Our People, Their Stories

I think all people that had a pregnancy during COVID had a unique experience. As a first-time mom, I was always scared. I work in security at the hospital, and we were in the height of COVID-19. I was also monitoring my lupus and flare ups, so it was highly stressful. But I had to constantly remind myself not to get stressed out because stress isn't good for a pregnant mom.

With Lupus, my body attacks itself regularly, so the risk of miscarriage was high early in pregnancy. Amazingly, I think that my son kept me healthier than when I wasn't pregnant. He regulated my body and increased my platelet count. I think pregnancy and giving birth to him changed my health for the better.

Toward the end of my pregnancy, it was just a matter of a few days where I went from being monitored due to high protein in my urine, to being induced and giving birth to James, my son. Despite preeclampsia, my blood pressure was never out of the ordinary.

Becoming a mom changed me as a person. Before, you see moms and you respect moms. But when you are a mom, everything is completely different. Your world is no longer revolving around you. You don't get to be selfish anymore. Even while pregnant, every decision you make is for your baby, not for you. I think it builds up your tolerance for people in general. I now have a lot more patience than I used to have. You go into it knowing you'll change, but not sure how until it happens.

My favorite thing about being a mom is seeing him learning and growing. It's fascinating to me that he went from just being swaddled to running around, speaking words and just witnessing all his firsts.

I think my heart grew.

Trigger warning: Suicide, self-harm

The idea of being able to sustain yourself on your own on a bike was always super appealing to me. The first time I bike camped, I met up with a friend of a friend in California at a bar, and we decided to take the trip on together. It's one of my favorite things to do now – bike with random people and get to know them that way. Having someone to lean on in a way and share the experience with is meaningful.

It was during this very first trip I ever took, that my brother, Charlie, died by suicide – and I often think back on the beauty and peace I found on this trip as a way to remember him.

There are all these moments from the trip that stand out: camping in the Redwoods in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and on the beach in Half Moon Bay, biking through Big Sur and seeing elephant seals. But the one moment that really stands out was when I biked through a monarch butterfly migration.

I thought about a lot as I would bike for miles every day, and at that moment I was thinking a lot about Charlie. He had been struggling with depression for a long time, and despite trying to reach out to him through phone calls many times, I was thinking how I should really try again. It was at that moment where I realized I was suddenly riding through these beautiful monarchs. In some ways, time stood still and there was a calm silence to their flight. It was magical. Peaceful.

When I see them now, I pause and I think of my brother.

The trip itself was meditative in the riding itself. So much so that when I finished, and was in Los Angeles on my way home, everything was overwhelming. It was sensory overload. Then I got home, and it was chaos. The ambulance had just left, and I couldn't help but think, if I had just been there to give him a hug – but the reality was that this had been on his mind for a long time.

I was devastated. I felt like a tricycle missing a wheel, now it's just my sister and I. It didn't make sense. It's affected my life in different ways. Annually, we visit trees we planted along the Ice Age Trail in memory of my brother, Charlie. I carry his loss with me at work, when I connect with families experiencing mental health concerns in the ER and I continue to use bike camping as a way to bring me back to center when I feel off balance.

If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, dial 911 or reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

The air changed. Seconds before, all of us sixth graders were buzzing with near summertime energy and post lunch sugar rushes. I remember it was warm out, the windows were open, and the classroom was filled with chatter.

Suddenly you could hear a pin drop and all eyes were on me. A boy who had been teasing and making fun of me had called me a word I had never heard before. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it carried weight because the air changed. The classroom chatter stopped.. The breeze seemed to vanish, and things were uncomfortably quiet. It was unsettling. "What did that word mean?" My head ran away with my anxiousness over this unwanted attention; I felt like I was suffocating, and my confidence was gone. "This must be bad, and it must be true."

My classmates were staring at me with looks of shock and disbelief. I didn't feel safe, so asking what the word meant was out of the question. All I kept thinking was, this is bad, this word – it must be really bad.

I waited for my Mom to get home, my Dad is not one for curse words, so I knew if I brought up what happened there was a chance of being punished for repeating this word, in any context. Never having heard it, I couldn't have imagined it was about my ethnicity.

As we were cleaning up dinner, I confessed "Someone said something to me today and I don't really know what it meant, but apparently it's something bad."

When I repeated the name I was called, the air changed yet again. My Mom and Dad were staring at me with undivided attention and then my Dad just snapped into pure anger, ranting to himself. Mom, gently told me, "This is a bad word, something people use that is meant to be mean and hurtful; it's something people call people who are Mexican."

I thought, "WOW. This explains Dad's anger."

"I can't believe this. This is exactly what I wanted to protect her from!" Dad is spiraling. Mom tries to calm him down. At 12 it was hard for me to understand why he was so angry, still, it left its mark on me. Clearly, he had experienced this himself in his life, and now I was too.

After my Dad took his ranting outside, my Mom gently tried to explain to me, "This is something your Dad heard growing up, all the time because he is Mexican. He wasn't treated kindly at school and got in trouble for speaking Spanish. All his life he has been trying to prove himself as worthy."

Being 12, it's hard to fully grasp what this all means. "He worried if we taught you Spanish when you were little you would be seen as different and experience the same racism he did growing up," my Mom continued.

The community I grew up in was mostly white, and this sudden realization that everyone saw me as different left me unsure of who I was. Suddenly, my life wasn't steeped in innocence. I now had a new understanding that people were willing to slap a term on me, with intentions of making me feel bad, or not worthy because of my difference, because of my ethnicity. I lost a lot that day.

Since then there was always kind of that thought in the back of my head: "Am I being treated differently because of this" Decades later, I can say with confidence that I am secure with my identity and better understand the experiences I had growing up.

I still remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001. I was in seventh grade P.E. class when our teacher showed us what was happening on TV. Even at twelve years old, I felt an undeniable and personal call to fight for my country.  

My family’s history is interwoven with the military. My parents were both on the front lines during the war in their home country of Nicaragua — my dad as a soldier and my mom as a nurse. When they immigrated to Florida with my older sister, they had two more girls; military discipline and principles were instilled in my sisters and I from day one. We knew to be in bed by a certain time and have our chores and homework done. When I was 15, I quietly started reaching out to recruiters and sorting out the requirements to enlist after I graduated high school. I didn’t even mention the Marines to my parents until I enlisted once I turned 18. When I broke the news to my mom, she was so mad that she stormed into the recruitment office with me and my papers in tow and lectured the recruiter for allowing me to enlist. We look back on this moment and laugh as it didn’t have much of an effect on him or me, and I started bootcamp shortly thereafter.  

Boot camp, combat training and subsequent specialized school for fuel, air and ground became my new reality. Once I finished training, I volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan and was stationed there for a life-changing seven months. Halfway through deployment, I became the only woman in my specialty. My initial nervousness gave way to bonding with all the men I worked with; I grew up with sisters, so it was like being surrounded by brothers for the first time. Many of them were first-time dads, missing their kids and spouses, and I wanted to cheer them up however I could. We were getting sick of Ready to Eat Meals (REMs), so I would help make comfort meals from random items in care packages, cooked over the engine of a broken Humvee, our makeshift grill. I even had my sister buy me $200 worth of microwavable cake mix and send it over in a care package to bake up cake for my unit.

One day, while conducting routine equipment inspection, we were suddenly under fire. The force flung me into a metal tripod, causing long-term injury to my lower back. Upon returning, I learned I had a service-connected injury at the age of 23; something I have to make accommodations for to accomplish everyday tasks. The mental scars that I have put in the back of my mind during my time deployed can be as bad as the physical, and at times, I jolt awake at night from dreams that I’m back in that moment. It can also happen during the day, the hum of a helicopter flying over in certain weather is enough to bring me back there, and I have to close my eyes and remind myself that I’m at home and I’m safe.  

Returning to the civilian world afterwards was surreal. Reintegrating back into my life in Madison after what I saw and experienced in Afghanistan felt next to impossible, but I was determined to forge a new path for myself. I seized the opportunity for tuition assistance and enrolled at Madison College. I have always felt a pull to help people and saw how fulfilling nursing had been for my mom and sister. My injuries meant I couldn’t participate in physically demanding roles, so I graduated with an MBA in 2022, and this year I started my journey as a Risk Program Manager at Meriter. The role demands quick thinking and decision-making with reduced physical demands. I’ve also been fortunate with the grace my department has shown me; they’re supportive of my eagerness to jump into anything immediately and provide unwavering understanding.

A lifeline for me has been joining and attending events at the Madison Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Connecting with other veterans, telling stories and sharing our hardships aids some of those feelings of isolation. The stigma surrounding veteran mental health is a profound issue, and many veterans are hesitant to receive help. I’ve seen first-hand the consequences of this silence. In 2021, after hearing how many veterans in the Madison area took their own lives; I knew we needed to make a change. Seeking professional help, confiding in other veterans or simply opening up to a family member is a sign of strength, not weakness. As someone now discharged from serving, I can attest that there is hope on the other side. If anyone ever wants to share stories, find resources or just grab a cup of coffee, my office door or inbox is always open.

Being a leader in diversity, equity and inclusion is a roadmap toward not feeling the need to defend yourself because you're a person of color and being able to be your authentic self with support and without worry of retaliation.

I felt the pull to get involved in inclusive policymaking after some personal experiences I have faced as a woman of color, but also after experiencing how patients had been affected by stereotypes. I wanted to have an impact on Meriter as a place where everyone in the community can come and feel fairly cared for, comfortable and confident. Outside of my job, I decided to join one of the hospital's sub-committees for policymaking and facilitated a "conversations of belonging" forum.

The "Conversations on Belonging" forum was an incredibly validating experience. People of color from all levels of the organization from higher leadership to patient care joined together to share their experiences. While some experiences were difficult to hear from my peers, as a member of the policy committee, this eye-opening forum told me that diversity, equity and inclusion needed to be addressed at all levels of the organization and will be a direct gateway to necessary changes. Listening to and amplifying the concerns of our team members of color is the first step toward change, and I am proud to be a part of that process.

In participating in these committees and forums, I want people to recognize that we all come from different backgrounds with different experiences and lenses, and this is inherently a good thing. We cannot judge people for where they came from, but instead be respectful and leverage the melting pot of ideas, personal experiences and wisdom that we can tap into to diversify our organization and craft policies that improve the experiences for all our patients and employees. I'm passionate about continuing to increase the diversity of our workforce and decrease stigma, so our patients of color can see themselves represented in the care they are receiving. I'm hoping that, with all the work we are putting in, we will see some big, necessary changes in the next few years.

Hope is my mantra in life; we need to have hope to move forward. There's something about that word that pushes me forward – hope for better days, hope for progress. After my mother lost her fight with breast cancer, I got my "hope" tattoo, which represents that lows are not forever. That applies to diversity, equity and inclusion as well; by acting on your hope for change and taking the necessary steps toward equity, we can all hope for a more united future.

I urge everyone to foster that hope – read a book or an article, get involved with your DEI team at work or in your community, step in when you see a microaggression and be that voice for those who may not feel comfortable standing up. Some great organizations to get involved with in the Madison area include The Progress Center for Black Women, The Urban League, and The Boys and Girls Club.

Maintaining and coordinating with the cemetery is an extension of the empathy of what people go through when they lose a loved one. As a nurse I experienced death before, but now I am seeing the other side of the coin. I'm content in knowing that I am providing a more peaceful resting place for the deceased and aiding in the healing process for their families to see that there is beauty in death.

The physical space of a cemetery should reflect the people that rest there. In every movie you see, the cemetery is a horrible and scary place, but in Cooksville, the birds are chirping, we have beautiful, towering trees and greenery, and people walking through to clean headstones and share stories with one another. This cemetery is the heart of our community – you probably talk to more residents here than anywhere else.

When I first took over in 2017, we didn't have the funds to afford regular mowing and maintenance, and there was a lack of volunteer work being done. It was important to me to take on the role of secretary treasurer because I had over 10 years of leadership experience from my work in the oncology unit at Meriter. This place was very close to my parents' hearts, and my mom frequently watered flowers. Since my dad passed away last year, though, it's been harder for her to get down here – I really felt I had to step up to the plate to take the stress off the local population who appreciate the space. With the community coming together in this way and donating to the beloved grounds, we have enough funds to pay for 3 years of mowing if necessary!

We quickly implemented a few fundraising efforts after I started – we curated a flyer and wrote letters. Our fundraising efforts validating the work I was doing – I learned just how much people adored the cemetery and wanted to keep their loved ones' resting places beautiful. We even had local farmers begin coming through with the extra weed killer in their tank; it has truly become a community effort to care for who is buried here.

Working at the cemetery was the only part of my life that stayed the same during COVID. I still came to water flowers and be in nature. Although there was less opportunity to stop and have a conversation with someone, it provided me with an outlet for peace and a sense of community in an otherwise isolating time.

When I first got my job at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, I was so excited to be a part of something important that made a difference and directly helped other people. I have been a Sterile Processing Transporter for nearly two years, and I absolutely love pushing my cart around the hospital and getting to see my coworkers every day.

I first met my job coaches, Cole and Jason, when I joined Project SEARCH in high school. Project Search is a partnership with Madison Area Rehabilitation Center (MARC), Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and local hospitals to help adults with developmental disabilities enter the workforce through internships. I knew that I wanted to have a job where I could help people, so when my mentors and I found the job opening at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, they helped me put together an application and prepare for the interview. Shortly after that, I started my new role.

MARC’s mission is to enhance the lives of adults with disabilities by providing high-quality individualized employment, educational, recreational, and personal care services. As a Sterile Processing Transporter, I am responsible for delivering medical supplies to all the different areas of the hospital. I have to make sure that deliveries get where they’re going on time and need to know my daily schedule like the back of my hand. It’s a responsibility I take seriously and has given me a greater sense of purpose. My job has also been great at keeping me active because I’m on my feet, pushing a cart and walking through the hospital for my entire shift, so I never get restless or feel like I’ve been sitting all day; it’s been great for my physical and mental health to keep moving, especially in the winter. I think I’m skilled at my job, and I know I can always rely on my coworkers as well. Everyone I work with in Sterile Processing is kind, funny and always there to cheer me up. My starting date was on my birthday in 2021, and when I reported for my shift, my supervisor had a birthday card and a case of my favorite soda, Dr. Pepper, waiting for me; it felt like home right away! Last year, I moved out of the group home I lived in and into my own apartment to have more independence, and some of my coworkers showed up that day to help me make the move. My supervisor even offered me a spare couch and dresser to get started. Everyone faces struggles from time to time, and I’m no exception, but the genuine care my team has shown my family and me makes me feel cared for and has led to some wonderful friendships at work.

When I’m not at work, I'm a railroad enthusiast. I have my own model trains and really enjoy reading books about trains. I’ve recently gotten into creating digital drawings of some of the characters too. I would also consider myself a waterpark fanatic. Even though I live in Wisconsin and it’s not always possible, my mom and I try to visit new waterparks and ride daring slides as often as we can.

As a person with autism, I want people to better understand that people with developmental disabilities are just as capable of doing great work in any industry and are amazing at our jobs. We can bring different views of the world to a workplace, are great at problem-solving and can deeply concentrate on tasks. I’ve really enjoyed working with Cole, MARC and UnityPoint Health – Meriter to be able to make a difference in my community’s health every day!

Music has always been a huge part of my life. My entire family loved music, and I started piano lessons at just 6 years old and joined the children’s choir at church within a few years. By age 10, I wanted to try my hand at the flute, but my parents couldn’t afford instruments for all three of my older brothers and me. When a free flute came into my life through a used instrument drive, my world changed forever.

Growing up homeschooled, I wasn’t involved in a traditional music department but was fortunate to receive private lessons from a local band director. The summer before I started high school, I attended a summer music camp where I really got to experience collaborative playing for the first time – it was amazing. The harmonious blend of different instruments coming together was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Meeting people who loved music just as much as I did was equally inspiring and unforgettable.

