MONROE — Though life has taken Renee Setterstrom on somewhat of a winding road, she said she’s always found enjoyment in what she’s done and a strong comfort in music. She loves centering her life around family and her own children — and adores a job where she’s surrounded by students each day, making her laugh and reminding her to live.

She was born about 45 miles south of Monroe in Baileyville, Illinois, where she was raised with her sister. She said she was an “outdoor kid” who drove tractor and helped with chores on the family’s hog and grain farm. 

Her upbringing was also centered around music. Setterstrom’s family was part of a group with another family called the Country Gospel Three. They produced records and spent time on the road performing. Her mother played piano and her father was a self-taught guitar and banjo player. 

“I’ve always been on stage,” she said. “It’s just always been part of my life.”

She said for fun the family would host old-fashioned country jam sessions with sounds from fiddles, banjos and guitars filling her childhood home with unforgettable memories. 

She attended Forreston High School where Setterstrom was part of the state basketball team. She enjoyed sports as well as the marching and pep band — serving as the drum majorette her junior and senior years. She was also part of the show choir, madrigals, German club and the Future Homemakers of America. She was a strong student academically and had a spot on the National Honor Society. 

Although her parents never pushed, she said they were supportive of her heavy involvement. 

“I liked to be busy,” she said.

After her high school graduation in 1983, Setterstrom planned to attend Madison Business College. She said she had enjoyed business courses in high school and the college allowed students to work in the afternoons in their field. When she finished the two-year degree, she said she was glad to have experience under her belt. 

Briefly during that time, Setterstrom said she shelved her music among the busyness of college and work. She also met her husband, Bruce, in her final year.

“Well, my mom told me — and this is always why you should listen to your mother — that I should go on and do music,” she said, and laughed at making a different choice.

After school, she moved back to Baileyville and her husband began farming with her father. Setterstrom ran into her high school choir director at a local grocery store, who let her know about an opening for a music aide at the school. 

She landed the position and assisted with two music teachers in the thriving program. She also helped with band lessons, accompanied choirs, set up rehearsals and choreographed several performances. 

“I never regretted going to my business college because I’ve used those skills a lot,” she said. “But — yes — I loved it.”

After two and a half years as the music aide, Setterstrom said there was enough encouragement around her to return to school to earn her next degree. She attended Highland Community College for two years and then went on to Beloit College as their first musical education student to finish the new program. 

“I had classes doing things like conducting a college choir because I was the only one in it,” she said. “It was a great experience.”

She began student teaching in Monroe in the fall of 1991 and was commuting. She worked under several longtime teachers and said she couldn’t have asked for better mentors.

In the fall of 1992, Setterstrom graduated and accepted a position in Dakota, Illinois, teaching K-12 music. She taught high school choir 20 minutes before school started each day, junior high choir for an hour twice a week and Kindergarten through fifth grade elementary music. She said she pushed her instruments and items around outside on carts to trek between buildings. She also coached eighth grade girls basketball and took the lead on the school musical. 

“It was a jump-in-with-both-feet first year experience,” she laughed. “I loved it but it was a big job. I spent so much time there. But I loved teaching. I really knew I had found my calling.”

The following year, a Monroe teacher retired and Setterstrom was hired, teaching a year at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School. She moved to the high school in 1995. She said her true love was teaching music to older students. 

“I love high school kids,” she said. “They make me laugh — usually.”

When she started, she had two choirs split between 52 students. In her second year, that number increased to 110 students and two choirs; her third year was 175 students into three choirs and then it stalled at 225 students in four different choirs. 

“I was lucky to have a lot of boys in choir to do awesome music,” she said. “I would shoot hoops with the kids after school sometimes — I guess it just became a thing to do there.”

She also started a madrigal dinner, moved show choir to vocal jazz and made sure her students were learning old standards along with new-age music.

Setterstrom won’t openly admit the reason the program grew so rapidly was because of her — but does say she has a respect for students who choose to take her class. 

“In some respects when you have extra classes, they have to respect you because they don’t have to take your class,” she said. “Mutual respect is important to me.”

She also felt it was important to take her students out into the community. She took on several events with Father Campion in Monroe at the apostolate dinners and during Christmas she escorted choirs to UW Children’s Hospital. 

“It brought tears to my eyes to watch the kids interact with people suffering,” she said. 

