Catholic Schools Week Supplement

First-time Catholic school teachers describe their experience as ‘positive’ and ‘wonderful’

Richard Pangburn teaches a middle school social studies class at St. Vincent de Paul School in Bedford. (Submitted photo)

By Natalie Hoefer

Richard Pangburn has a long commute from his home near Starlight to his job in Bedford. The drive takes nearly an hour-and-a-half.

But the member of St. John the Baptist Parish in Starlight doesn’t mind.

“I wake up so excited to come to work,” he says. “And I’m willing to make the drive because I love this job so much!”

Pangburn teaches middle school English and social studies at St. Vincent de Paul School in Bedford. It’s his first professional job, having graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington last May.

He went to public schools, but “always loved my faith and felt a deep connection to it,” says Pangburn. “So when the opportunity to teach at St. Vincent de Paul came up, I was very excited to take it.”

So far, he calls his experience teaching at the Catholic school “absolutely wonderful.”

“I love the community. I love the kids. I love how the school’s purpose is not just education, but also showing good morals.

“As teachers, we act out the morals and teachings that Christ has given us by being examples of how we’re supposed to act and behave. It’s about reminding [students] what they’re supposed to do and encouraging them when they are living out those ideals.”

Pangburn says the approach works.

“You can really see how effective we are in how the kids behave,” he says.

He also appreciates the many opportunities students have to engage with their faith.

“It’s not just going to Mass,” he says. “Even in homeroom, we take an hour every Friday to read and discuss Scripture.”

Unlike Pangburn, Mariah Mott has a varied background in teaching. She has taught at a charter school and at a school for children with behavioral issues.

But the new kindergarten teacher for St. Patrick School in Terre Haute says teaching for the Catholic school has been her best experience yet.

She had a good impression of the school even before starting as a teacher there last fall.

“I have a friend who works here and two friends who have kids who go here who always talk about there being such a positive environment here where kids both learn about faith and academics,” said Mott. “I like seeing kids grow in both areas.”

She has found St. Patrick School to be “very positive and more nurturing than public schools.

“There, you go to the principal’s office or get detention [for misbehaving.] Here, it’s more, ‘Let’s talk through this,’ and making that relationship with Jesus real so kids are able to understand why their action was wrong. When you just say, ‘Don’t do that,’ they won’t learn and they’ll keep having those bad behaviors.”

Mott, who worships at Whitesville Christian Church in Crawfordsville, Ind., appreciates being able to put her shared Christian values into practice as a teacher at St. Patrick.

“Using what’s positive and inspiring to them is what I really, really like,” she said. “Just today I had one student say they didn’t want to play with another student because [that student was] mean.

“I was able to ask the kids, ‘Was everyone nice to Jesus?’—‘No.’ ‘Was Jesus nice to everyone?’—‘Yes.’ ‘This is why we need to be nice to everyone like Jesus.’ ”

Mott notes that the school’s teachers educate the students in math, reading, social studies, science and more.

“But we also teach them to have positive relationships in a holy way, and teach them those skills they can use every year in grade school and high school and beyond school.” †

 

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