MONROE - Scott Quehl, a 1984 Monroe High School graduate, was, according to his mother, a "pretty well-rounded, healthy, lots-of-friends high school boy."
Scott Boyer Quehl now has a position so important in the U.S. government that it's hard to contact him - even for his mother, Janeen Babler, Monroe.
"He's told me not to call him at the office," she said, with a tone of amusement.
Quehl is Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama's nomination of Quehl was confirmed with unanimous approval by the U.S. Senate on Christmas Eve. Quehl then received the president's commission Dec. 30 and was sworn in Feb. 2 with the Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke officiating.
As Quehl speaks of Monroe, one sees how the community, as a whole, had an influence on his career path.
"I think of Monroe as a place of great civic engagement," he said. "While proud of its traditions, Monroe has always struck me as a community of inclusion, and as a place that looks forward. It positions its people through its educational institutions, its infrastructure, and the high quality of life it offers to prosper in the national and global economy," he said.
One of Quehl's earliest interests was art, Babler said.
But as it turned out, Quehl was on the college prep tract in high school and got interested in government, fueled by his social studies teachers, like Al Staffacher, Jerry Guth and Ron Simonis.
Staffacher, Guth and Simonis were not surprised that Quehl had achieved a high position in government.
"I'd be surprised if he doesn't go further," said Staffacher, New Glarus.
Staffacher believes Quehl could someday hold a cabinet position.
"I don't think he's interested in an elected position," he said. "I think he is interested in making bureaucracy work - because it can work, and Scott has the mental background to make it actually work."
What set Quehl apart from other students were his thoughtful questions of an intellectual nature, Staffacher said.
"His questions were not factual in nature," Staffacher said. "He was interested in the contortion of history - how things changed (after an event)."
Jerry Guth, now retired but still living in Monroe, said Quehl, even as a freshman, had a sense of maturity above that of most students.
"He's gone through a lot, pushed himself to the limit but always with a smile on his face, and happy to learn," Guth said.
Quehl's extra curricular activities included tennis, which he still plays, football, swing choir, class plays and Guth's United Nations Model Club.
"He wanted to make a difference, even when it was hypothetical," Guth said.
Guth said Quehl, inquisitive and very much an initiator in school, "found his persona in public service."
"I'm pleased a person would take his education and talents to become a public servant. It's a very humbling but tiring job. When I congratulated him, I thank him for it." Guth said. "We have a quality person doing good for the county."
Ron Simonis, now living in Kimberly, taught American History his first year in Monroe, when Quehl was a junior.
"As part of the class we had simulations of elections and court cases. And I remember Scott as being active and very involved in those simulations," Simonis said.
"In retrospect, Scott liked politics and government. It intrigued him. He did very well in those roles," he said.
The simulation roles Quehl took required preparation, additional studying and research, Simonis said.
"One thing I saw was his ability to take initiative - his initiative showed through in those roles," he said.
Quehl learned to appreciate other subjects in school.
"The influence of Monroe's teachers continues to shape my formation, particularly in my choice of profession and the strength I draw from literature," Quehl said. "I grow more thankful with age to Monroe's English faculty: for engagement with Robert Frost poetry through Miss Hansen; J.D. Salinger with Clarence Breuss; Shakespeare through Lorna Carter; and Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles thanks to Candice Dexheimer. In my Commerce Department office, a small library of these works plus some Greek stoics and other items sit above the Abraham Lincoln photo on my desk."
Janeen Boyer-Quehl brought Scott and his sister Cathy to Monroe, where she grew up, in 1976. He was 10 at the time.
"In 1978, we married David (Babler)," she said.
Babler said she moved back to Monroe so her children could have extended family and to bring some continuity to their lives.
"Almost 30 years later, in Monroe's St. John's Church, I held my son, Mark, to be baptized by Cathy, an ordained minister, drawing water from the same font used to baptize babies of my family for generations," Quehl said.
Scott and Cathy went to Northside School and to Monroe Middle School, which was the high school when their mother graduated in 1961, and then on to Monroe High School.
"Monroe High School is an essential institution," Quehl said. "I was in town a couple of years ago when the girl's basketball team won the state championship, and walked to the high school gym for the post-victory rally. I became a bit choked up, not so much for the victory - though it was wonderful - but for the joy of my hometown's coming together, and the commitment of the coaches, teachers and parents to give those girls every chance to make the most of their lives. Even if they never dribbled a basketball again, those girls are geared for success, however they choose to define it."
Janeen Babler said Scott had a pang of romanticism for Monroe that evening while walking home.
"He said if he could do anything he wanted, he'd come back to Monroe and coach - like the girls basketball team," she said.
Scott and his wife, Valerie Piper, a senior fellow/director at The Annie E. Casey Foundation, and his son, Mark, and dog, Leopold, divide their time between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, where Mark attends the first grade at St. Peter's School.
But Quehl still holds dear his hometown and its values.
"Green County has its productive, beautiful countryside and an economy with comparatively heavy emphasis on agriculture and mid- and small-scale manufacturing," he said. "Whether remaining close to home or spreading across the country, people from Green County excel in their professions, raising their families, and building their communities."