She also traveled with her choir to places like Nashville and Washington D.C. for the American Sings! festival.  

“I think it’s important the kids get involved with the community,” she said.

She said after putting in the hours and the effort for school musicals — which many say she brought to the next level for Monroe — it was always worthwhile in the end.

“To see the excitement, feel the thrill of performance and to have that live performance with kids is so special,” she said. “When I’m teaching music I’m teaching history, I’m teaching math, I’m teaching science, I’m teaching languages. Music is the perfect interdisciplinary subject. I love that about it.”

When students are singing something well and they know it, Setterstrom said she feels a strong connection with them. 

“I can see it in their faces,” she said. “I love that shared experience that kids remember.”

She stayed at Monroe High School full time until 2001 when she unexpectedly learned she was pregnant. She had been told she wasn’t able to have children after trying for several years.

“That is a personal, private pain,” Setterstrom said in dealing with her infertility. 

After 16 years of marriage, her oldest son was born. She went half time for two years at the high school and then two years at Abe Lincoln. Music half time positions were cut in 2005, however, and she lost her job. 

“I knew it was coming,” she said. “I don’t regret having that time with my kids.”

She moved forward with a hobby where she found great joy — scrapbooking. She opened Scrapbook Haven downtown in 2004 and eventually grew out of it and moved to a bigger location on the west side of town. In the meantime, she gave birth to her second son. 

The business did well for a long time and Setterstrom adored having it and meeting people through their love for the hobby.

“It was a great place for women to hang out,” she said.

The business eventually slowed down and closed in 2011, following a national trend, she said.

She began substitute teaching in Monroe to keep up with relationships there and hoped to get back into teaching. However, that proved difficult, and she instead took a job with the Green County Sheriff’s Department as a program assistant to the Emergency Management Director. 

“I learned a lot,” she said. “I have great respect for them. It was a great learning experience and I’d still be doing it if God hadn’t changed the course of my life again.”

Setterstrom once again ran into an old co-worker while shopping who informed her about an opening for a music teacher in New Glarus. She was hired to fill the post in October, starting half time and now full time, teaching high school and middle school choir. 

The choir has already begun to follow the trend she started in Monroe. It has grown from 32 to 67 students in just a year’s time.

“We’re rocking and rolling already,” she said.

She said being back at school surrounded by students doing what she loves each day has been a gift. She also feels a strong connection with co-workers there, feeling that the band directors and she have similar teaching styles. 

Through the years, Setterstrom has played piano for countless weddings, a trait she learned at age 5. She also works at Cannova’s Italian Cuisine in Freeport, something she’s done for more than two decades simply because she enjoys it. She is part of the Bel Canto Singers in Monroe and said Director Allen Redford is a big reason she was pulled back into music despite her career changes through the years. 

“He’s a great guy, a great musician, a great mentor and I’m so thankful for him,” Setterstrom said. 

She also taught group piano for a year at Highland Community College in Freeport with Redford, helping him start a madrigal dinner there.

“I think for me music is something that expresses part of who you are,” she said. “If you are not being emotional — songs can take you back and bring that emotion. Music is such a big part of who I am — that emotional release for kids is really important.”

She finds herself busy now with her two sons, one a senior and one in fifth grade. 

She enjoyed taking the helm of the concession stand of her oldest son’s Blaze football program while he was involved. She and Heidi Witt raised thousands of dollars for the group annually. 

Setterstrom calls herself an “old-fashioned girl” who enjoys quilting and some canning. She appreciates fresh produce and loves to cook, read and boat with friends and family. She said she enjoys travel as well. 

She taught summer band lessons in Monroe for a while and said she hopes to get more involved with the community as her children get older. She said she loves living in Monroe and admires all of the people who take care of it and put on the festivals, events and activities. 

Setterstrom is also a breast cancer survivor — diagnosed in 2016 and advocates for mammograms. She said she feels lucky at her current outlook. 

“My cancer journey is easier than others,” she said. “They’re all different. I have empathy and heart for that. When you hear that diagnosis, you realize what’s important in life. I’m grateful for my faith, my family and my friends.”

That experience, coupled with her journey that’s taken her on unexpected paths, is where her final quote comes from:

 “My faith means a lot to me,” she concluded. “I try to live life to the fullest. Each day is a gift.”