Moments in Time: A weekly series featuring recollections of area residents.
To suggest someone to feature in Moments in Time, please contact Mary Jane Grenzow, editor, at
editor@themonroetimes.com.
MONROE - Talk about making the most of an opportunity.
In 1979, Christine Wellington was new to Monroe after spending four years in Germany. Not knowing a soul, she took on a part-time job with a college without a building that barely existed. By 1995, she was dean of up-and-coming Blackhawk Technical College's Monroe campus that would not only thrive under her direction but see two state-of-the-art additions.
"I feel like a mom," Wellington, 64, said of the dedication she felt toward the campus. She retired in 2011.
Born in upstate New York, Wellington attended college in Ohio before heading overseas with the Air Force. A friend of hers knew of Monroe and vouched for its peaceful ways as Wellington and her husband, Chuck, considered relocation to the area.
She took on the job of Green County coordinator of non-credit courses - courses that lived the life of a nomad, being taught at different locales including the high school after school hours.
Step one for Wellington was to push to establish credit classes in the 1980s, but still most area students had to drive to Janesville.
"That was so difficult for so many, especially the single parents. That makes things three-times harder," Wellington said. "We were eliminating an opportunity for many people who wanted and needed an education."
Meanwhile, the local teachers during that decade remained part-timers.
Wellington wanted to establish a local campus, which she described as "pulling teeth" as far as it came to dealing with the deans in Janesville.
"This community was ready to connect with a college in a very dynamic way," she said of Green County residents. "I knew if we had a building, the growth would come quickly."
She was right. In January of 1990, the college purchased the Crandata Services building on Wisconsin 69, where teachers were greeted with a flooded basement. They mopped it up and opened the doors and the students poured in.
"By 1991, the place was jam packed," said Wellington, who would oversee additions in 1994 and 2004.
Knowing the Monroe Clinic was a longstanding entity in town, Wellington always pushed for a nursing program. In 2005, it came to life.
"It was the perfect fit for Green County, and we had the right building for it, the right faculty, the right equipment and a clinical site, which is key," she said. "Seeing our students doing the clinical labs was quite a thrill."
Today, as a member of the Monroe Clinic's board of directors, Wellington beams with pride as she sees her students make a difference there.
"To see my graduates take leadership positions, especially locally, means everything to me," she said.
Among her most heart-warming examples is Lisa Vavra, a single mother who not only survived brain surgery but managed to graduate from BTC's nursing program. Today, she's a nurse at Monroe Clinic.
Around the same time the nursing school opened, an agricultural program was established. Wellington said the county's rural setting made for a perfect fit, especially with many local farms changing hands to a next generation.
Certifications for computer and medical lab technicians also emerged at this time.
But the economic downturn soon arrived around 2007, and a new type of student was suddenly on campus. Wellington is proud of how BTC gave them renewed hope through the creation of an industrial lab technician program.
"With GM (General Motors) closing (in Janesville) and all the layoffs, Green County was hugely impacted, including many of the local suppliers of the auto industry," Wellington said. "We started that program on a dime - we pushed it through the state in six months when it usually takes at least a year.
"I had 26 line workers from GM waiting to take the classes and 18 would end up graduating. It is a tough program. Here we had people whose duties were primarily something like screwing screws into the console of a truck. Now we were asking them to be articulate in a very scientific manner. I'm so excited to see how they've become gainfully employed as a result."
Today, Wellington is applying the concepts she learned from BTC's agricultural department in her own back yard. In 2006, she and her husband established a hobby farm north of town on 105 rolling acres along County Road Y, where they tend to organic gardens and raise bees and chickens.
"I learned a lot about agricultural sustainability," Wellington said. "A farm is so real, so practical."
Much of her advice comes from ag instructor Dustin Williams, whose suggestions included that the Wellingtons adopt a rooster he had on hand.
"He said, 'You can't have a farm without a rooster,' and even though Chuck wanted nothing to do with it because of the early-morning noise," Wellington said. "Well, we not only had one, but we had a second one. Believe me, they made it truly feel like a farm here."
The first was named Chicken Stu - "He died defending his women from possums in the hen house," Wellington said. Stu2 came next, but raccoons would do him in.