High school brought a new adventure. My brother was cast as Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof, so I volunteered to help backstage. I had been intrigued by musical theater ever since memorizing the entire soundtrack to The Phantom of the Opera as a child but was too shy to take the stage as an actor. As my fellow students began singing, I watched the director hit play on a stereo and learned they were planning to use a pre-recorded soundtrack for the show. As a theater fanatic, I knew that live music has a soul and flexibility that brings the story to life. Nervously, I volunteered to accompany the show at just fourteen years old. This secured my spot as an accompanist for all my high school’s productions. Each production brought new challenges and new musicians, and by my senior year our director had formed a pit orchestra where there once was a stereo – I’m really proud I took that chance.

When it came time for college, I chose St. Olaf College in part for its renowned music program. I was immersed in choir, band, and private lessons, making lifelong connections along the way. Midway through my music major, I discovered a new passion - pharmacy - and pivoted my career path while staying in band as a hobby.

After graduation, I was hit with the reality of life without band. For years, music had been my anchor, and its absence felt like a void. Restless and yearning for on opportunity for musical collaboration, I was thrilled when I learned of a new community band that was about to start its first rehearsal and rushed to sign up. With the generous support of a small group of passionate community musicians and the Verona Area High School band director, the Verona Area Concert Band was born in 2011. What began as a small group of us has grown to two full ensembles - a Wind Symphony and a Concert band - and the group has served as the source of musical growth and countless friendships Over the years, I’ve even been called on to play in the pit for some of the high school’s shows and other local musical theater productions – a full circle moment that always brings me immeasurable joy.

Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like as a professional musician. But for me, music is meditation – a stress reliever and way to disengage from the challenges of day-to-day life. Tuesday night rehearsals are sacred, a time when the world fades away and all that remains is the rhythm, the harmony, and the bliss of making music with others. It’s more than a hobby – it's a foundation of who I am.

I not only care for my patients, but also their families.

When I was growing up, I spoke English in school but Spanish at home. At home with my family, I lived in one culture, while at school I lived another. Growing up bilingual and bicultural has been a blessing. It has enabled me to help my patients of various backgrounds find a voice in expressing their needs, feelings, and fears.

As a physician, one of my most important jobs is helping the individual and their family that loves and supports them, navigate their experience with illness. Each patient has a unique family culture. I find being bicultural has made me more attune to this, and enables me to understand my patients and their families within their cultural context.

Growing up Hispanic in Madison was complicated and has certainly changed over the years. It was uncommon to hear Spanish and our food and culture didn't seem to exist outside the home. Mom met her best friend playing with us at a park because she heard her speaking Spanish. They formed a friendship, brought together by their shared heritage. I even remember helping my mom hunt for mangos and avocados. Back then these were not easy to find in the supermarkets. It is much different now. The Hispanic culture has a palpable presence as part of the greater Madison community.

My father's Peruvian and my mother's Mexican cultures deeply infused certain values and priorities within myself. On one hand, I experienced the more traditionally communal and family-oriented focus of Hispanic culture. Because of where I grew up, I learned the individualism and self-discipline, more common in Anglo Saxon cultures. This is the same dichotomy patients face in their experience with illness, and that impacts their care decision-making process.

Having a deeper understanding of each culture allows me to see, not only my patients but also their families as my patient, which makes them more comfortable making health-care decisions, having open communication and confronting raw vulnerability. For me, that is one of the most amazing things about being a caregiver: people dealing with the loss of their health and function, welcome me into their lives at their most vulnerable moment, sharing things with me that they wouldn't tell even their closest relationships. Knowing that I can give them more comfort and support because I have a deeper understanding and connection with their culture and language is an honor.

When it came to choosing a place to work, Meriter felt like the obvious fit. My father has worked at Meriter for over 30 years. I remember walking into the building to meet my dad for lunch, to volunteer as a pre-med and to find a quiet place to study. In some ways, Meriter feels like a second home – I quite literally grew up here!

Since I started in Meriter as a Hospitalist, people from different departments-physician, nurses, social workers, administrators – tell me "I remember when you were this tall coming to meet your dad." And I regularly hear of the impact my dad has had here - of the respect, fondness, and gratitude people feel towards him, and the values and integrity he displays in his work and relationships. Working in the same building with him has deepen my respect for him and has made us even closer.

While my bicultural background allows me to understand the nuances in the Hispanic community, every caregiver is blessed with knowledge, experience, and resources that can help the people in their community. We have a responsibility to share these gifts. We are also blessed to form a unique relationship with our patients that is often based on blind trust. I take this trust very seriously. Every night I go home knowing that what I did today was done to make someone else's life better, if even just a bit.

By being open to visiting a place I knew nothing about and immersing myself in a new culture, I found that Rwanda was one of the most beautiful, clean and friendly countries I've ever experienced. Thanks to the beauty of the land and kindness of the people, I am more rounded in my career as a nurse and more grounded in my daily life.

My nursing journey began in Dallas, Texas which offered a wealth of experiences realizing disparities in healthcare. Early on in my career I realized the importance of good healthcare and that we have many healthcare concerns here in the United States. At that time in my career, I couldn't imagine what the health care concerns would be like in a developing country. When the opportunity presented to train and educate in Rwanda, I was very interested and excited for the opportunity.

The Operation Giving Back program, which provides global humanitarian volunteer responses to the medically underserved, offered me the chance to travel to Rwanda to bring necessary medical supplies and assist with their nursing education and training. Although it was my first mission trip, traveling and experiencing other cultures has always been a passion of mine. Through my extensive travels, I have realized that we are all so much more alike than we are different. I believe to better understand people, it is crucial to be open to learning from other cultures different from our own.

Volunteering in a developing country presented an opportunity to not only give but to also receive and learn. I have found so many people in the U.S. have a mental picture of what Africa is like. More often than not the picture created is not very flattering, but the minute I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda in January of 2023, I was impressed with the cleanliness of the city, beautiful landscaping, delicious food and, most importantly, the kindness of every Rwandan that I met.

While volunteering in Rwanda, a typical day began by being picked up between 7:30 and 8 AM by a driver that was provided by King Faisal Hospital. We would check in with hospital staff and determine what our daily schedule would be—EGD's, ERCP's, colonoscopies in the Theater operating room in Rwanda. We would break for lunch and continue with more patient care in the afternoon. The driver would pick us up around 4:30 or 5 PM and bring us back to the hotel.

The healthcare system in Rwanda is incredibly well-organized. Rwanda has one of the best health care systems in Africa. The poorest citizens receive free healthcare coverage while the wealthiest citizens pay $8 per year. The majority of the costs for healthcare coverage are covered by the government and international donors. While healthcare coverage is not an issue, Rwanda has an access issue for patients living in rural areas. Nevertheless, we have the same rural access issues here in the U.S. The major challenge that Rwanda faces is the educating and training of healthcare workers including specialists and subspecialists, and this is where Operation Giving Back comes into play.

The physicians and other healthcare workers were extremely knowledgeable, and the patients were grateful and patient. Healthcare staff and patients alike were mindful of each other's time, and nothing is taken for granted. Conserving of medical supplies, time and materials is a common practice for all.

After returning from Rwanda, I continue to keep in contact with many of the people I met on my trip. When my plane landed in the United States, I received multiple text messages making sure I returned safely. While my mission trip to Rwanda taught me to embrace new medical experiences, one does not need to travel across the world to get to know people and cultures different than their own. The United States is a melting pot. One just needs to ask a coworker, patient or even a stranger about their ethnicity, culture or food. We can all learn so much from one another and we all have the ability to create a more inclusive and accepting culture.

I sincerely hope I was able to have a positive impact with all the doctors, nurses and patients I had the pleasure to have met in Rwanda. They certainly had a positive, long-lasting impact on me.

My world has always been surrounded by music and art. From my first attempt at a punk band in high school to studying visual arts and now watching my own children carry on this artistic spirit, the process of creating has always been a core value of mine.

For as long as I can remember, I have felt a pull toward music. Growing up, my family was filled with photographers, musicians and painters who modeled the profound joy that comes from creative self-expression. I've experimented with many forms of art, but it was playing guitar that really stuck with me.

While I was dabbling with art during high school, a classmate spread a rumor that I was a poet. Next thing I knew, two classmates knocked on my front door, asking, “we heard you write lyrics – want to be in a band?” Obviously, I was in. Our punk band was loud and, admittedly, mostly screaming. Like most teenage dreams, it fizzled out, but I got to experience what it was like to record a demo for the first time and fell head over heels for songwriting and performing.

Once I started studying art and painting, and began my career in healthcare, music took a backseat for a while. Still, I found ways to keep my creative side alive. I’ve even commissioned paintings for a few of my Meriter teammates – it means the world to me knowing my art lives on in their homes.

Since college, my creative journey has oscillated between visual art and music. About two decades ago while living in Michigan, I felt that familiar urge to perform again. I formed Jovian Death Ray, which was a completely different experience from my high school days. We played off each other with so much chemistry. It was incredible to collaborate with musicians who shared my same passion for creating. We played original songs, covers and even started booking gigs. My most unforgettable performance was in Copper Harbor, MI in the dead of winter. It was freezing outside, but the moment we hit the first chord together, everything clicked – the music warmed me up from the inside out.

After that gig, we were hooked. We’d play open mics and gigs where we knew nobody would come, but it didn’t matter. We even tried music videos and playing our instruments in the middle of the woods just to hear how it sounded – we were all in.

Eventually, life took us in different directions. I married my wife, who’s also a musician and plays the oboe. When my daughters were born, I wanted to be an amazing father first and foremost. Just like my parents did with me, I’ve been able to share my love for music and art with them. We’ve created joint paintings, and I’ve even included their voices in some of my songs. Now my oldest daughter is playing the flute and cello in her school band, and I couldn’t be prouder. Music and art are woven into our loves and my wife and daughters are my biggest supporters – and sometimes my toughest critics.

Now that my daughters are older and exploring their own artistic paths, I’ve jumped back into performing. Usually every other Thursday, I play at a local open mic night in Mount Horeb, mixing covers with my own, Beatles-inspired originals. I’ve also started collaborating with a neighbor to try out some new songs and we’re working on forming a local band to play year-round gigs around Dane County. It’s still in the planning stages, but no matter what, I’m proud that I’ve stayed true to my passion for music. I know that high school punk band version of me would be proud too.

At the tail end of 2022, my family experienced some health issues that served as a wakeup call to take control of the reins on my health. When my sister casually mentioned that she might sign up to walk a 5K, a lightbulb went off in my brain. Our goal was simple yet profound — to participate in a community 5K each month of 2023, improving our health while giving back to organizations that were close to our hearts.

My sister and I have always had a very close, best-friend type of relationship, and embarking on this journey together has only strengthened our bond. To stay in shape for our upcoming races, we found ourselves opting to go for walks instead of watching TV or movies to spend time together. Suddenly, we had 45 minutes set aside to do nothing but catch up with each other.

We signed up for a race a bit farther away in Menomonee Falls where our sister-in-law, who we don’t get to see as often, joined in. My nephew even took part in some of our races and is training for a half marathon. I started to realize how sedentary we tend to become in the winter and became determined to bundle up and brave the cold to keep my body moving. After a few weeks of walking, I noticed myself moving faster and taking on hills with ease. Even when I wasn’t actively out on a walk, I had more energy to get through the day.

While I was starting to reap the health benefits of walking long distances frequently, I also noticed my mental clarity improving. From simply going on walks every day, I was soaking up more sunlight, fresh air and getting natural stimulation. Stepping away from my computer and phone screens led to less headaches and eye fatigue. It’s funny, the more I started speeding up physically, the more I was able to slow down mentally.

Each month, we looked through the races being offered in our area and what their fundraising cause benefited. We picked races that had causes close to our hearts. For example, a close family friend of ours receives treatment at the UW Health Carbone Cancer Center, so we jumped at the chance to financially support the facility while also improving our own health and getting one step closer to our goal.

On January 29, 2023, we started off on our first race of the year the Hibernation Hustle in Sun Prairie. It was freezing cold, but my sister and I bundled up and got moving. I didn’t even end up noticing the cold air because the energy of the race was warm and infectious. The excitement, nerves and group mentality pushed us along. After that first race, I couldn’t wait for the next one. As months passed and we checked off more and more races, the energy only intensified.

At the Shamrock Shuffle in March, people went all out dressing from head to toe in costumes lined up down State Street. I remember standing in the group before starting and holding up my phone to record behind me; all you could see was a sea of green with the capitol building as the backdrop. In April, the finish line of Crazylegs Classic was on the field at Camp Randall and made for a once in a lifetime view of the stadium. In June, we did the hottest race of the year and sweat it out alongside all the other runners and walkers. Coming up in December, we’re really looking forward to Run Santa Run in downtown Madison, where each participant dresses up as a penguin, an elf or Santa himself – it's going to be another wintry walk, but we’ve proven to ourselves that we can do it!

Now that we’re rounding out our twelve-month challenge, I’m so proud of my sister and I for sticking with it, even when the temperature was below 0, above 90 or the race took place on what seemed to be never-ending hills. Setting this goal for myself gave me something to push towards and motivate me when it would have been much easier to stay inside, plus I was able to spend more time with my family in the process. Going on so many walks did wonders for my physical and mental health, and because I’m a very goal-oriented person, we've already set our goal for next year: to hike in a Wisconsin State Park each month of 2024. The dog may have love this challenge even more than my sister and I, so we’ll make sure he is included!

12 hours, 34 minutes, and 44 seconds.

2.4 miles in the water. 112 miles on wheels. 26.2 miles on foot.

Let me tell you, you never forget your first Iron Man; it's like your first love. Just getting to Panama City Beach felt like a success, you've trained for months, you're healthy, you're there. Part of me thought, "Is this real? Am I really doing this?"

I don't know if you really ever get there in your mind and so most of the time, you are managing your expectations around, "If I don't finish, it's okay." And an overall excitement, overwhelming happiness that you're there and you just need to do it.

The Gulf of Mexico is breathtaking,. Setting up in the dark ,there is a rampant energy brewing, and then the second the sun begins to rise: the crowd quiets, and there is a stillness. It's an amazing sight Before the cannon booms the start of the race, there are 2500 triathletes, ready to jump in the water at the same time.

Imagine swimming in a washing machine and that will accurately describe the start of this race as 2,500 bodies fill the water simultaneously. The water is churning, and arms and legs jab out unexpectedly. It is dangerous mayhem. Thankfully, I am a strong swimmer, and I found my pace. The key is not to kick a lot, saving your legs for the bike and run and avoiding kicking other athletes in the water. The swim is the only place where drafting is allowed and I found a good draft, going through the crystal-clear blue water quickly.

The transitions are hard. The clock never stops, and the transitions are a part of the race. After 2.4 miles in the water, I had to adjust from being horizontal to fully upright. It's a big change for your cardiovascular system. You run out of the water, over rocks with bare feet, and are stripped of your wetsuit before putting on all the necessary gear to start 112 miles on the bike.

The course for the bike was relatively flat, but the last 20 miles I hit some strong head winds. It was like going uphill without a break. It's tiring, and nerve-wracking. Would I make the cutoff time? If you don't make each portion by the cutoff time, your race is over. At this point, the excitement of jumping on the bike has completely worn off and my mind races through the math. If I continue at this speed, will I make it in time?

Thankfully, I did. Now, all that's standing between me and the end is 26.2 miles.

This whole time, I have made the race manageable by thinking of the entire race as little chunks of time. You can't think about the whole thing because you wouldn't do it. Nobody sane would do that.

