THE GLOBE
PO BOX 5079 (51102)
1825 JACKSON ST.
SIOUX CITY, IA (51105)
712.255.2550
800.352.9035
WWW.CATHOLICGLOBE.ORG

Catholic schools produce community leaders

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
(Email Katie)

Alumni of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City have grown up to serve in many roles and carry their Catholic school values with them.

A priest
Father Will Vit, a 1996 graduate of St. Edmond School in Fort Dodge, said that going to a Catholic school gave him the foundation of knowing Jesus.

“It taught me the importance of living the faith and sharing and expressing the faith to friends, family and the world,” he said. “It laid the foundation. The priesthood is a fantastic way to live the foundation I was given in Catholic schools.”

The values that he learned and uses in his daily life are humility and the value of work and ministry.

“You realized the mission of life isn’t necessarily about you,” said the priest. “You have to humble yourself to let Christ come forward. That was very apparent to me in my time at St. Ed’s.”

Father Vit mentioned that he was part of the spiritual life group in high school. He helped plan spiritual events for the school.

“If you want to let Christ come forward, you have to make that happen. You are going to have to organize something,” he said. “The events didn’t just happen on their own. You had to work at them to make them happen.”

A school president
Dr. Jerry Deegan, president of Dowling Catholic High School/St. Joseph Educational Center in West Des Moines, graduated from Gehlen Catholic in Le Mars in 1968.

His parents were strong supporters of Catholic education and he and his 11 brothers and sisters graduated from Gehlen.

“Part of what I still benefit from is the community that Catholic schools create,” he said. “It was very important to the family. I think my parents found the extended community and the faith community key to the family and to their own faith. It was good to see the extension of faith in the community and the support that gave you an opportunity to build your faith.”

He remembers a band instructor who he had for a short period of time who had an impact on his life and a number of his teachers at Gehlen who still come to mind.

Deegan said that many of the people he works with now have some of the same characteristics of his teachers from high school including “their commitment to Catholic education, to kids, to family and to community.”

Of the many values that Catholic schools promote, he said, hard work and accountability are two he has taken with him.

“I think that was something that I learned at home,” said the Gehlen graduate. “My dad died when I was 10 years old and I watched my mom raise 12 kids. The amount of dedication, hard work and commitment that she put into it was a real inspiration and a model for me.”

The values he learned at home were consistent when he went to school. Even though the expectations were high, he said, there were people at the school to support him and be his advocate.

“I think the high expectations, hard work and discipline couched in an atmosphere and a climate of support, faith and love was a perfect mix. I still feel that today in my job those are the important elements of what I try to promote in my position and what we see as important at Dowling Catholic,” said Deegan.

He added that in his many roles as president of Dowling, as a member of the community and as a member of the Catholic community there is a consistency of values that he sees lived out.

“Catholic education is a real gift,” said Deegan.

A chairman and CEO
As a 1970 graduate of Kuemper Catholic in Carroll, Dan Neary, chairman and CEO of Mutual of Omaha, was taught respect and was always held to high expectations.

He said his Catholic education has had a “huge impact” on who he is today.

“The Catholic educational system really promotes parental involvement, which I think is a huge part of keeping children on the right path,” said Neary. “It taught you respect for elders, teachers and each other. I think it was a very nurturing and very positive environment to be educated in.”

Values he learned at Kuemper that he brings into his daily life are honesty, integrity and other personal characteristics.

“I look back on my childhood in Carroll as being an outstanding experience,” said Neary. “A large part of who I am was all the way from how I was educated, how I was nurtured by great parents and a great community. It carries on to this day.”

Another part of Neary’s Catholic education was attending Briar Cliff in Sioux City. He said that even though he ended up transferring to the University of Iowa, it was because his counselor, Sister Michelle Nemmbers, believed it was better suited for him.

“She is the one who handed me a brochure for actuarial science at the University of Iowa,” said Neary. “It became apparent that her goal wasn’t for me to stay there for four years but to find that which I was best suited for. So much of what has followed in my business career started that day.”

He added that it isn’t always what you learn in the classroom but the environment and how the teachers look out for their students.

Neary and his wife Shirley, also a 1970 Kuemper grad, have four children who attended Catholic schools as well.

“We made those choices because it impacted our lives,” he said. “It is a better environment for learning and there are teachers who are involved and engaged and get parents involved and engaged.”