By Deacon Matthew Hecker, Ph.D.
Dana Gunderson, a teacher at Lourdes Central Catholic in Nebraska City, will receive the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln's
St. Catherine of Alexandria award for special education/underserved populations
Dana Gunderson and her sister grew up in Percival, Iowa. Her family farmed corn and soybeans, and raised hogs in the rich bottoms of the Missouri River. She attended public schools in Percival and nearby Sidney.
After graduating from Sidney High School, Gunderson said, “I attended the University of Iowa and earned a degree in English. Later, I went back to school at Iowa State for my degree in elementary education.”
Gunderson accepted a teaching job in the small ranching and mining community of Rangely, in the northwest corner of Colorado.
“I taught middle school Language Arts and Title 1 Reading at Rangely Public Schools. After several years, Rangely needed a Special Education (SPED) teacher, so the administration asked me to return to school. I attended Adams State College (in Alamosa, Colo.) two summers to get a master’s degree in SPED.”
It was in Rangely that Dana met and married her husband Terry. The couple never had children of their own. However, Terry had three daughters from a previous marriage and together they were a family.
“I spent a total of 12 years in Rangely,” Gunderson said. “I worked eight years as a teacher for Rangely Public Schools and four years for Colorado Northwestern Community College as the director of their Learning Assistance Center.”
Then Terry retired from his work as a coal miner.
“Ready to be closer to home, we moved back to Percival. I was a SPED teacher in Sidney for five years and then accepted a job at Iowa Western Community College. After one year, I realized the job wasn’t a good fit for me. I wanted to get back into the classroom.”
That is when Gunderson responded to an advertisement for a SPED teacher at Lourdes Central Catholic (LCC) School in Nebraska City, located close to Percival.
“I’m not Catholic, and I’d never considered working for a Catholic school,” Gunderson said. “I loved my work in public schools.”
But, she said,the administrators were understanding and supportive.
“I remember we began the interview with a prayer. That had never happened before,” she said.
When she was offered the job, she admitted to Father Michael McCabe, then the chief administrative officer, that she was a little scared.
“I’m not familiar with the Catholic faith and I didn’t want to do something wrong,” she explained.
Quickly, fellow LCC teacher Kay DeFreece and school counselor Lisa Whitten became great supports for Gunderson.
In addition, she said, “I found I really liked the teachers. They were in it for the right reasons. The people at LCC are really trying their best to do the right thing for children.”
Soon, Gunderson also found, “I really loved going to Mass on Fridays.”
One of the outstanding qualities of SPED teachers is their ability, every day, to patiently, lovingly persist with students—despite their differences, seeing in them their best qualities and helping them learn how to become their best selves.
“Our program has grown,” Gunderson said of LCC. “We have hired an additional special education teacher, Rachel Eberly. The kids we work with are just really great kids. The people I work with are willing to get down in the trenches because they see and want wonderful things for our students.
“We have very high expectations for our students,” Gunderson continued. “We want them to work hard and enjoy the satisfaction of their accomplishments. We truly love our kids and want what’s best for them. That’s what drives our team.”
When asked, Gunderson humbly agreed, “Yes, I think you could say working with students with different needs is my ‘God gift.’ Not that others don’t have it, and not that we’re perfect, or get it right all the time. My job is to provide our kids with as many tools as possible to be successful. I love watching them feel confident and proud.”
Gunderson will receive her award Oct. 15 at the second annual “Saints & Scholars” dinner to celebrate Catholic schools, educators and benefactors in the Diocese of Lincoln.All are welcome to attend. See www.goodshepherdscholarship.com for more details.