The run was flat. It surprised me how trained I was for this. Despite all that training, you're battling every emotion. I wanted to quit, I felt great, everything hurt, I was hungry, I had to go the bathroom, am I going to throw up? I learned to accept each thing as it came, treating whatever symptom you're feeling in the moment and following it up one foot after another. Some would just call that being stubborn.

I finished in the dark, I was tired – just spent. At the same time, I kept thinking, "I DID IT!" and not only did I finish, but I exceeded my wildest dreams, finishing in 12 hours, when I honestly expected to finish in 14 or 15. It's amazing what the body can do, and in the moment it kind of feels like it doesn't belong to you. It is just doing what it is going to do. You realize, "I can do anything in this world. I got this."

Growing up, media would present certain dolls as the standard of beauty – and none of them looked like me. I often wonder how my self-esteem or other Black girls' self-esteem would have improved to see ourselves in the dolls we played with day in and day out.

I never thought a lot about collecting dolls as a child, and I didn't even realize that was a hobby that people engaged in until I was in my early twenties. It was then that this wonderful woman I worked with told me she was learning how to make dolls, and I asked her if she would make me one. Not just any doll though, I wanted one that looked like me.

It was this doll that got me into doll collecting. What I love about doll collecting is that they can be passed down from generation to generation. As I started to collect more dolls that looked human, that resembled girls and women like me I became excited about my daughters and now granddaughter's being able to see this reflective representation.

It's not to say Black dolls didn't exist before then, they did, but they didn't look Black. Their features, in particular the nose never seemed to match the noses of my friends or family and their hair was always straight. Their skin color was also always the same tone, when in reality there are so many different skin tones in African Americans.

So, when my co-worker was making me a doll, one that I could collaborate on, I was elated. The process took about a month. There were so many personal details like the gold and black colors of my husband's fraternity making it into the dress design, and her face – she looked SO real. What meant a great deal to me was that my co-worker wanted to get the details right. The process of getting her and seeing her come together made me feel so valued.

I remember at the time it was nearing Christmas and I went into a pharmacy in our neighborhood, looking for gifts for my daughters. There were so many dolls being sold in the store, and not a single one was Black. Even then, in a predominately Black neighborhood, it was hard to find a Black doll.

When my co-worker was finished, I brought my doll home, proudly displaying her above our fireplace. My girls wanted to play with her and hold her when they first saw her – I could see their awe and excitement.

Now, my collection has grown, to nearly 300 dolls. And what I value the most is that my granddaughters are growing up in a world where they have dolls that reflect who they are, and what they look like so that they know that they too, are beautiful.

I didn’t know much about Cystic Fibrosis (CF) until my second son, Easton, came into our lives.

Our first son arrived three weeks early in 2012 but ultimately went home healthy. Two years later, Easton was also born early, and we thought we took home a healthy baby again. Just days later, however, his nurse called with unexpected news - his newborn screening showed a gene mutation linked to CF. My world collapsed. Desperate for answers, I called every testing center that could see us.

Easton underwent painless sweat tests, but the process was emotional and exhausting for us as parents. After two inconclusive sweat tests, a 75- day wait for blood results from John Hopkins, and five months of emotional turmoil for my family, we got the call that Easton was diagnosed with CF. Despite preparing for this possibility, I still had a sliver of hope that it was all for nothing and his test results would be normal – the diagnosis felt like a punch to the gut.

Our third son, Krew, was born six years later and was also diagnosed with CF. Because Easton’s gene mutations had been identified, doctors were able to confirm Krew’s diagnosis within days.
Despite these diagnoses, we have never let CF hold Easton or Krew back from anything. Their lives may involve daily breathing treatments, multiple medications, vibrating vests and more precautions around hydration, extreme heat and germ prevention than other kids, but they are just as active and adventurous as their older brother. We're honest and realistic with them about their challenges, but we focus on the positives – they will live long, healthy lives as long as they take care of their bodies.

Our hope and strength come largely from our involvement with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), which we connected with shortly after Easton’s diagnosis. The support, resources and community they provide have been life-changing for my family. My husband and I have become deeply involved, from fundraising to now serving as District Captain for Advocacy for the Wisconsin chapter. We were even able to attend their national conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this year where we heard stories of CF patients all over the country.

The love and support we’ve received from friends, family and even strangers has been overwhelming. Our community has rallied around us, advocating for our boys and even helping them receive Make-A-Wish trips. What began as a daunting diagnosis has brought incredible blessings into our lives.

If there’s ever been a “good” time to have CF, it’s now. Advances in science and medicine give us hope for a bright future for Easton, Krew and all those living with CF.

It was massive. Made of oak, heavy, and mine. From start to finish, it was exactly what I wanted.

It was the first thing we made that was to be my own. The dresser was still collaborative, the plans, the process all done together. Woodwork was the only activity that my dad and I were both interested in and bonded over - at eleven years old, some kids play catch with their Dad, but we built furniture.

My Dad and I always built a lot of projects for other people. So embarking on the two month journey to make my dresser felt special.

Dad was and is meticulous in his woodwork. If something wasn't perfect in his eyes, we would start over. This idea of pride in your work resonated with me, I realized early on you don't want to finish crafting an object you are not truly proud of. Often, some projects for our house never seemed to reach completion. Either a mistake would bring us back to square one, completely stopping the project, or fixes would sideline it until there was more time or resources to finish it.

Any pressure that I felt to make perfection though, was self-imposed. I wanted to prove myself to him, and at the same time, Dad trusted me. He would lightly guide me, and yet it was clear that he felt confident my work would rise to his expectations, his level of perfection.

My dresser was one of the few things that we built that stayed in our house, and the fact that it got done meant that Dad approved of our work. I felt so much pride when I looked at the finished product. The routing designs, boxy corners, two doors with oak inserts, a deep, crisp, brown stain that popped against gold plated knobs. This was what I would later define as my "gold phase". I especially loved thinking about how all the work in finishing it; ten different sandpaper grits and polyurethane finishing turns the hardest wood into what feels like perfect glass.

It took four people to carry the dresser into my room, and I swear I reorganized it one hundred different times that first week, as well as moving it around the room nearly six times until I found the perfect spot. Friends would come over and I would show off my treasure.

I still feel that drive toward perfection as I continue to make furniture for friends and family, but I have learned to give myself some grace in the process. For me, and for Dad, the pride still lives in the completion of a piece and the knowledge that something built well and with care, will last.

On July 22, 1974, I started my career as a housekeeper at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. Over the past 49 years, I’ve never even considered leaving as this has become so much more than just a job; my team is like my second family. Everyone in the environmental services department, all the nurses and doctors and anyone you pass in the hallway smiles and says “hello” and genuinely wants to learn about each other.

My journey to Madison, Wisconsin began 53 years ago, when a job opportunity brought my husband, our 3 children and I to UW-Madison from Peru. Our transition to a new city, country and culture had its challenges, but the community embraced me. I didn’t know much English, but I learned from listening to and talking with people at work and from watching tv. Typically, in Peruvian culture, once a woman gets married, she would stay home and take care of the house and children, but that was different in the United States, and I had to adapt to this change. When a job opened at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, I embraced the opportunity to contribute to the health and sanitation of my community and found a purpose in ensuring patients wouldn’t spread diseases.

Flash forward 49 amazing years and living in Madison has become a part of my identity. I watched my children blossom into adults here, and now my six grandchildren fill our gatherings with joy and laughter. My family is the most important part of my life, so no matter how busy we are, we make sure to get together every other weekend and I cook for everyone while my husband plays music and we all dance together to the rhythms of our Peruvian heritage. This fusion of growing up in Madison while staying connected to our Peruvian food, music and dance binds us all together.

My family and I love living in Madison. We’ve been able to connect with many other Spanish speakers from Bolivia, Guatemala and other Hispanic nations that became dear friends. I remember when we first came to Madison, we were so excited about the growing soccer culture. Our friends and I frequented these games and my children all played in high school; it was something that felt very familiar to home and represented the unique cross culture of my family.

While living in Madison for over 50 years, UnityPoint Health – Meriter has been more than just an employer; it’s been a bridge connecting me with other Spanish speakers, creating lifelong friendships based off our shared understanding and a way for me to be an active member of my community, connecting to patients and improving their health outcomes.

From the time I was a kid, I’ve found solace in unplugging and spending time outside. My recent journey through the Boundary Waters presented both a fresh challenge and an opportunity to
reset and renew.

As a child visiting my family’s home country, Trinidad and Tobago, I fell in love with escaping the city by exploring the great outdoors which makes me feel more connected to the earth.

As I established a career and a family, I maintained that love for the outdoors and the peaceful nature of camping. Over the years, I’ve taken many opportunities to travel and practice mindfulness through yoga and meditation. So, when my boyfriend invited me on his annual trip to the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota, I jumped at the chance to reconnect with the
world around me.

The Boundary Waters is a massive wilderness area, accessible primarily by canoe. Despite my lack of experience canoeing, this trip, which consisted of hours of paddling, was definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I was eager to embark. So, I packed five days of clothes, food and supplies into my backpack and set off on my journey of discovery.

The Boundary Waters welcomed me with open arms. I could not believe how much crisper the air felt in the wilderness. The regular murmur of car noises and horns was replaced with the sloshing of our canoe and loons calling in the distance. On our first day, we navigated open waters for hours until we eventually had to get out and portage, carrying all our belongings and boats across land to the next body of water. We repeated this cycle a few times until we reached our secluded campsite. Setting up by the water’s edge, I was in awe of the natural beauty of the towering trees, babbling streams and glassy lakes.

Mindfulness has become an important part of my life and I find it incredibly important to be connected and present every day. While preparing, I knew the trip would be a physical challenge, but I didn’t realize how much the experience would reset and recenter my mind. My surroundings became a sanctuary, and without any cellphone service, I became much more aware of each rustling leaf and water ripple as we hiked along winding trails and paddled through the waters.

My favorite part of the trip came when I tried my hand at fishing off our canoe. My boyfriend and I paddled into the middle of the lake, which was so clean and clear that I could drink straight from it. The sport of fishing involves lots of waiting, but I never felt myself growing impatient, instead taking time to really feel the sun beams on my face and enjoy simply being still. That didn’t last forever, though, as soon I was reeling in a 30-inch Lake Trout. Maybe I was too relaxed, because all of a sudden, the trout made a sharp turn, and I nearly lost my pole. The rush of catching a fish was so exciting. I caught several other fish, including bass and walleye.

When I returned home after my trip, I brought back more than just memories. I brought back a renewed spirit, a deeper sense of mindfulness and an appreciation for the balance of working in a bustling hospital and the serenity of the great outdoors. My oldest son who recently turned eight; I don’t know where he gets it from, but his newest favorite activity is fishing. Maybe next year, we’ll welcome another camper with us on our trip.

Danae Newallo, Food & Nutrition Supervisor at UnityPoint Health – Meriter shares her story of reconnecting with the earth and what she learned from unplugging in Our People, Their Stories

The thing about grief is that there are moments where you can focus on the good times and the good days, and then there is the heavy grieving part. For me, it took a while to even recognize I was having a problem with grief.

Last year, my husband, Ed, passed away. I remember coming home from work, after being unable to reach him. At first, I was frustrated, but then I started to worry that something was wrong. I thought, "it's just me, everything is fine."

I got home from work around 11:30 at night. All the lights were on, and I thought, "okay, he's here." Then I noticed him lying on the floor feet from the door.

"Oh my God! Ed!" I wasn't even emotional right away, I just immediately called 911 and started CPR. I started on his chest but I knew that he was gone and I just started crying. Everything just went black; I felt numb.

It was about a month and a half after his death where I really started struggling. I was always crying. It took a while to recognize that I was experiencing the type of grief that consumes you. So, when I did recognize it, I reached out for help because it was affecting everything. I had to pull over in the hall at work and go to the chapel or find a quiet area where I was able to grieve.

My brother and mother are pastors, so I had a lot of awareness about grief. Still, it was an internal downward spiral in my mind, my body became numb. It's a dark place. Even with my knowledge of what grieving looks like, in some ways you have to experience it the hard way in order to get help.

At one point, I had had enough of it. I needed to have help making it through the day. First, I reached out to a doctor and then ended up connecting with people at Agrace.

The biggest message I have is how and how long we grieve is personal, being able to grieve without judgment is important. Now, I am trying to see things in a positive way. I think that is important. Being able to move on is very positive, because if not, then I'm stuck - and Ed wouldn't want that for me. I always have his memory and that can't be taken away.

After a year-and-a-half searching for answers, I could exhaustively run through Eva's symptoms and how we got to her Rett Syndrome diagnosis in a matter of minutes. I felt like a vessel of information. At two, Eva couldn't communicate her own story, and as her Mom, my world revolved around introducing new doctors to her short but complicated history. I was constantly on auto-pilot.

When I took her in to meet her new primary care pediatrician, post diagnosis, I noticed that the office looked like any other primary care office – a few pictures on the walls and rolling cloud formations in the overhead light. As Eva and I waited for our first appointment with the doctor I began running through the checklist in my head: first noticing symptoms at 16 months, MRIs, EEGs, for being so young I had a lot of medical history to repeat to various doctors. The first questions the doctor had were expected and I began crossing off the checklist internally.

Then, out of nowhere, the doctor stopped, looked right at me, and asked, "And how are you doing?" I paused – the doctor was looking at me like she really wanted an answer, like the answer was just as important as Eva's medical story and then I thought, "How am I, really?"

It surprised me that how I was feeling would matter, that my well-being was and is directly tied into the well-being of my daughter. I hadn't thought about the fact that for the last year-and-a-half of appointments, and an arduous path to diagnosis – that how I was feeling would matter. To have someone force that moment, that pause to say, "No wait, what do you need?" made me re-evaluate my approach to Eva's care, and my own.

There is no cure for Rett Syndrome, no treatment. Every day is just doing what we can to manage symptoms for her entire life. It's daunting. As a parent, when you don't feel like you are giving everything you should, you feel like you're failing. Parent guilt times 100.

So, to have someone say, "How are you doing?" made me feel like there is a way to get through this. It felt like something tangible to hold onto. All of a sudden I had permission to say, "Wait, I am exhausted and that's okay." The doctor's question made me realize the reality is that this is hard, and that's okay. It might be that I am not getting what I need, and that, too, is okay. It means I am human, too. I can be a person and a Mom. Suddenly, I could breathe again. It will be okay; I can give when I need to and refill myself when I need to.

That moment plays like an old favorite record upon occasion. When I feel like I am failing, caught in a loop of "is this enough?" I can remind myself that maybe I need to take a minute to care for me, so I can be fully present for her, for Eva.

When I went in for my 20-week ultrasound for my son, Julien, I could tell immediately that something was off. Shortly after the Ultrasound Tech was finished, a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor came in to tell me my son’s measurements weren’t typical and that we needed to schedule a follow-up echo. My heart sank. This echo, just 4 days later, confirmed that my son had a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) that would require life-saving surgery and a NICU/PICU stay. My world shattered. I felt scared and alone as if nobody could understand the weight of what I was experiencing. I didn’t know where to begin to prepare for my son’s arrival and part of me dreaded him being born “sick”.

Despite my years as a NICU nurse here at Meriter, nothing prepared me for seeing my own baby after his Open-Heart Surgery. When I walked into his room I saw an unrecognizable baby. He was swollen, temporarily paralyzed, and restrained. He had tubes and wires coming out of every part of his body, even his chest. Seeing him that way was devastating; it took my breath away and I felt like my world was ending. It was the hardest, most painful experience of my life. I felt like I lost that perfect baby that was born just 4 days prior. As the dust settled, I had time to process all that we had been through as a family. I thought about all the families in my community with a new fetal CHD diagnosis and wondered if they felt the same fears and loneliness I did. I thought about what I wished I had known, or the support I yearned for before Julien was wheeled away to surgery.

