Catholic schools help graduates make a difference

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 22, 2004

Many students who graduate from Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City go on to find success in their professional lives.

According to Kevin Vickery, superintendent of the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Sioux City, "Students who graduate from our Catholic schools certainly leave with more than just the academic skills that will allow them to be successful in their profession. What we also give to those graduates are the lifelong gifts of service that when service is coupled with their professional success, we see that they truly have an impact on their fellow man, woman and child."

One graduate of a school in the diocese, Bishop Dennis Schnurr, bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, is certainly one example of using his education to serve God. He is originally from Hospers and is now using the gifts he has received in his life to serve as a bishop.

"Their experiences in our schools allow them to understand that we each are given certain gifts and we must learn how to share our gifts to meet the needs of the total community," said Vickery. "Many of our students learn to give themselves in the areas of service. You find that many of our graduates enter into those professions that are geared towards service such as the medical profession, teaching profession, social work profession. Part of our influence is that we influence people to choose their vocations based on areas of service."

Dr. Dan Hausman, a 1968 graduate of Kuemper High School in Carroll, works at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as Deputy Program Manager of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. He is married to a fellow Kuemper graduate, Colleen Eischeid Hausman, who graduated in 1969.

"I think it is just the basic moral upbringing and the respect of people - to give people the opportunity to succeed in what they want to do and encourage them," he said of what he learned at Kuemper. "When people work on a great project, great things can happen. The group itself gets a lot of rewards from working together as a team. That basic moral, hard work has a lot of benefits."

Some fundamentals he learned in his Catholic education were to do go in your school work, to work hard, to ask questions, to study and to succeed in the education that was offered. He also learned the fundamentals of morality, being a good person and respecting his neighbor.

"It offered the opportunity to explore different types of opportunities people had," said Hausman. "The teachers were very good about encouraging students to go out of their way to do extracurricular activities, be outgoing and basically stay busy but do it in a sense that you are constantly learning. I have found the extension of work is a learning process in itself because we learn something new every day. That is what encourages people to come back and learn more. You are never done learning no matter where you are. It is a constant learning process and that is what is fun to do - exploring and learning something new."

He commented that each person brings different talents into the work place. Those talents need to be used to benefit the business.

"Diversity in corporate America anymore is one of the biggest discussions we have because the population of the United States is so diverse anymore," said Hausman. "You will find in our work place that we have a very different mix of people than we had 20 years ago. Different people come from different backgrounds, and we need to be able to communicate with them. They bring different social values to the group. You have to be able to look past the color of the skin and their religious background and bring out the best in everybody to make a team work and succeed in business."

Dr. Joseph Behr graduated from Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona in 1985 and is currently a medical doctor in Mason City, Iowa.

After going to Garrigan, he went to and graduated from Notre Dame. He commented, "That was a good extension of the Catholic education that I received in high school. I would say at Garrigan and at Notre Dame the main lesson that I learned is to dedicate myself to service."

He has served as president of the school board at Neuman Catholic in Mason City. He has also worked in soup kitchens in his area as an extension of the service that he learned in school.

Behr added that the fundamental qualities that he received from his Catholic education are hard work, honesty and respect for life. He believes that Catholic education is important for those reasons.

Brian Singer, a graduate in the Gehlen Catholic High School class of 1989, is currently the program director of Business & Community Economic Development for a non-profit organization in Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended college at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake and received a graduate degree in International Economics and Social Change & Development from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

"There is no doubt in my mind that 12 years at Gehlen had a profound impact on how I view the world and my place in it," said Singer. "I remember in first grade, Miss Nemmers (now Mrs. Shea) put milk cartons on our desks with Mother Teresa's picture and asked us to contribute our spare change to help others. That is my first memory of a time when I really wanted to help others. Positive lessons of treating others well, respecting everyone, and working hard were taught every year by many teachers."

He helps start businesses that are either owned by low-income individuals or located in a targeted low-income neighborhood. He helps do this by providing small business loans, grants, individual consulting and training. He is also the President and Founder of a non-profit organization called Project Zawadi (www.projectzawadi.org) whose mission is to provide educational opportunities within a nurturing environment to orphaned and other vulnerable children in Tanzania so that they become self-reliant and active members of their communities.

Singer started his organization in 2000, sponsoring two children and raised $5,000 the first year. Now, the organization supports 64 children and raised over $26,000 in 2003.

"I was a high school math teacher as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania from 1993 to 1995," said Singer. "That's where I learned the language (speak Swahili fluently) and fell in love with the country. It is that experience (and my association with Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries (STEMM)) that has allowed me to start the organization. We already have several students whose academic performance has seen remarkable improvements since we started assisting them."