Classification Talks:
Karen Young - Karen was born in 1963 to parents of German (dad) and Irish (mom) immigrants. Her paternal grandparents were indentured servants and eventually began farming in PA. her maternal grandparents settled in Illinois during the Civil War. Karen was an Army brat, her dad retiring from the military in 1971. She has an older brother and sister. After her dad's retirement, they operated a Christmas Tree farm until he was offered a job in Iran training helicopter pilots. Karen said it was a good time to live in Iran then. They eventually moved back and Karen had to earn her way to pay for college and she did that by cutting and selling firewood. She graduated from Penn State. Following college \went to work for an Architectural firm, She was the only one at that time with any sort of IT experience and computerized all their material lists. She proposed to the owner to become a superintendent on a job site, agreeing no raise for 6 months to see if she could do the job - she did it for 5 years! Following this she worked for an Engineering consulting firm for 15 years in South Carolina. During this job, she was asked to handle a issue with a disgruntled customer. She did such a good job, she ended up marrying the guy! Later his job transferred him to Kenosha. Her dad was a Rotarian, she joined Rotary when she was in SC and then again when she moved to Kenosha.
Bill Hittman - Bill was born in 1944, 1 of 5 children. His dad was a welder and mom was a homemaker and after the kids were grown, became a dietitian. He grew up in West Allis and Muskego. He graduated from UW Stout in 1967 and began teaching in different districts. In 1972 he worked for Whitnall Middle School, in 1976 he became the principle for several years and then the Business & Tech School Manager followed by Superintendent of Whitnall School District in 1983 and joined Rotary. In 1991-92 he worked to pass a referendum to expand the schools and it passed! In 1994 he was recruited to be the Superintendent of Sheboygan School District, probably largely because of his success with the Referendum, they had 5 previous failed attempts. He also joined the Rotary there. In 1995, under Bill's guidance and leadership the Referendum passed. In 2000, he retired and went back to school to get his doctorate. In 2002 he became Principal of Lakeview. While there he added Special Ed and added programs where students could earn transfer credits for Marquette. He also successfully won a lawsuit filed by 5 teachers for wrongful termination. In 2004 he joined our Rotary club and "retired" from KUSD in 2017. He is involved in many activities and still subs in many school districts.