I started compiling resources that had been most helpful to my family along with writing a personal note from a heart mom to a new heart family, ensuring them that they are in excellent hands at Meriter and American Family Children’s Hospital. The goal of this letter is to give support to families that feel as lostper and devastated as mine once did. I shared what I wished someone had told me at that first echo appointment. I also acknowledged the guilt that I felt, hopefully letting these families know their feelings are normal and they are not alone. The last purpose of the letter is to let parents know that they are the best thing for their baby and that they didn’t cause this.

The care packages also included a book from the Children’s Heart Foundation. This book contains a glossary of terms they might hear at appointments with the various types of heart defects and their treatments. We also hand-strung unique reflection beads, symbolizing that each child’s heart condition is unique while providing something tangible for parents to hold during ultrasounds and echos made by a mom who understands what they’re going through.

With the help of my team in the NICU, we began distributing these care packages to families in the Center for Perinatal Care at Meriter. While volunteering this year at another CHD event, I talked with a family that received one of the care packages and they couldn’t say enough nice things about how helpful the note and information was, which only further fueled my determination to expand our efforts.

This experience with my son has forever changed me, deepening my understanding of the importance of connection and compassion in healthcare. As a nurse, I am more committed than ever to empowering parents in the NICU, supporting them as they comfort their babies, learn to care for them and navigate the challenges ahead. I now see that leaving the NICU isn’t the end of the healing journey—it’s just the beginning.

Through it all, Julien has been my guiding light - every moment with my son has been worth it. Despite his challenges, he radiates joy, curiosity, and love, a reminder that our defects are a part of our journeys, but they do not define us.

I remember the day my dad set up our first train set. My eyes lit up as the engine chugged around an oval of track on a 4’ by 8’ sheet of plywood. He and I would run it most nights, I am sure I bugged him every night after dinner to go run the train. The whistle on the train was nothing compared to when I would hear the trains in Janesville where I grew up. Summer trips to see the grandparents in Akron Ohio were on the train. We would take a line to Chicago, then switch trains to take the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to Akron. The train set, and the trips to Ohio turned into a lifelong love of railroads.

For a number of years while raising a family and building my career in Information Systems, I did very little with model or full-size railroads, but my love for them remained. I’ve also found a great deal of personal satisfaction in volunteering. Of all the volunteering I have done, being a cuddler in the NICU at UnityPoint Health – Meriter has provided me with the most joy. I also come in regularly for another volunteer position in the hospital called “At Your Service” where I welcome and escort patients and visitors. In some ways, the hospital feels a lot like a train station, a hub of movement where people from all walks of life come, each with their own journey and goal of moving forward and connecting with new places and folks. Altogether, I have over 7,500 volunteer hours here – it’s a very special place.

Since my first ride on a train, I’ve searched for ways to work with them. In 1994, I started to volunteer at Little Amerricka, a small amusement park in Marshall WI. I helped lay track and was a locomotive engineer, operating their steam engines to haul passengers. Last year, I took my grandkids back to ride the train. Seeing their eyes light up (especially my grandson’s) reminded me of the wonder I first experienced and why I fell in love with trains in the first place.

While volunteering at Little Amerricka, I learned of volunteer opportunities at Mid-Continent Railway Museum, a historical society and museum in North Freedom, WI. I became a member in 1995, and a few years later became a life member. At Mid-Continent I took classes and became a trainman. Trainman tasks include using hand signals (or radio) to have the engineer move the engine to couple and uncouple cars, to hook up air brake hoses, and throw track switches. A few years later, I became a Conductor, then a fireman on an oil-burning steam locomotive, and eventually became an engineer on a diesel-electric train engine. About 20 years ago, an opportunity came up to be a Car Attendant (or porter) on the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, which runs through Madison. With Wisconsin and Southern I have been to travel all over Southern Wisconsin and to Chicago, Montana, West Virginia and Michigan.

There is something majestic about these massive, powerful machines. The deep, throaty sound of the diesel-electric engines and the chuff-chuff sound of the steam locomotives as they move on the tracks, connecting distant places and people, and flying past vast landscapes on the sophisticated train systems. Through my work and love of trains, I’ve been able to travel all over and even had my picture in a national railroad magazine. Every year I set up the model train under the Holiday tree in the Wisconsin Capitol, and I even had a role in a docudrama film (Secret Life, Secret Death). I still have my original train set and have added a lot to it. It now is on a 6’ by 16’ table. I am reminded of how trains symbolize a blend of history, engineering and human ingenuity. It has been great to do as much as I have for something I really enjoy.

George Falor, a Donor & Volunteer at UnityPoint Health - Meriter, shares how he linked his passion for volunteering and his fascination with locomotives.

Right place, right time, right instrument. I had been playing accordion since I was five years old, mostly thanks to my parent's German heritage. Little did I realize that this unique talent would be so lucrative.

I remember my first real gig, at 18 I was hired as entertainment for a party. Driving up in my 1967 VW bug, I arrived at what could only be described as a palatial mansion in Beverly Hills. I had been thinking about this moment all day; I loved playing accordion and the thought of making some money for performing was truly exciting.

When I arrived though, I really thought I was at the wrong address. Suddenly, out rushes what I can only assume was the butler, "Hired help is supposed to use the servant's entrance around back!" he abruptly said.

"I'm the hired musician for the evening," I responded. Who lives here?! I was thinking.

A woman came out, and informed me that I would be playing out back by the cabanas, poolside. Guests would be arriving in a half hour.

I walked into the front of the house and felt like I was in the middle of a Hollywood dream scene. Elegant and swanky is how I'd describe the foyer decorated with a water fountain and duel grand staircases. In the back of my mind, I just kept hearing my teacher tell me that I should have fun and be myself.

I noticed the grounds were perfectly manicured as I made my way poolside. Setting up the stool I brought, I took out my accordion and begun playing as the guests filtered in.

Equal parts nerves and excitement in the beginning led to utter enjoyment as I could see everyone appreciating my repertoire. Showtunes, musicals, American classics like Gershwin, Cole Porter and Rogers and Hammerstein filtered out through my fingertips.

My scheduled three hours turned into four, as the crowd was clearly digging the music. Soon after, one gig turned into more as word of mouth spread about the kid accordion player. I played parties like that for ten years until I decided at 28 that I would go to medical school. My weekend gigs turned into the income that fully paid for years of education. I never lost excitement for playing and still to this day, play as much as I can.

There I was, upside down in the air – I rolled end over end and climbed out of the upside-down Mini Cooper, adrenaline coursing through my veins. That was the first time I ever crashed – and ever since then, I’ve been hooked on racing.

Years ago, I went to watch my then-boyfriend do hill climbs and autocross with some friends in his little British car. I never took myself for much of a thrill-seeker, but for some reason, I became enthralled with the racers and as I watched them, I thought “I could certainly do that!” So, I did. I can still hear the instructor taking me around my first turns yelling “press, press, lift, lift, turn, turn.” That day, I put pedal to the metal and took that little car as fast as it could go; it was the most fun I’d ever had. I couldn’t sign up for my first race fast enough.

Although my husband introduced me to the sport of racing, I’ve always been fascinated with cars, specifically Mini Coopers. The summer after I graduated high school, I took myself to England and just drooled over these cars. Years later, my husband and I went to France and sat under the Arc De Triomphe just counting the Mini Coopers going around the roundabout – we got up to about 240 if I remember correctly – it was the highlight of the trip. After I had gotten into racing, I went to a car show in Indiana with a museum and parade of classic cars - I liked them, but my eye was drawn to a cute little black and white car in the back of the parking lot that had a big “BUY ME” sticker across the windshield. My husband looked at me and just said “I know how to fix British cars,” and so I purchased my own Mini Cooper.

While crashing isn’t ideal, it’s not the same as getting in an accident on the freeway. Over the years, my husband and I have customized my Mini – nothing on the car is original. We molded the driver’s seat to my body, removed the passenger seat, lights, horn - anything to get rid of weight. There is a welded roll cage completely enclosing the driver and a six-point harness, so you’re not going anywhere. Fortunately, I’ve only had three “misadventures” in my nearly 25 years on the track, one when I flipped over a Lotus that had spun out and stalled in the middle of a near 90 degree turn and another when I sped up to pass another driver, looked ahead of me and thought, “Hey, that’s my tire rolling away.”

I’ve never won a race, but I never expect to. My Mini Cooper has been through many modifications to go as fast as it can, but the Porsches still fly by me. There was one time on the Virginia International Raceway when I whipped around a corner and got on the inside of another British car and passed it – that felt amazing to pull ahead of another racer. But it’s not about winning or even passing someone, it’s about this rush of excitement as your speeding down the home stretch, the exhilarating G forces pushing down on you as you take a sharp turn, the community cheering for you as you cross the finish line and sitting around the fire at night with the other drivers. Even if I can’t continue to race, I’ll be in the press box timing races and cheering everyone else on.

My battle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) began before I even understood what it was. Growing up, my mother struggled with severe OCD - I have vivid memories of her isolating herself in her room, consumed by intrusive thoughts I couldn’t comprehend.

By the time I was in high school, I faced my own mental health struggles. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and while I experienced obsessive thoughts, I assumed they were just a normal part of life. I didn’t realize they were warning signs.

In March of 2020, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I was overjoyed, but the pregnancy was far from easy. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, polyhydramnios (excess fluid around the baby), and gestational hypertension requiring constant monitoring. Amid the seemingly endless doctor visits, those obsessive thoughts from high school became intrusive and relentless. Every day was clouded by thoughts of myself having a stroke, heart attack or cancer. I convinced myself that it was just hormones and once my daughter was born, they would fade.

In November, I welcomed my beautiful daughter, Aurora, by emergency C-section. She became my light and being her mom gave me a new reason to live. But the intrusive thoughts never went away – they got worse. Inside my head, it felt like someone else had taken over. Terrifying images of harming my baby invaded my thoughts, even though I knew I'd never hurt her. I lived with a persistent worry that I would develop a serious medical condition or that Aurora would get injured. Every time I felt dizzy, I spiraled into a health-related panic and began shielding Aurora from everything.

Then came the day at the zoo. Aurora spotted the carousel, and her little face lit up with excitement. But all I could feel was paralyzing fear. What if I got dizzy? What if she got hurt? I watched my husband, mother and daughter smiling on the carousel while I sobbed, watching from a bench. Then it hit me - I was missing my daughter’s life, and I was not the mom I wanted to be. I thought back to how I felt when my mother would lock herself in her room and refused to let OCD take anything else from my family.

That day, I made a choice to admit myself to a behavioral health program and committed to treatment with everything I had. The 14-week intensive outpatient program changed my life. For the first time since high school, I felt free.

Today, I can regulate my emotions better than ever before. I still have difficult moments, but with therapy, the right tools and unwavering support of my husband, I am able to be the mom Aurora deserves and the nurse my patients deserve. I am present, strong and refuse to let OCD define me.

I’ve never been a serious biker, but somehow, I didn’t hesitate to pedal the 470 miles from St. Paul, Minnesota to Chicago, Illinois when I was riding in honor of my son and other fallen EMS professionals as a Muddy Angel.

This wasn’t just an athletic challenge, it was a deeply personal journey, a tribute to my beloved son, Matthew. Matthew had just turned 25, he was a paramedic firefighter and worked in the UnityPoint Health – Meriter Emergency Department (ED) as a Patient Care Technician for 4 years. He was a shining example of kindness, and his selflessness knew no bounds. We lost him in 2018 when he pulled over to help someone who had been in an accident. While attempting to gain access to the driver, he fell from an overpass.

A few months after we lost Matthew, the National EMS Memorial Service reached out to me, acknowledging Matthew’s compassion and wanting to honor his legacy at the upcoming National EMS Memorial Service. My family and I flew out to National Harbor, Maryland for the 2019 memorial service which honored Matthew and nearly 60 other EMS workers who died in the line of duty across the country; it was a beautiful service that reminded us of the immense impact Matthew had on so many lives, even the ones he never knew.

Part of this memorial service is the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride. There are six routes across the country, and each rider rides in honor of a fallen EMS professional, with their honoree’s dog tag around their neck the entire time. In 2019, I had the privilege of visiting all six route end points and getting to meet all the people (who call themselves Muddy Angels) who rode in Matthew’s honor, even being presented with his dog tag after they had finished. I found such peace in this experience – people from all walks of life came together to complete this challenge with the same goal: to honor those who gave their lives for their community.

Hearing all these stories and watching people finish these routes in honor of my son inspired me and I knew I had to get involved. Despite never being seriously into biking, in June of 2022 and 2023, I was able to join the Midwest route, stretching from St. Paul, MN to Chicago, IL; 470 miles. I had no idea how much this ride would change my life.

When I arrived in St. Paul, there were cards laid out on a table with a bio about each honoree, their dog tag and their circumstances - I chose honorees who reminded me of my Matthew. The ten of us began our ride as strangers. For the next 6 days, we traversed 60 to 100 miles each day, encouraging each other, sharing stories of why we were riding and supporting each other at our most vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. On one particularly difficult hill, I was really struggling and wanted to give up when another rider pulled up next to me and put their hand on my back, reassuring me that we were going to push through together. I thought about my son’s strength and perseverance and called out “Matthew, you’ve got to help me get up this hill!” As I passed over the peak of the hill, a cardinal swooped down right in front of me, and I knew it was a sign from Matthew and my chosen honorees that they were with me the entire way.

The ten of us finished the ride as a family.

For me, this challenge has helped me through my grief journey, helped me process what happened and given me a purpose. Every mile I covered was a tribute to Matthew, a chance to honor his and many others’ legacies as heroes. After we lost him, his coworkers in the Meriter ED said that they looked forward to working with Matthew and would get excited to see his name on the schedule with them. With every act of kindness I show, every day that I provide support to my colleagues or help someone in need, I carry Matthew’s spirit with me. One of the values of the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride is Semper Memoria: We always remember.

Heidi Sheldon, a Specimen Processing Technician at UnityPoint Health – Meriter shares her story of biking over 470 miles in honor of her son and other fallen EMS professionals in Our People, Their Stories.

To find out more information visit National EMS Memorial Bike Ride and the National EMS Memorial Service.

My dog pack consists of a female boxer, bulldog mix named Ruby, and a male old English bulldog named, Liam. I'm biased, but I think they're adorable.

I've been focusing a lot in the last few years on living our values and one core value is service. I was hoping to add a third dog to the mix and decided the best way to know if it's a good fit is to foster first. That experience led me to becoming a dog foster for Fetch Wisconsin. I've had all sorts of dogs; ages, sizes, temperaments.

I remember the time fostering two adorable puppies that were found during one of Texas' snowstorms last year. After being housed in a bathtub during the storm, mama Bandit was heartworm positive and had to stay behind while her litter went north to be rehomed.

I took care of Dory and Elsa (there was a Disney theme going on) and I just loved those two little wire haired terrier mixes. After they were adopted, I remember this beautiful sunny day where I got to see them reunited with each other and their mama, who had finally made it up from Texas.

Elsa was a little bit shy, but Dory who is very outgoing with a fun, in your face kind of personality was super pumped to see mama Bandit. She just kind of wiggled her way up as if to say, "Hi Mom! What's going on?"

It was a really neat and rewarding experience to see them together after a few months apart. Not only do I have these heartwarming experiences with all these fosters, (twenty dogs so far) but I can give back to the dog community and live out my value of service. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mary Oliver once wrote, "Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry," and I desperately feel this is true. In the middle of the numbing, deathly cycle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I needed that life-cherishing force and so did people in the middle of the healthcare COVID storm with me.

I have always been a lover of words. As a child, I spent entire summers reading and racking up a massive library fine. Books enthralled me with their invitation to visit other worlds, and dive deep into different lives. They engaged new emotions and presented larger questions that I had never brushed up against in my small-town lifetime. All those summers filled with a tree overhead and my nose in printed pages broke open things in me and expanded my heart space and how I thought about my life.

