Whitewater Rotarians updated on honors program, Fairhaven

Elizabeth Lee speaks to Whitewater Rotarians about the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Honors Program. (Tom Ganser photo)

Also hear speech from Rotarian about experience at Chevrolet

By Tom Ganser

SLN correspondent

In a trio of recent meetings, members of the Whitewater Rotary Club rode aboard a virtual time machine from the early 1950s to the near future.

On Jan. 23, former Whitewater Rotary Club member Paul Hulick shared stories about his experiences as a young production manager in 1953 when the first Chevrolet Corvette rolled of the assembly line in Flint, Mich.  He also worked in the production of the Chevrolet Corvair and later as a consultant to car dealerships.

Hulick began his reminiscences by recalling that as a member of junior management for General Motors in his late 20s, he was called into the office of a vice president about a project to get a plant for building and assembly the new Corvette very quickly. He was told, “I don’t know.  You look awfully young for what I want to get done.”

“You tell me what you want, and I’ll get it handled,” he replied.

Nevertheless, by Day 91, the plant was up and running, thanks to workdays that ran 18 or 20 hours, and sometimes around the clock.

“You did what you had to do to get the job done,” Hulick said.

Hulick also recalled how he stopped traffic as he drove the third Corvette made for a public that had never seen the car.

To make it down the street, Hulick followed a police car driven by an officer.

“You get on my tail, and you stay there,” the officer told Hulick.  With a laugh, Hulick added, “He used a couple better words than that.”

Hulick also did some test driving of Corvettes, noting that he had to drive exactly the way the engineers wanted in studying things like wear patterns.

“Some of it I thought was not too smart,” Hulick said.  “But they built the best automobile in the world, so how can you argue with that?”

 

Speech on honors program

On Jan. 30, the Whitewater Rotarians learned about the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Honors Program from its director, Elizabeth Kim. She provided an overview of the program with a focus on current activities.

According to information on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater website, the mission of the University Honors Program is “to prepare high-achieving and motivated students of diverse backgrounds to be innovative and reflective thinkers, future leaders, and global citizens by providing best-practice learning and community-building opportunities that connect the classroom to ‘real-world’ concerns and experiences.”

Kim noted that the Honors Program is one of the “high-impact” practice advocated by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

For more on the Rotary, pick up the Feb. 15 edition of the Whitewater Register.

 

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