"Don't worry, neither one of them made it to our chicken stew," Wellington said.
In 1979, Christine Wellington was new to Monroe after spending four years in Germany. Not knowing a soul, she took on a part-time job with a college without a building that barely existed. By 1995, she was dean of up-and-coming Blackhawk Technical College's Monroe campus that would not only thrive under her direction but see two state-of-the-art additions.
"I feel like a mom," Wellington, 64, said of the dedication she felt toward the campus. She retired in 2011.
Born in upstate New York, Wellington attended college in Ohio before heading overseas with the Air Force. A friend of hers knew of Monroe and vouched for its peaceful ways as Wellington and her husband, Chuck, considered relocation to the area.
She took on the job of Green County coordinator of non-credit courses - courses that lived the life of a nomad, being taught at different locales including the high school after school hours.
Step one for Wellington was to push to establish credit classes in the 1980s, but still most area students had to drive to Janesville.
"That was so difficult for so many, especially the single parents. That makes things three-times harder," Wellington said. "We were eliminating an opportunity for many people who wanted and needed an education."
Meanwhile, the local teachers during that decade remained part-timers.
Wellington wanted to establish a local campus, which she described as "pulling teeth" as far as it came to dealing with the deans in Janesville.
"This community was ready to connect with a college in a very dynamic way," she said of Green County residents. "I knew if we had a building, the growth would come quickly."
She was right. In January of 1990, the college purchased the Crandata Services building on Wisconsin 69, where teachers were greeted with a flooded basement. They mopped it up and opened the doors and the students poured in.
"By 1991, the place was jam packed," said Wellington, who would oversee additions in 1994 and 2004.
Knowing the Monroe Clinic was a longstanding entity in town, Wellington always pushed for a nursing program. In 2005, it came to life.
"It was the perfect fit for Green County, and we had the right building for it, the right faculty, the right equipment and a clinical site, which is key," she said. "Seeing our students doing the clinical labs was quite a thrill."
Today, as a member of the Monroe Clinic's board of directors, Wellington beams with pride as she sees her students make a difference there.
"To see my graduates take leadership positions, especially locally, means everything to me," she said.
Among her most heart-warming examples is Lisa Vavra, a single mother who not only survived brain surgery but managed to graduate from BTC's nursing program. Today, she's a nurse at Monroe Clinic.
Around the same time the nursing school opened, an agricultural program was established. Wellington said the county's rural setting made for a perfect fit, especially with many local farms changing hands to a next generation.
Certifications for computer and medical lab technicians also emerged at this time.
But the economic downturn soon arrived around 2007, and a new type of student was suddenly on campus. Wellington is proud of how BTC gave them renewed hope through the creation of an industrial lab technician program.
"With GM (General Motors) closing (in Janesville) and all the layoffs, Green County was hugely impacted, including many of the local suppliers of the auto industry," Wellington said. "We started that program on a dime - we pushed it through the state in six months when it usually takes at least a year.
"I had 26 line workers from GM waiting to take the classes and 18 would end up graduating. It is a tough program. Here we had people whose duties were primarily something like screwing screws into the console of a truck. Now we were asking them to be articulate in a very scientific manner. I'm so excited to see how they've become gainfully employed as a result."
Today, Wellington is applying the concepts she learned from BTC's agricultural department in her own back yard. In 2006, she and her husband established a hobby farm north of town on 105 rolling acres along County Road Y, where they tend to organic gardens and raise bees and chickens.
"I learned a lot about agricultural sustainability," Wellington said. "A farm is so real, so practical."
Much of her advice comes from ag instructor Dustin Williams, whose suggestions included that the Wellingtons adopt a rooster he had on hand.
"He said, 'You can't have a farm without a rooster,' and even though Chuck wanted nothing to do with it because of the early-morning noise," Wellington said. "Well, we not only had one, but we had a second one. Believe me, they made it truly feel like a farm here."
The first was named Chicken Stu - "He died defending his women from possums in the hen house," Wellington said. Stu2 came next, but raccoons would do him in.
"Don't worry, neither one of them made it to our chicken stew," Wellington said.