My own writing began as a way to understand myself in high school. My mind seemed very loud, and confining it to paper with pencil and ink helped turn down the volume in my own head and help me really hear me.

Poetry was always something I loved but falling in love with Mary Oliver’s poetry was another revelation. I had read collections of poems from a variety of artists before, but in high school I checked out one of her collections and, for the first time, felt known in a way I had not experienced before. Her connection to the natural world was one I deeply related to, and her ability to weave in so many personal wonderings and discoveries was so beautiful to me. For the first time, I wanted to feel my own life through writing poetry.

Poetry for me has become like photography. I want to capture a moment; how it felt in my mind, bones, heart, skin and spirit. I think everyone has had that experience when, for a few breaths, time stops because of beauty or pain, and for me, trying to move that moment into a poem was something I am often inspired to do.

There were a few years when my children were young that I lost my words and barely wrote. Through some lovely, serendipitous moments I was invited to join an amazing group of women who gathered to write. In that safe circle, I first experienced the vulnerability and significance of sharing my words. I also learned how to receive them from others, how to listen. To speak something unedited, with the ink still wet and have other women say, "Yes. I understand," was a feeling of connection through writing that continued to encourage me to share. It felt like standing in an endless circle that kept giving.

Experiencing the pandemic felt like endless dying to me. Literally, people died in front of me nearly every shift, and it felt like I had to go numb to survive all the fear and uncertainty that was hovering over my family at home and devastating my friends and team at work. I know we all felt absolutely broken by it in a thousand ways. All of my words dissolved. It wasn't until late 2020 that I started writing again. It began with a letter I wrote to my fellow Respiratory Therapists, as I felt like I wanted to acknowledge our experience as a group. Putting this experience into words helped me feel hope again, by focusing on how incredible our team was, what we had done and all we were doing to save lives and support all the patients and staff in the hospital. From that point on I was able to slowly capture my experiences and feelings through poetry again.

I remember being in the ICU, waiting for more people to come help prone a patient with COVID who was really struggling. I was talking with another team member, trying not to cry (because the sensation of a runny nose while wearing a N95 and face shield is something to avoid) as she told me how she sent what I wrote to all her family and friends because it expressed what she had been struggling to find words for. That meant a great deal to me.

We all need to know that we are not alone. When we feel understood, there is a weight lifted and a release from the cage of our own experiences that I think is necessary. Even if no one surrounding you in your life can relate, there is a piece of writing, of poetry, out there that will help you feel understood. It opens windows in the spirit and heart and lets in the breeze.

Standing at the top of the hill in Pheasant Branch Conservancy in March of 2020, looking out over the prairie, I made the decision to hike all 50 Wisconsin State Parks. In the earliest days of COVID restrictions, it was one of the only things I was passionate about that I could do safely, so I set the goal for myself and started planning. As of September 2022, I just completed my 46th park and am hoping to hit all 50 by the end of the year.

When I share this goal with people, the default first question is "which park is your favorite," but I'm really trying to avoid creating a ranking until I'm finished with all 50. I'm a conservationist at heart, so I make an effort to explore why the state designated each space as noteworthy and meaningful. Every time I travel to a park it's like making a new and unique discovery. I like to step back to take in the sights, smells, and sounds while appreciating the space as a place to leave behind the stresses of work and life. I often find myself wishing I could somehow bottle it all up to take home with me.

Getting over the halfway hump was the most rewarding part of the journey for me. I remember the overwhelming feeling of "what did I get myself into?" near the 15-park mark. Some parks are difficult to get to and map out. Arranging travel and lodging can also be laborious. Additionally, Wisconsin is only warm for half the year. For my 30th birthday, I hiked through the snow as a challenge for myself. Some parks are especially remote; I remember being at one park with no staff or other campers, I was completely alone. Part of me thought: "is this where the elusive bear is going to finally get me?"

In early 2021, I went through a breakup from a 6-year relationship. My safe COVID activity suddenly became a therapeutic outlet which helped me to heal from the loss of someone I cared about. In fall of last year, I took a week off to focus on myself and healing – I hiked 7 parks in 6 days alone. I felt so much pride after completing so many parks in such a short time. Through this journey, I've noticed my self-confidence increase. The experiences that lead me to hiking all 50 state parks, along with completing this goal for myself, have helped shape the strong and capable person that I am today.

Once I hit my 50th park, I'm going to channel my newfound free time into volunteering. I still want to stay close to nature because that's where I find a lot of peace. I already belong to the Wisconsin Natural Resource Foundation, but I'd love to get involved in leading field trips and hikes. The foundation is a great resource for anyone who is interested in conservation but doesn't know where to start – there's something for everyone with varying levels of difficulty and participation. To learn more about or get involved with the Wisconsin Natural Resource Foundation, visit: https://www.wisconservation.org/.

On May 6th, 2024, I lost my dad - one of my best friends. He was my constant source of support, wisdom and laughter. He loved my family unconditionally, and I see so much of him in myself. As he approached the end of his life, I spent significant time as a support person in an Arizona hospital. As a Designer at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, I have always understood the impact of the physical environment but experiencing it firsthand as a visitor changed everything for me.

My father was kind, generous, loyal and fun-loving. He dedicated most of his career as the Director of Environmental Services at @UWHealth University Hospital, where he believed even the small details could bring comfort to someone on their hardest days. I can still hear him saying, “A job worth doing is worth doing well.” While my passion led me to art and design rather than a clinical career, I’ve always carried his commitment to making a difference for patients and their loved ones.

When I became a designer at Meriter, I saw my work as a way to create a welcoming, calming space. But it wasn’t until I sat in that hospital with my dad, holding his hand and navigating uncertainty, that I truly understood just how vital those details were. It was a shift in perspective – one that made me see hospitals not just as places to work and receive care, but spaces filled with love, hope and often grief.

As a visitor, I never wanted to leave my dad’s side yet also recognized the need to step away and recharge. I realized how important it was to have quiet spaces to take a phone call or distract myself with a project. Having access to green spaces and fresh air was essential to staying grounded and rejuvenating my senses. I also found gratitude in simple things like the ease of adjusting the furniture in my dad’s room. I noticed the small frustrations too, like how confusing it was to navigate an unfamiliar building or how easy it was to forget essentials like a phone charger in the midst of stress.

When I returned to Meriter, I walked through the building as a visitor would. That walk sparked a series of projects aimed at making the hospital environment more supportive for everyone. We created a touchdown lounge near the lobby with soundproof pods where team members, patients and visitors could find a moment of quiet. We simplified our wayfinding to make navigation less stressful. We strengthened our commitment to creating furniture layouts that foster independence, connection and a sense of normalcy.

Through it all, I kept thinking about my dad. He found purpose in making life a little easier for others and now, I strive to do the same. I, like him, want to make a small but meaningful impact on someone’s healing, comfort and safety. Every time I step into Meriter, I carry my dad’s legacy with me. His kindness, dedication and belief in the power of a well-done job are woven into the work I do. I hope I’m making him proud.

When I was a kid, family vacations weren’t complete without spending at least one day fishing. I grew up around anglers and learned the ropes from my dad, who was a true outdoorsman. Some of my favorite memories are of my family and me out on the water, finding peace and connection in the calm ripple of a line hitting the surface.

That early introduction to fishing has been a constant throughout all of life’s changes. As I transitioned into the busyness of college and my career as a physical therapist, I found myself drawn back to the lake — away from screens and the usual rush. A few years ago, I was able to upgrade my kayak to a fishing boat, which has quickly become my mobile retreat. Now, I look forward to sharing this passion with my own children both on Madison’s lakes and during our annual family trip to Canada, just like my dad did with me.

Fishing has also introduced me to an incredible community of anglers through the Yahara Fishing Club. Many of them have become lifelong friends. Over 20 years ago, a patient suggested I join – right away, I was hooked. Since then, I’ve served as a member, board member and now the outings coordinator. I organize events and “on-the-water" gatherings where we all join for a cookout before hitting the lake. One of my proudest roles has been leading our Kid’s Fishing Days – watching kids light up as they reel in their first fish is unbeatable, and we make sure they all leave with their own gear so they can keep exploring the lakes around them.

A part of Yahara Fishing Club’s mission is to preserve Wisconsin’s waterways and introduce kids to fishing while respecting conservation. We’ve been able to fund local scholarships for college students pursuing wildlife and water conservation majors and support projects that help make fishing a more accessible hobby for everyone, like handicap-accessible piers. Giving back to the lakes and rivers that have given us so much is one of the most rewarding parts of the club.

For me, fishing isn’t just a hobby - it's a way of recharging, connecting with others and strengthening my community. Whether I’m volunteering with the Yahara Fishing Club or just heading out on the lake after work, fishing brings me back to what truly matters most.

I have always viewed cooking as a universal language that brings people together. No matter where you come from or what language you speak, we all share a love of good food. When I first arrived in the United States from Andhra Pradesh, India in 1999, experimenting with new takes on traditional Indian dishes became my way of bridging the gap between my past and new life in Madison.

Settling into a new life, navigating new social norms, work and lifestyle values while studying to get my master's in physical therapy wasn’t easy. Additionally, vegetarian cuisine was much less accessible in restaurants than it is now, so I was missing that sense of community over food. Whenever I felt overwhelmed, I would find solace in rolling up my sleeves and carefully crafting my favorite Indian dishes like pulihora or Sambar pachadi . Cooking helped me unwind and clear my head while reminding me of home.

After my daughter was born, I really felt caught between two cultures. My children were growing up in the American culture while my husband and I still wanted them to stay connected to their Indian roots. Cooking and crafting my own fusion recipes became my way of blending both worlds, embracing our new home, while celebrating our history. Their love for dishes like Idli and Dosa (lentil crepes) showed me how even the simplest foods provide a powerful way to preserve our cultural identity.

When my oldest started school, I was so worried that she would be perceived as different because the food she brought for lunch wasn’t like what the other kids had packed. I had a great time volunteering at her school lunches to help explain to other kids where our food came from and encouraging them to try it as well. Soon, my family joined in my love for cooking, and our kitchen became a place full of love, laughter and delicious fusion food.

I began to fall in love with Madison from community to the scenery. I discovered a passion for hiking with my friends (and of course having a meal afterwards) and tending a garden with my family in our backyard, using the fresh vegetables in our recipes. Now, I view Madison as my home, but my Indian heritage will remain an integral part of who I am within the Madison community.

In my family, food has always been the way we celebrate. Whether it’s ringing in the Lunar New Year with dumplings or sharing mooncakes during the Moon Festival, Chinese culture views food as a science and an art.

The mooncakes we share during the Moon Festival in mid-autumn each year are round to symbolize union and a sense of completeness. For my family, I think this is a perfect representation. Growing up, family values were, and still are, extremely important to me. Our family structure relied heavily on support from each other. Even though my parents were busy, every time I made a basket or crossed the finish line of a race, I looked to the sidelines to see my parents cheering me on.

My parents are originally from Hong Kong, but they came over to Wisconsin to start a new life. My dad wanted to share his culture with the city in the best way he knew how – through food. He opened Tony’s Chop Suey in Madison. At the time, it was one of the first Chinese restaurants on Park Street. So many of my memories growing up take place inside the dining room there; eating meals with family, parties, gathering with friends. At times, the staff consisted of my grandparents, parents, brother, sister or me working together – again, all brought together by delicious food.

Being raised in a Chinese household, speaking English and Cantonese and being guided by a strong sense of family while also going to school in an American system and learning to celebrate individualism allows me a unique, bicultural perspective. Growing up Chinese American has allowed me the opportunity to experience and appreciate both cultures. As a physical therapist, both sides of my culture help me to be a better caregiver. I can relate to people that are new to the United States and are navigating a complex healthcare system or are struggling with language barriers, like my grandparents have, and I see them reflected in those patients.

Chinese culture has incredibly rich and beautiful history and traditions that I am proud to celebrate. My dad’s cooking allowed him to share his culture with Madison and establish family values through food that today are stronger than ever. As a family, we always find our way back to celebrating each other over a delicious meal together.

Failure is funny. I've learned if you are willing to be a failure in front of people they are going to laugh.

My clown origins are really from Bible college, we used it for ministry all the time. At a certain point, I decided to pursue it further and attend a clown camp in La Crosse.

My character, Daisy Drop a Lot presents as a young girl that's klutzy and is always making mistakes. I love that my character can just make the grumpiest person laugh. While I do parades with a lot of kids in the audience, my favorite place to perform is in nursing homes and memory care centers.

I enter the room singing songs and dancing, and to see the smiles spread on their faces – it's just really close to my heart.

The baby wasn’t breathing. Right on the table, I got an ambu bag out of my suitcase, did chest compressions and listened for a heartbeat. The room was full of people from all different countries and religions, praying in multiple languages; it sounded like a chorus of angels. A light shined through the window onto the baby, and a few seconds later, I heard crying. That was the turning point; I knew that there was something bigger than me that needed to be done for the babies in Tanzania.

In 1985, I found my daughter, Katie face-down in a pool, not breathing. As I was performing life-saving CPR on her, I promised God that if he would help bring my daughter back to me, I would go anywhere in the world and do anything I could to help save more children. That day, I saw the same light shine on Katie that I would see 22 years later shine onto the baby in Tanzania. As a NICU nurse, I always felt the call to care for babies, but after that experience in 2007, my husband Rick and I founded Hope to Others, our nonprofit organization designed to bring hope, healing and health to developing countries.

The healthcare system in Tanzania is full of compassionate people, but they lack the necessary equipment, training and facilities to provide the care these babies need to thrive. When babies were born not breathing, they didn’t have the CPR training to revive them or even stethoscopes to listen for a heartbeat. After reviving that baby, I pulled out a baby doll we had brought to donate to a local orphanage and showed everyone in the room how to stimulate a baby, suction out the baby’s mouth, use an ambu bag and perform chest compressions. I felt that God was calling me to teach these life-saving skills with as many people as I could.
Expo Helping Mothers Survive.png

Since then, we’ve been to Tanzania 14 more times to hold trainings, with another trip planned for July. Our training sessions operate on a ‘train the trainer’ model; we teach both indigenous leaders and medical professionals birthing practices and rescue breathing while providing all the necessary equipment – MamaNatalie birthing simulators, ambu bags, gloves, inflatable babies, bulb suction devices, soap, stethoscopes, etc.

When we first founded Hope to Others in 2007, I put out a few calls to my coworkers at UnityPoint Health – Meriter for donations of medical supplies and equipment no longer in use – we never could have anticipated how quickly the word would spread nor the daily calls from other local hospitals and community members with donations of hospital beds, wheelchairs, ekg machines, warmers, cribs and even a retired ambulance. Before we knew it, we had a warehouse full of donations, and started packing our first 40-foot crate to send to Tanzania. In April of 2023, we will send our 4th crate stuffed with medical supplies, furniture and baby care items!

While education and equipment were helping provide hope and healing to the people in Tanzania, they still lacked a safe, clean facility in the rural areas for women to give birth. I always had a dream of building a birthing center for these women that I scribbled onto a piece of paper and thought “maybe one day.” On the day of my mothers’ funeral, I got a call from Neil McCallum, who had designed the US embassy in Tanzania and had learned about Hope to Others through a mutual friend. He said he was touched by our mission and wanted to volunteer as the lead architect for the project. Suddenly, my dream became a reality, and my sketch became a blueprint. We purchased a lot and broke ground on the center in January, which will feature a birthing center, pharmacy, training center, laboratory, and perinatal, dental and optometry clinics.