Scott Boyer Quehl now has a position so important in the U.S. government that it's hard to contact him - even for his mother, Janeen Babler, Monroe.
"He's told me not to call him at the office," she said, with a tone of amusement.
Quehl is Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama's nomination of Quehl was confirmed with unanimous approval by the U.S. Senate on Christmas Eve. Quehl then received the president's commission Dec. 30 and was sworn in Feb. 2 with the Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke officiating.
As Quehl speaks of Monroe, one sees how the community, as a whole, had an influence on his career path.
"I think of Monroe as a place of great civic engagement," he said. "While proud of its traditions, Monroe has always struck me as a community of inclusion, and as a place that looks forward. It positions its people through its educational institutions, its infrastructure, and the high quality of life it offers to prosper in the national and global economy," he said.
One of Quehl's earliest interests was art, Babler said.
But as it turned out, Quehl was on the college prep tract in high school and got interested in government, fueled by his social studies teachers, like Al Staffacher, Jerry Guth and Ron Simonis.
Staffacher, Guth and Simonis were not surprised that Quehl had achieved a high position in government.
"I'd be surprised if he doesn't go further," said Staffacher, New Glarus.
Staffacher believes Quehl could someday hold a cabinet position.
"I don't think he's interested in an elected position," he said. "I think he is interested in making bureaucracy work - because it can work, and Scott has the mental background to make it actually work."
What set Quehl apart from other students were his thoughtful questions of an intellectual nature, Staffacher said.
"His questions were not factual in nature," Staffacher said. "He was interested in the contortion of history - how things changed (after an event)."
Jerry Guth, now retired but still living in Monroe, said Quehl, even as a freshman, had a sense of maturity above that of most students.
"He's gone through a lot, pushed himself to the limit but always with a smile on his face, and happy to learn," Guth said.
Quehl's extra curricular activities included tennis, which he still plays, football, swing choir, class plays and Guth's United Nations Model Club.
"He wanted to make a difference, even when it was hypothetical," Guth said.
Guth said Quehl, inquisitive and very much an initiator in school, "found his persona in public service."
"I'm pleased a person would take his education and talents to become a public servant. It's a very humbling but tiring job. When I congratulated him, I thank him for it." Guth said. "We have a quality person doing good for the county."
Ron Simonis, now living in Kimberly, taught American History his first year in Monroe, when Quehl was a junior.
"As part of the class we had simulations of elections and court cases. And I remember Scott as being active and very involved in those simulations," Simonis said.
"In retrospect, Scott liked politics and government. It intrigued him. He did very well in those roles," he said.
The simulation roles Quehl took required preparation, additional studying and research, Simonis said.
"One thing I saw was his ability to take initiative - his initiative showed through in those roles," he said.
Quehl learned to appreciate other subjects in school.
"The influence of Monroe's teachers continues to shape my formation, particularly in my choice of profession and the strength I draw from literature," Quehl said. "I grow more thankful with age to Monroe's English faculty: for engagement with Robert Frost poetry through Miss Hansen; J.D. Salinger with Clarence Breuss; Shakespeare through Lorna Carter; and Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles thanks to Candice Dexheimer. In my Commerce Department office, a small library of these works plus some Greek stoics and other items sit above the Abraham Lincoln photo on my desk."
Janeen Boyer-Quehl brought Scott and his sister Cathy to Monroe, where she grew up, in 1976. He was 10 at the time.
"In 1978, we married David (Babler)," she said.
Babler said she moved back to Monroe so her children could have extended family and to bring some continuity to their lives.
"Almost 30 years later, in Monroe's St. John's Church, I held my son, Mark, to be baptized by Cathy, an ordained minister, drawing water from the same font used to baptize babies of my family for generations," Quehl said.
Scott and Cathy went to Northside School and to Monroe Middle School, which was the high school when their mother graduated in 1961, and then on to Monroe High School.
"Monroe High School is an essential institution," Quehl said. "I was in town a couple of years ago when the girl's basketball team won the state championship, and walked to the high school gym for the post-victory rally. I became a bit choked up, not so much for the victory - though it was wonderful - but for the joy of my hometown's coming together, and the commitment of the coaches, teachers and parents to give those girls every chance to make the most of their lives. Even if they never dribbled a basketball again, those girls are geared for success, however they choose to define it."
Janeen Babler said Scott had a pang of romanticism for Monroe that evening while walking home.
"He said if he could do anything he wanted, he'd come back to Monroe and coach - like the girls basketball team," she said.
Scott and his wife, Valerie Piper, a senior fellow/director at The Annie E. Casey Foundation, and his son, Mark, and dog, Leopold, divide their time between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, where Mark attends the first grade at St. Peter's School.
But Quehl still holds dear his hometown and its values.
"Green County has its productive, beautiful countryside and an economy with comparatively heavy emphasis on agriculture and mid- and small-scale manufacturing," he said. "Whether remaining close to home or spreading across the country, people from Green County excel in their professions, raising their families, and building their communities."