The life and autobiography of Scott Mark Huelsman (Waunakee, WI).
Growing Up
I was born on December 17, 1962 to Robert and Linda Huelsman in Fond du Lac, WI. A few months after my birth, we moved into a big house at 365 Mason Street where I basically grew up and lived my first 20 years.
The eldest of three children, I had a very happy childhood thanks to two loving parents who didn’t always know what to do but always loved us and put our needs before their own. In our earlier years we bought a camper and did a lot of camping, then sold the camper and put in a backyard pool, which we used constantly through my teen years.
I started playing piano at age five, invested in a telescope and studied the night sky, got into movie making and was happy, healthy and inquisitive.
Schools and Education
Kindergarden: Luther Memorial Church
I spent my first five years at home with my mother. As my grandmother and (to a lesser extent, at least at the time) my mother were religious, I was bussed to Luther Memorial Church and School all the way across town for Kindergarten and part of first grade. The first grade teacher I had was not very nice and she began to strike me physically, pull my hair and torment me when I resisted. After defending a classmate and coming home with a clump of missing hair, my parents pulled me from the school and that was the end of Luther Memorial.
1st - 4th Grades: Cleveland School
After the pain of Luther Memorial, I was allowed to attend a public school just a block from where I lived, an ancient but enjoyable place called Cleveland School. Built in 1907 and razed in 1976, I remember the gym being so tiny that we had to be bussed to a new school for all our gym activities. I also remember a lot of fun activities, great Christmas presentations and wonderful teachers! Behind the school was also a large field where I played a LOT of softball in my teenage years (until the school was pulled down and all the lots were sold to develop new homes).
5th - 6th Grades: Parkside School
For fifth and sixth grade, I attended the brand new Parkside School, its first two years in existence. Located about a 15 minute walk from home, the school was surrounded by open fields that included a fitness trail, and alongside the school were several excavated mounds of soil that were fun to slide down during the winter. I enjoyed my two years at Parkside, was involved in several plays (including a musical), played lots of intermural basketball and maybe goofed off a little too much at times.
7th - 9th Grades: Sabish Middle School
Located a good half-hour’s walk from home, I spent my next three years at Sabish Middle School, taking all sorts of elective classes from mechanical drafting to woodworking (which I sucked at) to learning how to type to home economics (cooking, which I also sucked at). I was in every play throughout all three years–getting the lead part in most of them–made the first string of my 8th grade basketball team and competed in forensics throughout the state, doing pretty well. I’d say that ninth grade was my favorite of my entire childhood and had a blast of a year!
10th - 12th Grades: Goodrich High School
Goodrich was another old school, built in 1922 and retired in 2001. Located across town, I needed a ride to get there until I was old enough to get my driver license and drive myself. All in all, I wasn’t crazy about my experiences at Goodrich; they were OK but not much stands out. I did enjoy a few classes (two years of German, especially, with quite the eccentric teacher) and I did participate in a few plays, but didn’t experience the level of success I had at Sabish and generally completed my high school years with little fanfare. While my grades weren’t all that great, I did complete all my classes in time to take the second half of my senior year off and graduated in June, 1981.
Childhood Highlights
Piano Playing at Age Five
I took interest in piano at age five and started playing very simple songs. My mother owned a very old player piano that, back in the day, could actually play itself. Those components no longer worked but the piano part played just fine. As I grew, I began purchasing sheet music and started playing a lot of Barry Manilow, Billy Joel and countless others. While I’m no professional, playing (and singing) at the piano is now, over 50 years later, one of my favorite activities (recently buying myself a baby grand piano to enjoy!).
"Oliver!" Presentation at Age Twelve
In sixth grade, I tried out for and made the cut to be in the local community theater production of “Oliver!”. As one of 18 “Workhouse Boys and Fagin’s Gang”, there were a lot of songs to memorize, specific steps to take on stage and months of practice. All the hard work culminated in late February 1975 with six separate productions. Overall I had a great time with the musical, enjoying the singing and footwork, ablaze in all the makeup and stage light. My favorite part was at the beginning when all the boys are eating their “gruel” but were actually enjoying vanilla pudding, so it was quite good! That’s me, fourth from left in the top row!
Movie Making at Age Fourteen
Later around eighth grade, I discovered the magic of movie making with my parent’s Super-8 mm camera. I began with some simple animation, progressed to a little more complicated “claymation” (see below) and then started experimenting with live-action films (see below). I was obsessed with the hobby for several years and did quite a lot, most of which is now lost to the ages. Afterwards, I transitioned to writing screenplays and cranked out several that I later either tried to produce and even market.
The first video below is an example of some “claymation” stop-motion animation I did. Done in the spirit of “Mr. Bill” from Saturday Night Live, it depicts a simple guy just wanting to bake himself a pizza… and then unfortunate things occur!
The second video is simply the raw takes of a movie I was making called “Killer Storm” (about a tornado that strikes a small town I think). The video begins with me escaping from my basement, finding a friend, returning to my house and calling someone (maybe for pizza?).
Electronics, Video Games and My First Home Computer (Ages 16-18)
In tenth grade, I enrolled in Electronics and fell in love with it, staying with it all three years during high school. As I built more circuits, learned to create my own printed circuit boards and solder components, I attempted to build my own video game system (and got it working, although the furthest I got was displaying vertical and horizontal bands of white and black on the screen). Then, during my senior year of high school, my brother brought home a Commodore Vic-20, which was 1000 times better than the game system I was building and worked wondrously. At that point, I was hooked on computers, something that would define my entire professional career!
Role-Playing Games (Ages 17+)
A second major discovery in my late teens was role-playing games (RPGs). My future wife Michelle actually introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons at the beginning of my senior year of high school and I became really fascinated with the entire experience! After a short time being a player, I transitioned to the role of dungeon master, where I was the storyteller and responsible for the entire presentation. My friends and I played AD&D for several years (along with a few other RPGs like Traveller and Top Secret) and the experiences went on to shape my entire professional life as well.