Hope to Others was started with the mission to improve the quality life to remote, impoverished and underserved communities around the world. We’ve been blessed by our volunteers, equipment and monetary donations that have turned life around for hundreds of families in Tanzania. The future is bright and full of dreams of more clinics and training sessions that are only possible when we come together and lead with compassion and heart.

To learn more about Hope to Others, view their Medical Center plans or volunteer your time, visit https://www.bringinghope2others.com/donations.

I’ve always taken pride in being a self-proclaimed theater kid. Growing up, I loved everything about performance - especially the logistics involved in making a show come to life. My dad was the technical director at my high school for 40 years, and I remember my siblings and I coming in to paint sets from a very young age. Back in 2007, while exploring ways to expand my horizons and social circle, I reignited that spark within myself and became a stage manager for a local theatre company. Surrounded by like-minded people who shared my love for the craft, I felt like I was home.

Not long after, the director of that musical recommended me for the Assistant Stage Manager Position at Madison Opera. I took the leap, and now, 15 years and 22 shows later, I look back on this moment as a turning point in my life.

As the Assistant Stage Manager on stage right, I ensure stage cues and performer exits and entrances flow seamlessly. From organizing props and quick changes to cueing gun shots and off-stage crashes to queuing performers, my role blends creativity with my knack for meticulous organization. My mind is wired for structure and details – just ask anyone who’s seen my daily planner - and I consistently find myself enamored by the backstage magic and countless moving parts the audience doesn’t get to see that create a flawless production.

Over the years, I’ve developed deep, lifelong connections. The teamwork required to synchronize lighting, music and blocking requires trust, collaboration and a shared sense of purpose, which we’ve built as a tight-knit team. Having a strong support system and community is important to me and the Madison Opera has given me this gift, introducing me to local chorus members, performers from all over the country (some who have gone on to prestigious roles) and even some of my best friends. The opera stage manager, Jill, and I even “stage-managed” each other’s weddings!

In 2012, I took on another role with Madison Opera: Day of Event Manager for Opera in the Park. It’s always a highlight of my year. The day before and day of the event, you'll find me dashing around coordinating volunteers, helping coordinate things in the VIP tent, pointing vendors in the right direction and fielding questions from police officers and city representatives. It may sound like chaos, but in my mind, it’s a perfectly orchestrated science. The scale of the event is unlike anything I’ve been a part of – the Madison Opera team starts planning for the next year the morning after the event – but it’s worth every moment.

Opera in the Park brings together everything I’m passionate about – musical theater, community, creativity and organization. It’s a testament to why I fell in love with the world
of musical theater in the first place. Though I’ve scaled back a bit in recent years, I can’t imagine ever fully stepping away from the Madison Opera – it's become so important to who I am.

My Mom always said, "Kleins are happiest at high speeds."

I grew up in a racing family. Weekends were spent in the repair shop, at the racetrack, on a mountain trail, in a boat on a lake or gliding on a snowmobile in the Wisconsin snow.

Destined to be around fast-moving vehicles, my husband also happens to be a motorcycle rider. After being a passenger on his bikes, I got the itch to take a safety rider course.

I wanted my own view, and I loved it.

My first bike was a smaller Harley sportster, and three years later, I got "Bluesteel."

That's right, I am a fan of Zoolander, but look at this bike. My 2006 Dyna Low Rider; 6-speed, chrome, and a gorgeous blue – it just fits.

There is much talk about how what kind of bike you have is a reflection of your personality, but what I love about Harley's the most is that they are classic looking, and their sound is incredibly distinctive. Pop, pop, pause, pop, pop, pause – getting louder and on repeat. The rumble of the pipes is so well known, there is a common catchphrase among Harley riders, "loud pipes save lives."

I've ridden Bluesteel for about 15,000 miles, from routes up and down the Mississippi, through Tennessee and a visit to Sturgis in South Dakota, among many a curvy road travel.

For me, owning my view, feeling every curve and bend of the road – each trip is about that feeling, that journey on the backroads. I look forward to the slow journey. Being on the motorcycle, I feel FREE and strong. Female riders aren't as common, so I personally feel very confident and strong. I love that feeling. So much so, I usually yell out the occasional "Wooohooo!"

For the past 36 years, I’ve been driving my beloved 1969 Chevy Nova to work at UnityPoint Health - Meriter. Ever since my start date on November 14, 1988, I’ve loved cruising into the parking ramp in the bright Island Turquoise car.

I’ve always been drawn to anything with a motor. There’s something extraordinary about taking something apart, restoring it with your own two hands and then hearing the engine roar to life. My love for mechanics and cars started with my dad in the garage when I was a kid, staying up past my bedtime as he showed me his latest projects where I was amazed by each moving part. By the time I hit high school, I had caught the motor bug and inherited a 1972 Chevy Vega from my older sister. I never wanted to rely on anyone else to do repairs – I wanted to do them myself. I enrolled in a mechanics class as a high school junior and joined my dad in his garage, now working on my own car.

When I was 18, my neighbor mentioned to my dad that he was thinking of selling his 1969 Chevy Nova. I had been admiring that car in his driveway for years, so once it went up for sale, we jumped at the chance. Despite my two wonderful children, I consider the Nova my firstborn. I’ll never forget the feeling of driving it to school for the first time, with the radio blasting and my hair in the wind is something I’ll never forget. Even now, after over 100,000 miles, I still get that same feeling every May when I drive it out of winter storage.

Over the past 43 years, I’ve poured my heart into restoring the Nova to be my dream car. From painting it Island Turquoise to adding rally wheels and upgrading to a 350 V8 engine with a new intake manifold and a four-barrel carburetor, it has been a labor of love. I’ve driven it to college and eventually to work at Meriter Hospital each spring, summer and fall; my Nova has become a part of me! One of my most memorable moments was in 2006, when I was approaching my 25th anniversary of owning the Nova. I wrote a letter to The Nova Times magazine about how much my Nova meant to me and all the modifications I’d made to it to keep it pristine, upgrading it while making sure to maintain the classic car feel. To my surprise, when the next issue arrived on my doorstep, there was my Nova on the front cover, with my full, unedited letter and photos printed inside. It was a moment of recognition that meant the world to me.

I knew my husband was the one when he truly understood how much this car meant to me. As a mechanic, he helped me make even more modifications I had been dreaming of, like updating the interior to leather, adding carpeting and installing a new sound system, while staying true to the late 60s spirit. Some of my favorite moments with him have been Sunday afternoons spent in the garage, listening to music, which is how we’ll stay for the rest of our lives together. When our kids came along, they naturally joined us in the garage, and soon we had an entire family of motorheads. Today, we insure 13 vehicles -- we cannot get enough.

I’ve shown the car at a few shows around Wisconsin in the past, but I can’t help but feel hurt when people start to pick the car apart, so I prefer the more relaxed classic shows. Honestly, my favorite way to show off the Nova is driving it into the Meriter parking ramp. Seeing my teammates’ smiles, waves and admiration is worth more than any blue ribbon.

TW: names have been changed for this story.

"Thank you for making sure I was okay."

I think about her often; Lily, just a child, had gone through so much and if it weren't for her, I would have only worked as a Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) for two years. It ended up being 11 rewarding years.

I was drawn to this kind of work even though it was emotionally challenging. I saw men, women and children at the most traumatic times of their lives. They had experienced something they probably had never experienced before.

Being an FNE nurse was not without its challenges. It was my job to explain the options a patient has available based on the violence that was committed against them, then move forward with the options they chose. There is an element of necessary detachment, so there were days I left telling myself to take deep breaths, try not to cry. It can be very emotional to hear what happened to people.

Most FNE nurses burn out by year two. Part of that is from having to put aside your own personal feelings and focus on what this person needs from you without judgement, even if they decide not to report the abuse.

When I was paged for Lily's exam, it happened to be right at the two-year mark when most FNE nurses look for other work, and I could feel the burnout building. Like most exams, I approached it knowing there would need to be long breaks, giving her some time if she needed to stop. Lily's experience was traumatic; she told me what hurt on her body. I said, "I am really proud of you for telling your Mom what happened. My name is Kim, and I am here to make sure your body is okay."

Generally, the exams are a lot like a physical with more intense looks at the skin and evidence collection via swabs and photography. The most important thing is to give your patient control over the process, asking, "Is it okay if I touch your arm with a swab?"

It was meeting Lily that day that made me remember the work I was doing was important to those experiencing a vulnerable moment in their lives. Violence is so prevalent in our society and this was my way of making a difference. This was my purpose.

Having her come back to see me and give me a thank you card was both unexpected and incredibly heartwarming. "She really liked you, she was telling her friends about her nurse Kim," her Mom said. Lily gave me flowers, the card and a big hug. It takes a lot of trust to hug someone after trauma; I was truly honored.

"You are brave, Lily. I am so proud of you." I told her.

"Thank you for making sure I was okay, you're the best nurse." It's a moment I will keep with me, always.

Honestly if my house were on fire, I would make sure my family was safe and if I could go back for one thing, this would be it. It was, and is, my baby.

I started playing a rented violin when I was 9 thanks to a program at my school , but after one year the program was cancelled. Still, that experience was very impressionable. I decided pretty hard and fast that I was going to play the violin my whole life, and someday, play at the symphony.

That's when I began saving half of my allowance every week. I told my parents that playing violin was what I was going to do for the rest of my life, "this is who I am!"

Even without having an opportunity to play, I followed through on my commitment. Four years had gone by saving and by then, it was pretty clear to my parents that I was very serious about being a violinist. At the end of 8th grade they consulted my Aunts and Uncle, who played for many symphonies, on the best instrument to last me through college. My Dad traded in my grandfather's old guitar and bought me a beautiful, well-made German violin. Perfect for the classics.

While it wasn't a surprise, the moment they brought my baby home still left me speechless. It was completely surreal. I had been saving for this for so long, it was hard to believe that I was finally getting my violin.

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It. Was. Magical. Picking it up for the first time felt like I had filled a void that had been missing in me, it was like a limb, an extension of myself. This violin was always supposed to be mine. I started playing it and in my 14-year-old mind, I heard the symphony.

My work was only beginning. I wanted to reach my dream of high-level performance so badly that I enacted strict rules for my parents. My daily violin meditation was not to be interrupted. No phone calls, nothing. "If the house is on fire, come and get me." I knew that if I was to be competitive in college, I had a short amount of time to practice when my peers had already been playing for almost a decade at that point. I practiced until my fingers hurt, and beyond – I loved every minute of it.

Life, well, it happens, right? After one year of playing in college I got a job at a nursing home and decided that the violin could still be my passion, but it doesn't have to be my career.

What happened next was a 16-year hiatus, that made me feel less than whole. I never lost my passion for it and always knew deep in my heart that I would eventually get back to it. I would go to the Overture, or Concerts on the Square and cry at the beauty of the symphony.

When I finally picked up my baby again, I was hard on myself. I remembered my quality of play so perfectly and knew that it would be a long while before I was ready to play publicly again. The first time I ever played my baby, I heard my future as a classical symphony violinist and now, I just heard nostalgia for what once was.

I had to relearn a lot, retrain my ear, my fingers – but I love the ride. My end goals are different, no longer am I playing for career success, I am playing for me.

The mission of the McFarland Fire & Rescue Department is just like my work at Meriter – to help people through some of the toughest days of their lives. At the fire department, I talk to people at their worst, and being that helping hand to get them out of their situation safely or help them salvage something can make all the difference. It truly fills my cup in life.

Before I moved to Wisconsin, I served in the Army for nineteen years. After I left, I kept finding myself yearning for the adrenaline rushes of doing physically strenuous work while helping people in the face of adversity, so I turned to the fire department. Becoming an expert in something other than my career while training for long and hard hours, all for the greater good of the Dane County community filled that void for me.

In the public sector, funding isn't always guaranteed, so we also run the McFarland Fire & Rescue Association, a nonprofit that raises money for tools and equipment while providing counseling, monetary and emotional support to its members during life changes. A few years ago, my son was transported by UW Health Med Flight, and the last thing on my mind was watering the flowers. While I was gone, the association members were mowing my lawn, feeding my pets, and getting the mail. I felt the need to give back to them, and have worked my way up to the Vice President, allowing me to be even more active both with members and the community.

Although my work as a firefighter is fulfilling, it can be physically and mentally exerting. I live close, so when we get calls, I'm up and at the station within a few minutes. I throw my gear on the truck, start the engine, turn the radios to the right channels, and wait for the rest of the crew so we can pull out of the station as quickly as possible. Sometimes my job involves watching families struggle with losing their homes or loved ones and trying to recover. Despite the heartache, these experiences let me know that the work I'm doing, both with the Fire Department and with Meriter, is pushing forward, making a difference, and above all else, brightening one of someone's darkest days.

Early on in coaching I over prepared. I had a lesson plan, and I was determined to stick to it for the betterment of the team. It was so much responsibility to make sure the girls were improving their game and getting them ready for the next level of play. I found out pretty quickly that I needed to adjust my own expectations because being a role model to these girls often went beyond the techniques of soccer.

Every single year there was an intense fear around tryouts and what would happen the next year. I started creating a share circle the week before tryouts where the girls would talk about their biggest fears. I remember one girl started crying; she knew she wasn't the best player on the team and she wasn't going to be able to stay with her friends, so we talked through all the worst-case scenarios.

What are the positives that could come from that experience? We talked about how sometimes all we can do is work hard and show up and make the best of things. That in life we don't always get into the school we want to get into or get the job we want. Her teammates pledged to stay friends, no matter where each of them ended up.

Often coaching isn't just about technical skills, it's about developing young kids into eventually confident and secure adults. As parents, we have the same kind of responsibility and if often starts with setting expectations.

My wife and I took my son, Harry miniature golfing, and we entered the experience knowing there are 18 holes, we will move from spot to spot and then it's over. Harry didn't know that. I'm pretty sure all he saw when we arrived were tons of toys, everywhere.

He lost his patience pretty quickly and it became a nightmare. The reality is he didn't know what to expect because we didn't try and explain to him what the process would be. With soccer, the girls often came in with fear and worry over what it was going to be like to work with a new coach, and what was expected of them. The more that you lay out what you expect the easier it is for them to feel safe. The more consistency there is, the more they thrive. The same holds true for Harry.

I learned that managing and being real about myself, and honest with myself about my own emotions is a huge piece of both parenting and coaching. Sometimes you have to take a step back, reflect, have empathy, but not let your own emotion drive decision making and the conversation. I have always been a wear my heart on my sleeve kind of person so keeping a calm demeanor was and is a challenge for me, even more so when I'm tired. Like coaching, with parenting you don't always get a good break. So sometimes when you are really tired and have been at it for a long time you start to lose perspective. Being able to take a step back, take deep breaths, then come back and talk through what you are seeing and what is happening is a valuable skill. What I see is not always what the girls I am coaching are seeing and neither is it what Harry sees.

The successes are similar shared moments. When the girls would hit a technique during a game or practice, they often found my eye contact as if to say "Did you see?! I did that thing you said to do, and it WORKED!" Similarly, for months I've been trying to teach Harry to say please and thank you. The first time I heard him say it unprompted, I was so proud. Now he says thank you all the time, even when it's not warranted as if he's saying "Look Mom! I said thank you, did you hear that?!"

When they get it, it feels amazing; it's very rewarding! Whether it's Harry saying please and thank you, or the girls at the end of the season telling me they wished I could coach them just another year – I feel proud knowing that I have done something to impact these lives, and shape the future.

Family has always been #1. All three of my daughters were born in the birthing center at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. Now, we’ve come full-circle, and Ireland, Erin and I have been transformed from family into coworkers in the same place they were born.

I grew up on a farm with my parents and sister. Early on, we learned the importance of having a strong family structure, hard work ethic and faith. My dad had a huge family, with nine brothers and sisters, so almost every Sunday, we were at a different aunt and uncle’s house for lunch. Those family meals really stuck with me, and I made sure when I had a family of my own, that we shared meals together whenever possible. Even though my children are grown and busy, the Sunday night dinners have remained one of the only constants in our schedules; I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything.

