Sacred Heart staff honored for 'excellence in education'

(Photo by Randy Cauthron) Sacred Heart fourth grade teacher Michele Lauck is one of the state's latest Bishop's Excellence in Education Award recipients. [Order this photo]

Michele Lauck, the school's fourth grade teacher, is the latest recipient within the Sioux City diocese's eight high schools and 19 elementaries. She, along with Mary Arens of Remsen St. Mary's, Lynette Schweers of Kuemper Catholic Schools in Carroll and Ann Wiederspan of Sacred Heart School in Sioux City received the award during the 12th Annual Bishop's Dinner, held Oct. 5 at the Sioux City Convention Center.

As Lauck addressed the 700 people gathered, the 13-year Sacred Heart teacher deemed her nomination from several parents and the ensuing honor a "humbling experience."

"Being a product of Catholic education, I find it rewarding to be able to teach in a Catholic school," Lauck said. "I am able to share the values I learned with the students and share a strong sense of faith in God, which become beneficial in life. As teachers, we can pass our faith on to the students. We can build on this faith and form a faith-filled future for them. This is a basic foundation that helps students with lifelong decisions."

"Children attending Catholic schools are very fortunate," Lauck continued. "I firmly believe that good Catholic education is essential in building strong moral values and a positive sense of self-worth. This will benefit children throughout their lifetime."

Fellow Bishop's Excellence in Education Award recipients

Kindergarten teacher Mary Ver Mulm, who is marking her 20th year as a Sacred Heart elementary instructor, was the first local staff member to receive the award in 2001.

"Just for a parent to nominate me meant a lot to me," she recalled. "It's like what I'm doing is really helping their child and they feel like it's been a really good first year for their child."

Ver Mulm, who became a Sacred Heart student herself years ago, wrote a paper during the award nominating-and-application process detailing how Sacred Heart teachers worked together in the school's then-new guided reading program.

"I wrote about how I worked with my colleagues. I told about starting the guided reading (program) and how we worked together to make sure every student was where they needed to be," she said.

Karen Conlon, a first grade teacher at the local parochial elementary, and Shirley Selzer, Sacred Heart's media specialist, student advisor and first grade guided reading teacher, were handed the Bishop's of Excellence Award next.

(Photo by Kris Todd) Past and current Sacred Heart Catholic School award recipients include, from left, Karen Conlon, Shirley Selzer, Nancy Geisinger, Michele Lauck, Mary Ver Mulm and Ron Olberding. The six are shown with a $4,300 check the school received as its portion of proceeds from the 12th Annual Bishop's Dinner, which will be used to purchase science FOSS kits for students. [Order this photo]

"To me, it meant that there were parents interested in my values of teaching and in the way I taught," Conlon said of receiving the award. "I wrote about the gospel values and how we're so lucky at our school to be able to implement our teaching about a Christian living. Not all of our students at our school are Catholic, but we're all Christians. So we get to talk about Jesus and we get to do our prayers and things like that. I wrote about that and how important that was for me."

In her paper, co-recipient Selzer spoke about the "family" present within the school building.

"I talked about this being family, and I've always said that," she said. "My kids went to school here, and I felt like that when they were going to school, before I started teaching here. I've always said that this is my second family."

Nancy Geisinger, a fifth grade teacher at Sacred Heart since 1991, was awarded the Bishop's Excellence in Education Award in 2004.

"That's my claim to fame: The year we didn't have a bishop, I received the bishop's award," Geisinger said with a chuckle.

Geisinger recalled writing about how coming to the school happened at the "most perfect time" in her life.

"I needed this school and the family that it has given to me. It means a great deal to me to be at the school and I'm very proud to say that I work here and I'm part of this," she said. "The award itself meant a great deal. It's always nice to be honored by other professionals. ... And, I think it's a credit to our school. I truly believe that our school is one of the top-quality schools in the Sioux City diocese."

Ron Olberding, who taught sixth grade at Lincoln for six years before becoming Sacred Heart's principal 19 years ago, received the administrative version of the Bishop's Excellence in Education Award in 2006. When asked about Sacred Heart's having the highest number of recipients of this award in the Sioux City diocese, he answered, "A lot of it has to do with the parents nominating the teachers and going to the time to write letters of recommendation. I think it says a lot for the parents and it says a lot for our staff. We have a lot of good teachers, as there are in the diocese."