MONROE - Teacher. Farmer. Fireman. When you're in third grade, you can be anything you want to be.
Some new Monroe High School graduates were reminded of that recently when they got a letter from themselves written nine years ago - way back when they were in third grade at Parkside Elementary School.
Laura Molitor, third-grade teacher at Parkside, said she and the two other third-grade teachers at the time, Cory Hirsbrunner and Donna Schluesche, had students write down what they thought they would do after high school graduation.
"Every student was given a starter," Molitor said. "In nine years, I plan to graduate from high school and ...."
Molitor said predictions ran the gamut. Some kids wrote they planned to go to college, while other mentioned tech schools.
"A lot of boys said they wanted to go to school to play for the Badgers or be professional athletes," Molitor said. For the girls, "a lot wanted to become teachers, some wanted to become veterinarians."
Following in a parent's footsteps was another popular choice.
"A lot of the farm kids wanted to farm," Molitor said.
The teachers agreed they would hang on to the letters and return them when the students graduated. Hirsbrunner went on to become the principal at Northside Elementary School and Monroe Virtual School and Schluesche has since retired. But they got together recently to read the letters Molitor had saved for nine years before mailing them to students at their homes.
"We had a great time reading them," she said.
Receiving the letters was a bit of a surprise for the students.
Ashley Siegel said she wrote in her letter that she wanted to go to college to become a teacher, specifically a kindergarten teacher at Parkside.
"What's amazing is, it's still true," said Siegel, who plans to attend University of Wisconsin-Rock County in the fall to complete general requirements. She's not sure where she will finish her degree but working as a teacher's assistant in a kindergarten classroom convinced her to pursue a career in teaching.
And yes, she said, she would still like to work at Parkside.
Carissa Scheider also still holds her third-grade dream dear: She wrote nine years ago that after graduation, she wanted "to help my dad with farm chores, help harvest corn, milk cows and help plant corn."
So it comes as no surprise that Scheider is planning on buying some steers and helping her dad Scott Scheider and her grandfather Ronald Scheider farm.
"I always wanted to," she said of farming.
Not Tyler Newcomer. He was raised as a farm kid too, but in third grade, he wanted to be a firefighter.
He listed three reasons for selecting that profession.
"I want to be a fireman because I want to help people, put out fires and drive the fire truck," he wrote.
Newcomer isn't quite as enamored of driving a fire truck anymore. While he said he wouldn't mind being a firefighter, his career goals now are more down-to-earth, literally: Newcomer plans to farm with his uncle Delbert Soddy in Browntown, an occupation Newcomer hopes he can do for the rest of his life.
Writing letters has become a yearly event for Parkside third-graders since the class of 2008 began the tradition. Molitor takes each batch and stores them away in her filing cabinet.
And there they will remain until the day the next batch of former third-graders don their caps and gowns and plays the game of "Remember when ..."
Some new Monroe High School graduates were reminded of that recently when they got a letter from themselves written nine years ago - way back when they were in third grade at Parkside Elementary School.
Laura Molitor, third-grade teacher at Parkside, said she and the two other third-grade teachers at the time, Cory Hirsbrunner and Donna Schluesche, had students write down what they thought they would do after high school graduation.
"Every student was given a starter," Molitor said. "In nine years, I plan to graduate from high school and ...."
Molitor said predictions ran the gamut. Some kids wrote they planned to go to college, while other mentioned tech schools.
"A lot of boys said they wanted to go to school to play for the Badgers or be professional athletes," Molitor said. For the girls, "a lot wanted to become teachers, some wanted to become veterinarians."
Following in a parent's footsteps was another popular choice.
"A lot of the farm kids wanted to farm," Molitor said.
The teachers agreed they would hang on to the letters and return them when the students graduated. Hirsbrunner went on to become the principal at Northside Elementary School and Monroe Virtual School and Schluesche has since retired. But they got together recently to read the letters Molitor had saved for nine years before mailing them to students at their homes.
"We had a great time reading them," she said.
Receiving the letters was a bit of a surprise for the students.
Ashley Siegel said she wrote in her letter that she wanted to go to college to become a teacher, specifically a kindergarten teacher at Parkside.
"What's amazing is, it's still true," said Siegel, who plans to attend University of Wisconsin-Rock County in the fall to complete general requirements. She's not sure where she will finish her degree but working as a teacher's assistant in a kindergarten classroom convinced her to pursue a career in teaching.
And yes, she said, she would still like to work at Parkside.
Carissa Scheider also still holds her third-grade dream dear: She wrote nine years ago that after graduation, she wanted "to help my dad with farm chores, help harvest corn, milk cows and help plant corn."
So it comes as no surprise that Scheider is planning on buying some steers and helping her dad Scott Scheider and her grandfather Ronald Scheider farm.
"I always wanted to," she said of farming.
Not Tyler Newcomer. He was raised as a farm kid too, but in third grade, he wanted to be a firefighter.
He listed three reasons for selecting that profession.
"I want to be a fireman because I want to help people, put out fires and drive the fire truck," he wrote.
Newcomer isn't quite as enamored of driving a fire truck anymore. While he said he wouldn't mind being a firefighter, his career goals now are more down-to-earth, literally: Newcomer plans to farm with his uncle Delbert Soddy in Browntown, an occupation Newcomer hopes he can do for the rest of his life.
Writing letters has become a yearly event for Parkside third-graders since the class of 2008 began the tradition. Molitor takes each batch and stores them away in her filing cabinet.
And there they will remain until the day the next batch of former third-graders don their caps and gowns and plays the game of "Remember when ..."