In August 2001, I was hired as a Payroll specialist at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. My daughters quickly became familiar with the hospital, studying both their multiplication tables in elementary school and anatomy exams in nursing school in the conference room.

Ireland always had a drive to care for people and found a passion for it while working in an assisted living facility in high school. Once she graduated high school in August 2020, I knew the perfect place where she could explore this passion further: the mobile unit and ICU at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. Because Ireland and I both worked here, my youngest daughter, Erin began working in food service in April 2021. After discovering a similar passion for helping others, Erin became a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) in the mobile unit in August 2022.

When Erin first came to the units, she was often greeted with “Virgil? Oh, your mom and I go way back!” and the occasional accidental Vocera page directed at her sister. Meriter has been in our family for years, and now we represent two generations of caring.

Even though my kids are all grown up, with my oldest daughter in the military and Ireland and Erin’s free time seldom overlapping, those family values I learned on the farm are still going strong and we do as much as we can together. When our weekends overlap, we make an effort to take a snowmobiling trip to Northern Wisconsin, a day trip to watch the Bucks play in Milwaukee or grab tickets to Badger volleyball. We love to travel as a family. Together, we’ve explored Disneyworld in Florida, Dealey Plaza in Texas, the Georgia Aquarium and my favorite, Palm Springs in California (even if we received strange looks for jumping in the pool in November while the natives bundled up in their winter coats).

I am extremely proud of the women my daughters have grown into. I have always encouraged them to try different things to find their passion and then go after it. They demonstrate caring and independence in their jobs every day, and I know they have wonderful careers ahead of them as nurses at UnityPoint Health – Meriter. Plus, it’s a huge perk to hear my coworkers rave about how wonderful my daughters are.

I don’t like heights. If I have to climb up on a 20-foot ladder, my palms start sweating. Climbing into the cockpit of a plane and flying up 10,000 feet? That’s never bothered me.

I always loved the idea of being a pilot. In high school, I was fascinated with planes, but something always diverted me. I actually didn’t begin my nursing career until later in my life. I have a degree from UW-Whitewater in Broadcast Communications and directed the morning news for 6 years. Back then, I finished my workday around noon, and – instead of twiddling my thumbs until my wife got home - decided to finally give flying a try.

My first experience was a discovery flight where you go up with a seasoned pilot who explains the basics of controlling a plane. As we ascended, I felt the rhythmic hum of the engine and took in the panoramic views of my city in a way I’d never seen before; I could barely wait for the plane to get back on the ground before I was registering for my pilot’s license.

Part of my job in broadcasting included traveling around the world training other news organizations on AVID software – I was on the road for 2-3 weeks a month. While on the road, I immersed myself in amazing places and eye-opening experiences, but still felt a strong pull to come back home and start a family with my wife. In the 1990s, I was an EMT for a while before landing on communications, and often found myself missing that fast-paced environment and the unique connections I made with patients. So, in 2004, I made a choice to go back to nursing school and eventually found the Emergency Department at UnityPoint Health - Meriter, which gave me more time to be home with my family (and to get up in the air).

My kids love flying almost as much as I do. My 13-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son love to jump in the plane with me as we soar above Madison, Baraboo, Devil’s Lake or up to our family house in Michigan for a weekend of skiing. My wife isn’t a huge aviator, but she keeps me grounded.

I would consider myself a fair-weather flyer, and I usually only fly when I can clearly see the ground and sky. A few years ago, though, I was headed up to our Michigan house after work, and thought I’d have a few more hours of mid-summer daylight. When I got out of the city, near Lake Tomahawk, there were hardly any lights and I started to lose reference to the horizon. When the air is smooth, it’s really easy to make turns so subtle that your ear doesn’t even notice. All of a sudden, I looked down at my instruments and realized I was off course. I flew through the pitch black solely relying on my instruments until I saw the lights of Minocqua and could reorient myself. That white-knuckle cruise turned me off from flying at night a bit. However, I do still seize the opportunity to fly above Madison on a clear night. Soaring above a sea of lights with Monona and Mendota creating two huge black holes is a sight unlike anything else. I make sure to just stick to the city at night from now on.

The precision and focus required to pilot an aircraft mirror the attention to detail in providing medical care. Both parts of my life demand quick thinking, adaptability and staying calm under pressure. I think my biggest passion that ties together my love for flying, nursing, communications and being a father is people. Whether I’m helping patients quickly in the ED, huddling my team of nurses, communicating with the control tower or directing the news, it’s all about learning how to best connect with people and see the world from new perspectives. So, if you don’t think you’ll like flying, I really urge you to try it – you’ll see the world in a brand-new way.

What I love most about canoeing is that it usually revolves around groups of people I care about and making connections. I love to get people together to just have a good time, seeing them enjoying themselves brings me joy. And I love the calm of the experience.

Maybe it was how I grew up – there was always family get togethers. My Grandparents were the cornerstone of our family and the events always revolved around them during birthdays and holidays.

When I got older, some of those family events brought stress. I remember a birthday on the 4th of July for my grandmother, and I had so much pent up inside me. I had a significant other, but I didn't feel comfortable bringing him or talking about him. At one point, I remember just being in tears – unable to be myself fully caused so much anxiety.

Some months before that party I had told my sister that I'm gay, but she was the only one that knew and there was so much fear resonating around my family finding out; me not being accepted for who I am. Just knowing that there was even one person that could potentially have a negative reaction or have someone I care about decide not to be a part of my life because of who I am made it stressful.

For me, this anxiety over being accepted by family was hard to hold onto because I value connecting with people that matter to me. When my family finally learned about who I am, they struggled with it, but I purposefully found ways to still connect with them. I've always held onto the belief that people can change.

People can learn, too. Over time, I was able to have more conversations with my family and found that through relationship building you can learn to grow. I have been able to reconnect with family. When you go with the flow of the people around you, accept the water's direction, and paddle with the water, you can learn to rebuild relationships through patience and guidance.

Raising my children has been my biggest passion in life. I feel as though I've learned just as much from them as they learned from me. Being a father is so fun – even though all my kids have left home now, once you're a parent, you always will be.

Before I became a father, I wanted everything done the right way and would get frustrated when other people's processes differed from my own. Well, that quickly changed once I had kids! When my first son was born, I had to learn the virtue of patience very quickly. All three of my kids learned and processed topics at different paces and in different ways. I remember watching each of them take a public speaking class. I saw how Michael had to overcome his shy nature, David had no problem and barely needed practice and Sydney would perfect her script and rehearse for a week straight so it would be methodical and perfect. Having children made me realize that each of my children would find their own in life and they would figure it out.

Watching the three of my kids grow closer together as they aged was the most rewarding thing I ever got to experience. I saw my own sense of humor in each of them with their lighthearted teasing and joking; they really do all love each other. They crack me up constantly with their epic Connect 4 battles, outlandish debates and fights over the last serving of dinner. Food really brings all of us together. I learned how to cook from my grandmother at very young age – I was smart because I realized if I helped her cook, I could sample everything. Now, when my kids come home, I transform into their personal chef. I am happiest when I sit down for dinner with my family – I feel connected to my grandmother who taught me to cook, and as my children get older, I cherish every second we get to spend sitting around the table eating my lemon chicken orzo or whatever else they request.

Unfortunately, that has become less and less common. Michael currently resides in Florida. David joined the Marines after he graduated high school in June of 2020, so we couldn't attend his boot camp graduation due to COVID restrictions. It's been hard to have him so far away for up to six months at a time. Sydney is away at college, starting her second year.

As my kids have gotten older, I've been able to learn so much from each of them and I'm so proud of who they are becoming. There's never a dull moment with them when they are all together– they light up my life!

The journey to welcome Ethan into our family was certainly filled with anticipation. Just getting to China was of course a long process, and for someone like myself who is such a planner, letting the adoption agency plan our entire trip, down to three days of sightseeing before we could meet our son, was a new experience.

In the midst of trying and failing to learn Chinese and structured sightseeing, I was getting nervous. What is it going to be like to meet my son?

I knew very little. Ethan was 21 months old, he loved cookies and that he had a grade three cleft palate. In the U.S. there is no classification like that, so the medical information was limited. I did know his lip had been fixed because of the photos I had seen.

My mind wandered with worries. Would he be afraid of us? Nervous? How would he react to seeing two adults that looked nothing like anybody he had ever seen? Would he be healthy? My hopes were that it would go smoothly, but you just never know. For me, he already felt like family, like my son.

When we finally saw him, he was very quiet. I could tell he was studying us, trying to figure out what was going on. I felt overwhelming love and affection. Finally, I can hold him. I can get to know him, learn his personality. I have my son! It was just like when we first saw Kailey after giving birth, an instant bond.

It was a two-hour trip back to the hotel and on the journey, he just snuggled up and slept on me. It was a moment I will treasure forever. The entire rest of the trip, I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Inspecting his hands, toes, making sure everything is working and there. I was just soaking it all in.

The best part was finally getting to witness his personality, and he loved laughter – peek-a-boo quickly became a favorite game. Even now, at 16, he cracks jokes whenever he can.

When Ethan and my daughter finally met back home in Wisconsin, they seemed to be in awe of each other. There was this instant bond and Kailey became a mother hen. Now, they're like typical siblings, bickering one minute and defending each other the next.

A lot of people ask if I felt as bonded when I met him as I did with my biological daughter. I wouldn't know any difference whether he was a biological child or an adopted child. It's just an instant thing that happens. It's strange. I don't think families are just built by bloodlines. It's so much more.

It's truly a miracle – we find these dogs thrown away, disregarded, starved and abandoned. Then, I get to play a part in them going to homes where people cherish them, want to care for them and love them unconditionally; it's an immensely rewarding feeling.

Throughout my early life, my family rescued dogs which quickly became new members of our pack. Growing up and experiencing how we changed the course of life for those dogs lit a fire within me and I developed a passion for saving lives which I carried into my career in the healthcare field. In 2014, I carried on my family's selflessness by rescuing a pair of dogs through a Texas-based rescue where I learned there was a significant demand for relocating dogs from high-kill areas to regions with more foster homes and higher shelter capacities. I felt an irresistible urge to get behind the wheel of a transport shuttle.

Since 2015, I have been able to foster 123 dogs. The rescue community I have stumbled upon is absolutely outstanding. I get to work with groups of like minded, passionate rescuers and volunteers like Paddy's Paws, Lola's Lucky Day and Albert's Dog Lounge to organize and participate in quarterly transports from Texas. Unfortunately, my long drive is the easy part of the job. It's haunting to hear stories of the seemingly endless pleas from local shelters and the appalling conditions these dogs are abandoned in – I have a hard time bearing witness to that, but it reassures me that the work we are collectively doing is actively solving the problem of pet overpopulation.

The work has only begun once these dogs have been transported from high-kill areas. While some dogs arrive resilient, others come out of these situations in distress and struggle with decompressing and trusting humans again. Fostering panic-stricken pets takes patience, love and understanding, but watching them regain their personalities and learn to trust again truly fills my heart.

When I watch my foster dogs go to their permanent homes, the overnight driving, training and time commitment are all made worth it. It's amazing to receive that yearly update from a forever home that the dog who was once afraid to walk outside has transformed into the favorite pet at daycare who greets everyone they pass on their walks.

It takes time to heal what's been broken in a dog's heart but being that beacon of hope for a suffering animal teaches me more about perseverance, grace and support while cultivating humility in our world as a network of interconnected life that all depends on each other. If anyone has an inkling to foster, adopt or volunteer, water that little seed with trust in yourself.

Forty-two years ago, when I was just 16 years old, I started my journey with UnityPoint Health – Meriter as a Tray Teamer in Dietary, now known as Food and Nutrition. At that time, I had always imagined myself as a police officer and was well on my way toward that career. Little did I know that my path would take an unexpected turn, leading me to serve my community in a different, but equally meaningful way.

In the sixth grade, we were asked to interview someone in a profession we were interested in, and as an avid fan of the 1970s show, S.W.A.T., I called the Fitchburg police department and told them I wanted to be an officer. Linda, a female officer, came to my house in her squad car to answer all my questions and even let me flash the lights and siren. She was so brave and took great pride in keeping Fitchburg safe. I’ll never forget the inspiration she gave me that day -- I was in awe of Linda and wanted to be just like her. After receiving an A+ on my report, the deal was sealed. I was determined to drive my own squad car some day.

As I grew older, my fascination with law enforcement and serving the community grew as well. I had no idea that, amidst all my plans to join the force, my father (through a very traditional lens) was against the idea of his daughter, the baby of the family, becoming a police officer. One night, I got up the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to enlist the U.S. Navy to become a Shore Patrol Officer. That was a definite no, and I was not one to argue. Although I was crushed, I would still move forward with a Police Science degree at Madison Area Technical College (MATC). To help pay for that degree, my father, who was the Plant Manager at UnityPoint Health – Meriter (then Madison General Hospital), brought home an application for a Tray Teamer in Dietary. I applied, got the job and started my journey with Madison General Hospital.

After I graduated high school, I excitedly enrolled in classes at MATC with eager eyes and dreams of being a police officer. Somewhere in my statistics class, though, my feelings started to change — I got spooked. I saw the realities of police work: higher divorce rates, casualties and the dangers associated with the job became real. I knew I wanted to get married and be a mother. For the first time, I realized what I wanted might not be exactly what I imagined. I decided, instead, to stay at Madison General Hospital and applied for an open position in Central Supply.

As I adjusted to my new role, something unexpected happened: I fell in love with my job. I loved working in a hospital setting, my coworkers became a second family, and over the next 21 years as my responsibilities and job titles changed, I realized that I was still protecting and serving my community by ensuring that doctors and nurses had the equipment and resources they needed when they needed them: helping to save lives. I left the organization for one year, thinking I needed a change of pace, but almost immediately missed the hospital and all the amazing people in it. I found my way back as a contractor and eventually worked my way up to a managerial role and my current role as Supply Chain - Central Distribution Manager. It is the best job I have ever had.

Outside of the hospital, I take the opportunity to jump in the right seat and go up in the air with my husband, who is a private pilot. We love flying down to Florida and the Florida Keys. I did ground school when my son was young and just got too busy to finish, but now that he’s older and my husband has a Cessna 172 airplane, I think in the next year or so you’ll see me taking off in the pilot’s seat. Who knows?

Of course, I can’t help thinking about what might have been if I had stuck with my Police Science studies or joined the U.S. Navy. I’m sure I would have loved it, but I may have missed out on everything that I have right here — my family, friends, the city of Madison and the hospital that has allowed me to accomplish so much in my life.

My volunteer journey began when I worked administering first aid as a member of the Devils Head ski patrol, then in 1987 I joined Middleton EMS. Eventually that led me to where I am now, at District One EMS.

I volunteer about thirty-six hours a month, usually on the same weekend – spending it at the station. I've found my calm demeanor gave me the right skillset to do what I love; help people.

One of my most memorable experiences as an EMT was actually not when I was working. I came across a motorcycle accident. Other riders were there, and they were going to take off the injured person's helmet and straighten their leg.

I calmly took head stabilization and explained to them that doing those things could hurt them, even permanently. I was able to calm the patient and keep the other riders from making any adjustments until the EMS crew arrived to do immobilization.

After that person made a full recovery, they found me and thanked me. They were in the health care field too, and knew that had I not been there, they very well would have been paralyzed from the well-meaning riders. I was thankful to be at the right place, at the right time, and to use my skills in a meaningful way. It's why I volunteer.

It looked like a crime scene. Normally pristine, our bathroom was covered in towels, and looked like the aftermath of what is normally reserved for a delivery room.

