lot of work, but I am so fortunate to have the means and home-town support to chase my goals and work towards my dream job working with cancer patients.
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Jessie Garrison, Class of 2017</strong>
I am very grateful to have been selected as one of the recipients for the Monticello Foundation Scholarship. I am very thankful for the Monticello Community and their continuous support in helping me get my Bachelor’s Degree. I am currently a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I am studying general business and plan on majoring in Marketing, with a minor in Spanish. Along with going to school, I work two part-time jobs throughout the year. I work at the Police Service/University Housing Desk on campus in Whitewater and at Duluth Trading Company. On top of that, I play intramural softball and volleyball in my free time. Thank you again to the community and the Monticello Foundation Scholarship for their continuous support.

<strong>Ashley Risley, Class of 2016</strong>
This semester I have been continuing my studies at Edgewood College. I am currently earning my Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN), with a minor in Spanish. With this degree I intend to start working as a Registered Nurse after graduation. I am now in my junior year, two semesters into the nursing program. Now that I am further along in the program I have been able to have my nursing clinical class within a hospital. This semester my clinical has been at Meriter Hospital on their neurological unit. It has been incredibly exciting and rewarding to be able to work with patients under the supervision of my instructor.
Along with my nursing clinical class, I am also taking a nursing lecture class that focuses on adult nursing care, a nursing lab to practice and learn the skills used in clinical, pathophysiology, and pharmacology. I am also working on finishing my Spanish minor by taking a class focusing on the Madison-Arcatao Sister Cities Project (MASCP). This class focuses on learning about El Salvador’s history and culture. In the winter I will then accompany the class to go to El Salvador to further expand on what we have learned in our classes and participate in some of the MASCP’s projects in El Salvador.
This year I was able to continue competing with Edgewood’s women’s cross country team, which was able to win the NACC Conference Championships. This cross country season I have improved quite a bit from my previous seasons and I am now ranked within the top seven of our women’s cross country team. After cross country season ends, I will then continue to participate as a collegiate athlete on Edgewood’s Track team. As in past years, I will continue to run distance events in both indoor and outdoor track seasons.
As I have continued into the nursing program, I have been able to explore what I would like to do with my career. I really enjoyed shadowing wound care nurses and nurses within the intensive care unit (ICU) and the post anesthesia care unit (PACU). I intend to further explore my career options as I continue school, but I know for sure that I want to advance my degree after earning my BSN. This will mean that after I graduate in the spring of 2020, I will continue my studies so that I can earn my Master of Science in nursing (MSN).
I am very grateful for all of the support that the community has given me throughout the years. I know that none of this would this would be possible without the scholarships that I have been awarded. I will continue to represent Monticello to the best of my abilities whether it be in the classroom, on the racecourse, in the workplace, or within the community. Thank you for everything.