Kimberly Uelmen, Admissions and Marketing/Communications Coordinator, has several other dimensions to her life other than what you see on a day-to-day basis.

She attended Pulaski High School and during her time there she played basketball, volleyball, and softball along with being very focused on her academics and being a part of many clubs and activities.

“My junior year, I made the tough decision to quit basketball, my life sport, to do the musical. I landed the role of Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof in which I was hooked up to the fly system.”

After this, she decided that the musical experience had been very influential in her life, and her senior year she played Dolly from Hello, Dolly!

The musical experience, she said, “taught me confidence, the importance of faking it until you make it and how to be a leader.”

After graduation from high school, she headed to UW-Stevens Point where she majored in Communications with a Public Relations emphasis and a minor in Spanish.

While working on NDA’s magazine, website and many other advertising avenues, she also stays involved with the community.

She enjoys working with the students of NDA, especially in preparation for big events. On the opposite end of the spectrum, she is a part of the staff intramural volleyball team.

Last year, she and Father Brad performed “The Prayer“ at Cabaret Night and then a few weeks later she played basketball with Mr. Greg Geiser, Mr. Cassidy McGowan, Mr. Daniel Kriegl and Mr. Michael Prudish.

“Last year, we were the De la Baie Fest 3-on-3 champions,” Uelmen said with more than a hint of pride.

Outside of school, Uelmen is part of a local Polka Band called New Generation. In the summer of 2012, she was asked to sing with them to help out in two or three songs.

Those few songs turned into seven years and 15 songs. She does not sing with them the entire time that they play, but she is “welcomed as a guest singer at the majority of their gigs during the year.”

Along with Uelmen, there are six other members in this band that all share a passion for music.

Although the band mainly performs in Green Bay and Wausau, in the summers they travel to Manitowoc, Menasha, Lakewood, Pulaski and Arizona.

Arizona is the newest addition to this lineup.

“In 2018, we were hired to perform a gig at The Pulaski Club in Phoenix, Arizona. A Chicago native saw us at Pulaski Polka Days and suggested The Pulaski Club hire us for one of their four polka events. We had such a blast, and they enjoyed us so much that they hired us back this year. We just got back, and we are proud to announce that we are going back in 2020,” said Uelmen.

Along with this Arizona show, New Generation performs at the Oktoberfest celebration at “The Bar” before a September Packer game every year. They were also invited to perform on a Fox 11 nationally broadcast program showing all things Wisconsin.

“It was 20 degrees below zero, our instruments froze, and we did not sound amazing. However, it was a very fun experience,” she stated.

During the summer, Uelmen can be found singing for weddings as well as doing two to five polka gigs every weekend. She is a nature lover so in her free time she will be somewhere on the water or reading a book in her backyard.

“My life is crazy, but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” she said.