A little after midnight, my wife had woken me up – she was having contractions. "I think he's ready to come out." This being our second child, I knew the drill. I began grabbing our bags and then she comes up to me and says, "Well, maybe not. I don't want to go and waste the nurse's time."

A little more sleep and a few hours later, she wakes me up and says it's time. As soon as we step outside to go to the car, she says "Wait, we can't go anymore."

"Why is that?"

"He's coming out right now!" she exclaimed.

You gotta be kidding me! I entered a state of deep panic, while trying to stay focused as I dialed 911. The dispatcher was so incredibly calm; how they could be so calm? I don't know. I was in a whirlwind of emotion.

They told me to grab some towels, scissors and string. I was erratically running around the house trying to find these items while my wife is standing in the bathroom, screaming in pain "He's coming out now!"

Standing there, in the bathroom doorway I could see his head coming out, oh my gosh, there he is! I yell into the phone, "He's here! He's coming out now!"

I was frozen. Before I knew it, Apollo had made his way into the world. What just happened?! I rushed over to him and he wasn't breathing. The seconds it took before he let out a large cry felt like an eternity. The paramedics that arrived assured me he was okay, he looked to be breathing normally and crying normally.

Much like how he came into this world, Apollo is independent, energetic and an adventurous 2-year-old. He certainly keeps me on my toes!

Favorite experiences often get broken up into snippets of vivid memories. Like a video reel, they can flash before our eyes in just a moment of recollection.

The Badlands, Rapid City, Yellowstone.

It was our first big family road trip. Eily was 8 and Sara 4.

I remember stopping off first in Sioux Falls and then heading to the Badlands the next morning on Father's Day. It's where we took this picture. Experiencing these places through the eyes of my girls and together as a family unit was so meaningful.

Eily was adventurous, she was amazed by the vastness – running out with my husband Josh onto the cliffs. Meanwhile, Sara held onto me for dear life.

What ended up being the most memorable parts of this trip though were the times in the car. The games, the conversations and being truly together for two solid weeks.

"Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell off. Who's left?" asked Eily.

"Repeat!" exclaimed, Sara.

We had a campsite deadline we were rushing to make in Wyoming and trying to manage a stressful drive through Custer Park.

"Okay! Pete and Repeat were on a ." Over, and over, and over again. At the time, it stressed us out, and we sternly told them to cut it out. Now, it's an inside joke that everyone brings up randomly.

I remember looking out at sunsets in Yellowstone. Peaceful and beautiful.

The sharing of experiences, reliving what we just witnessed at one campsite. Telling each other how we each saw it unfold. Each viewpoint unique and part of a whole experience as a family unit.

I never realized how one road trip and one summer could just cement itself in my memory so strongly. As kids grow older, those family moments are fleeting. We don't always get that time together anymore, so I cherish the memories.

If you had told us four years ago that our crafting hobby would become a successful jewelry business sold in nine stores across the state, we never would have believed it. In fact, if you had told us that we would become such close friends, we probably wouldn’t have believed that either.

Rachel: In November of 2020, we had been running a 24-hour childcare facility for months and were starting to feel the burnout from pouring into everyone else’s cups but our own. Traci came in to work one morning and shared a hat she knit over the weekend; it was so cute, so I asked her to teach me how to knit. She told me, “It’s easy, you’ll learn quickly” – it was not easy. But it did help us discover our shared love for working with our hands and crafting. We eventually found jewelry making to be a way to make sure our own cups were full, so we could continue bringing our best selves to work during the pandemic.

Traci: The first year we were making earrings, we set up a booth at a few craft shows and made for our friends and family, but it was still mainly a hobby. We kept expanding by opening an Etsy store, launching a website and selling to local businesses and coffee shops. After a year, we decided to officially become business partners and watched our hobby become Twig & Rue Boutique, LLC.

Rachel: Growing into a business has been a surreal experience. Earlier this year, I was at a Valentine’s dance at my daughter’s school, and I passed by a woman wearing a pair of our earrings. I had to stop and introduce myself. She was so sweet, telling me, “They’re my favorite pair!” People also come up to our booth at craft shows saying they’ve been looking for us – we’ve kind of built a fan base.

Traci: I think one of the greatest parts of starting this business together has been showing our daughters that women are strong and can do anything. We work together well, build each other up and hold each other accountable. We also do our best to give back to other passionate women – nearly all our materials come from small, woman-owned businesses. I hope our daughters are inspired by us channeling our creativity and turning it into something bigger.

Rachel: I wouldn’t want to be in business with anyone else. When we first met nearly six years ago at the Meriter Children’s Center, we never imagined becoming business partners. I’m a little messier and spicy and Traci is more thoughtful and organized, but we bring out the best in each other.

Traci: Especially from a business standpoint, we tend to balance each other out – Rachel creates looks books and handles finances and I do the photography and manage our Etsy site. Some relationships might not be able to survive becoming business partners, but we have a special friendship; we’ve been there for each other through some really difficult times, and we’ve only come out stronger.

I just had to do something; I can't explain it – I wanted to create awareness locally about what was happening in Ukraine.

Madison is just a mecca for live music, and music is a terrific way to raise awareness and fundraise. The event planning took one month, and some people were skeptical about whether I could pull it off or not, but I was determined to help, however I could.

Things just started rolling together. Community Shares of Wisconsin became the events fiscal sponsor, and "Yellow and Blues Music Benefit for Ukraine" became a reality. We featured Chicago blues music with Cash Box Kings and special guests. Perhaps, the most meaningful part however, were the speakers.

The event featured Dr. Ruslana Westerlund, an author and linguistics professor at Bethel University and Marina Sahaida, a college student who recently escaped Ukraine after living in a bomb shelter.

When I got on stage to introduce the speakers, and saw how packed it was, I was just so overcome with emotion. It was overwhelming, I thought, "Wow this is really happening." As Dr. Westerlund spoke, I watched the crowd, their eyes glued to her. They were listening so intently to what she had to say and many people, myself included, began to cry.

Then, when the band started and everyone began dancing, I was so full of joy and grateful so many people came to support Ukraine. My heart goes out to so many countries in so much despair.

I'm glad we were able to raise $2,000 in funds for each organization: Razom Ukraine Emergency Response, CARE Ukraine Crisis Fund, UNHCR Ukraine and UNICEF Protect Children in Ukraine.

I've had people ask why I wanted to do this, and it's a hard question to answer. I've done volunteer fundraising for a long time, I plan to do more. And, well, I guess it's just in my nature.

When I was just 10 years old, I left my parents and my hometown in Northern China to move nearly 1,200 miles south to Guangzhou to pursue intensive training as a competitive swimmer. From ages 10 to 27, all I did was swim — from local competitions to eventually landing a spot on the Chinese national team and competing in the World Championships, I loved everything about the sport.

My passion for swimming started when I was seven years old and I immediately fell in love with being in the water. Shortly after, I started competing and it was clear that I had potential for a career in the sport. By age 10, I was already competing at a high level, which led to my decision to move to Guangzhou and live in a state-run sports dormitory. There, I lived with other young swimmers and divers my age in a facility where the government funded our housing, schooling and training. Looking back, I wasn’t scared to leave home. I missed my family, but I was having so much fun doing the sport I loved, surrounded by my friends.

My favorite events were the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races, and I was proud to win several gold medals at national and international competitions, including the Asian Games, Chinese National Championships and Swimming World Cup both individually and as a part of a relay team. One of the most memorable moments of my swimming career came in 2009 when I was selected for the Chinese National Team and achieved a top 30 world ranking for the 50-meter freestyle. I’ll never forget warming up at the World Championships in the U.S. and realizing I was swimming next to Michael Phelps! Although he was just leisurely warming up, I like to joke that I once “passed” Michael Phelps in the pool.

Joining the national team meant moving to Beijing to train and take English classes with other athletes. On the very first day of English class, I sat down and started talking with a synchronized swimmer. Fifteen years later, she's now my wife and we have two beautiful daughters.

During my swimming career, I frequently dealt with shoulder problems, and our team hired a physical therapist from the U.S. to work with us. I was fascinated by his work – his diagnostic approach and the specific exercises he provided that significantly helped my pain. His expertise made a lasting impression on me, and I knew I wanted to help people in the same way someday. As I grew older, I realized I would have to choose between dedication to my sport and team or to my family. My wife and I decided to retire from athletics and move to the U.S. to pursue our education and start a family. Now, as a physical therapist at Meriter, I get to work with athletes and others dealing with pain. Being that knowledgeable provider who can help my patients feel better and improve their lives — it’s the best feeling in the world.

Even though I have retired from competitive swimming, my wife and I could not stay away from the pool for long. Together, we run a side business in Middleton where I teach swimming lessons, and she coaches a synchronized swimming team that our oldest daughter is on. Just like my work as a physical therapist, I love passing on my experience and knowledge watching the kids in our community improve and grow.

Many days started with my sisters and I loading into Mom's minivan, headed for the fabric store. You could say I grew up around sewing. Some days it felt like a chore, others I was excited about making another pair of gym shorts for basketball. Having my own projects to work on was always fun. I don't think I had a single pair of gym shorts that didn't have a matching scrunchie.

Thanks to my Mom, I learned to sew on a Kenmore when I was 10 years old. My Mom sewed all the time. A project for a neighbor here, a bunch of items for someone in the county there.

We sewed next to each other and it really wasn't until this past year that I realized how lucky I was to have Mom right there to help me if a bobbin fell out, or a needle broke. In college I moved to the city, and as life moves forward, physical distance can sometime turn into emotional distance. Family gatherings aside, I saw Mom less and less, and likewise, my sewing machine collected dust.

When the pandemic began, as an operating room (OR) nurse, I felt a little helpless and anxious. What if we were to get a surge? Are there enough scrub hats, masks, proper PPE? I saw an immediate need for scrub hats in the OR. They are required and we were running low. Here was an opportunity for me to not sit idle during a time where it was easy to feel helpless. So I began sewing scrub hats, and enlisted my Mom with her serger, (a heavy duty machine that finishes raw edges) to help me finish them.

From there, it quickly developed into Dane County Mask Makers, a group that supported each other online with donated fabric, troubleshooting and camaraderie in a time when we all felt so disconnected.

It feels good to keep making masks, and through this process I have been able to reconnect with my Mom. She's risen to the challenge, making over 5,000 masks. Being able to bond with my Mom again carries so much value, and it looks like my desire to help is something she passed on to me.

Three years ago, I devastatingly lost my grandmother and my brother just a month apart from each other. In the midst of planning their funeral services and grappling with this loss, I searched for photographs to commemorate their lives. Despite my desperate searching, I only had a few to show; it was a gut-wrenching feeling, knowing that my memories of them were not physically documented. I decided that I never wanted another family to go through this heartbreak and began prioritizing photography as a hobby. What started as a personal mission has become a blossoming side business called Expressions Photography, freezing moments in time for families and friends to cherish forever.

I have always loved photography, capturing the emotions and beauty of a fleeting moment. I absolutely love each part of the photography process. From getting to know a family to the atmosphere of an event, adapting my style to capture that essence and then editing the photos to enhance their natural beauty – it's all rewarding. For me, the true joy comes from delivering the final product and watching my clients’ faces light up, knowing that these photos will be with them, reflecting memories they can share forever.

As a mother of two children, a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old, photography has taken on an even deeper meaning. Capturing their journeys through life and being able to look back at how much they’ve grown could make my heart burst. My kids are my biggest fans and love tagging along with me to photo shoots, meeting new people, soaking up the experience and asking hundreds of questions in the process. I believe it is important to show them the value of networking, making connections and building a community.

Community involvement has become another core part of who I am. Participating in programs like the Well Black Women Institute and McKinsey Leadership program at UnityPoint Health - Meriter have broadened my perspectives and leadership skills, which I have applied to not only my career by also my parenting journey.

Earlier this year, I was humbled to receive the Black Chamber of Commerce’s Visual Artist Award. This award was based on community votes, so when they read my name at the ceremony, I beamed with pride for my art, the example I set for my children and the community of support around me, pushing me forward in my artistic journey. Through photography, I’ve been able to heal while finding my passion and a deeper appreciation for the beauty of life.

I initially picked up reading as a distraction from my mom’s cancer treatments, but in just two years, I’ve turned to over 40 books as a pleasant escape. I remember one night in particular, I just had so much on my mind from my mom’s diagnosis to COVID-19 taking over everything, so I grabbed an easy romantic comedy just to have something else to think about for a while. Ever since then, I’ve just been completely hooked on reading.

I’ve always enjoyed reading throughout my life, but it hasn’t always been a big part of who I am. I started to become interested in books around middle school and really dove into assigned readings like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby – some of the classics. As I got to college, I started to associate reading more with schoolwork and lost that enthusiasm – think I just needed a break from research papers.

In 2020, my life turned upside down. As COVID-19 took control of not only the hospital where I worked, but also the entire world around me, I also learned that my mom was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. That year, my mom went through chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. When I was back in my hometown for her surgery, I turned to an old hobby to get away from real life, even just for a few moments. As soon as I picked up a book again, I couldn’t even remember why I put them down in the first place and dove headfirst into historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery – really any genre!

As my love for reading grew, I started sharing my passion with my fellow dietitians. It turned out many of them had also been turning to reading about faraway places to escape the hardships of working in a hospital during the pandemic. It allowed us a chance to discuss our favorite authors and literary characters instead of dwelling on COVID-19 numbers. About six months ago, I decided to act on these informal conversations and formed an official book club with a few of my coworkers. We started with The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel and have explored several other genres together. Every other month, we meet up at various coffee shops, bars or restaurants around Madison to discuss our wide range of interpretations of the same text – it has brought us closer together and forced me to rethink my initial read of characters and themes.

I still go back to my favorite book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Turning the final pages of this book feel like a warm hug and makes me feel close to my mom who just reread it because it “makes her smile.” That’s been my favorite part of this journey – reading has allowed me the opportunity to connect closer with so many people around me and always offers an escape from the real world into distant lands; I always close my book with a smile on my face.

In Kindergarten I felt really lucky to be selected to participate in Tibetan dancing. Lots of kids want to participate for the honor of performing for the community and for the Dalai Lama – and I was one of them.

We always performed in competitions and for our main holidays, the Tibetan New Year and the Dalai Lama's birthday; it's a huge celebration. I performed around ten times a year.

My favorite memory of dancing as a child was in front of the Dalai Lama. Not everyone gets a chance to do that. When I performed, I felt so close to him, I felt butterflies.

My passion and joy came to a halt when I was in seventh grade.

My Mom arrived at boarding school in mid-April, which was quite unusual. She told me that the next day she would be picking me up to move to America. I was devastated. "Can we wait till next year?" I was preparing to compete in the inter-school dance competition, and it meant so much to me.

I ended up on the plane the next day, settling in Wisconsin. It was so hard to leave, I had so many friends in India, and I didn't speak English. I was nervous, and sad. I thought I would never dance again.

When I finally did, it was the best feeling ever. I was asked to teach American students at UW how to do Tibetan dance. They were taking a language course, learning the Tibetan language. It was awesome. I felt like I had my passion back.

There was no turning back after that. I got a group of other Tibetan students my age together to dance every year for our community, and since then, I have been dancing nearly every year. Then in 2001, I got a chance to perform in front of the Dalai Lama again when he came to Madison to do teachings. That felt really good.

The Dalai Lama always stressed the importance of learning other cultures and to always know your own culture, keep it inside you and share it with others. Performing is the best way to show that I am still preserving my culture.

Now, I dance with a group of Tibetan moms and I bring the music and dance home with me, teaching my young boys, the songs, the language, and movements. I always tell them, "It's so important to learn where you're from. You need to learn about your culture, your language, you need to preserve that." It makes me so happy seeing them engage in Tibetan dance and music. It makes me proud.