I don't get to do the things even at all anymore in that space. Kelley agrees with Monica that it feels like losing a hometown. "So generally I feel sad, it was also hard knowing my mom wasn't going to be able to work there anymore," Monica says. but I also wouldn't be here where I am if I had never been to Stritch in the first place." I feel like I wouldn't be able to be where I am in my life being a hospital chaplain, being an ordained minister if I had stayed working at Stritch.
Monica adds, "It largely feels like they're closing a hometown in a way. "You could just tell like every day you were there, every class, every event you went to - there's just this like, just really sad energy for what's not going to be there anymore," she says.
When the announcement came that Cardinal Stritch would be closing, Kelley says there was an extreme sense of sadness. We both kind of could speak the same language about Stritch," says Monica. "We had this shared place that was important to us that was different than even from other people in our family. Still, they were able to spend time together and regularly met for lunch at the Doctor Dog across the street or share a bagged lunch in one another's offices. With Monica working in admissions and Kelly working in communications neither were in the same department, which created a healthy space. Working together developed another layer to their relationship. "It was really neat to be able to get that experience to see Monica do adult work and be in a career, and that's not something that most parents get to actually witness firsthand," she says. "It was nice because Stritch was such an important place to me as a student, and to be able to not only get to share that experience of working there with my mom, but to really get to see it become my mom's almost more instead of mine was really awesome," Monica adds.įor Kelley, working with her child "was kind of a magical time," especially because it provided a unique opportunity to see the adult that Monica had grown to become. Once Monica returned from England and began working at the school, "very quickly I was known for being 'Kelley's kid' more than my mom was being known as 'Monica's mom,'" they recall. Prior to going to Europe for their master's degree, Monica would typically hear remarks about how much they reminded other people in the Stritch community of Kelley, or that their laugh was so similar people would get confused as to who they heard down the hallway.
Both say the closure of the school is impacting their family in many ways, and it's also reminding them of their unique experience of working together.įor Monica, it was very special to see their mother build a her own space and community at the university. Monica now works as the lead staff chaplain at UnityPoint Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wis. Around the same time about 10 years ago, their mother Kelley Kling started working as an adjunct in the communications department.īoth enjoyed a time period as colleagues on campus, and Kelley just wrapped up her final semester of being a faculty member at Stritch. After getting a masters degree abroad they returned to the school to work in the admissions department. Monica Kling-Garcia graduated from Stritch in 2014 where they majored in Religious Studies and minored in Communication Arts. Cardinal Stritch University served as a home for many, and for one family it has held special significance in their lives.
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