David City secretary to receive St. John Bosco award
By Deacon Matthew Hecker, Ph.D.
Karen Shonka, from Aquinas Catholic Schools in David City, is the 2023 St. John Bosco Award winner for Support Staff Member of the Year.
Karen Shonka grew up in Butler County, Nebraska, the fifth of six siblings. Her dad farmed beans and corn and did custom harvesting.
“As a young girl, I spent a lot of time riding in the cab of a tractor with my dad or in the cab of a grain truck with my mom and my sisters,” she said.
Shonka fondly remembers the peaceful days.
“We had our coloring books and story books and would color and read while waiting to either load the grain in the field or unload it at the elevator.
“Sometimes,” she recalled, “I would just curl up and go to sleep.”
Shonka attended St. Mary Elementary School and Aquinas Jr/Sr High School – now Aquinas Catholic Schools – in David City, as did her future husband, Keith Shonka, who was also one of six children.
After graduating from Aquinas, Shonka enrolled at Southeast Community College in Lincoln while working and living in Omaha. She and Keith were married and she received her administrative secretarial diploma.
“Then we moved to Surprise and rented a farmhouse; Keith worked in Columbus and helped his dad farm while I worked at a nursing home in David City.”
A subsequent move took them to Columbus, where Keith went to work for Loup Power and Karen worked at bakeries. After the birth of the couple’s first child, she started an in-home daycare.
A chance conversation informed the Shonkas about a house for sale in the country, located near Bellwood and David City.
“We looked, and it was everything we wanted, including being back in Butler County,” Shonka said. “So, we bought the house and moved. Keith stayed on with Loup Power and in addition to watching our kids, I did in-home childcare for one or two families.”
By this time, their oldest of four kids was enrolled at St. Mary School, and Shonka was asked to volunteer in the front office at Aquinas.
“Keith’s mom had been a volunteer in the school library for over 30 years and I knew she loved it, so I said yes,” she recalled. “I started working there once a month.”
Not much later, the school secretary position became available. Shonka decided to apply. She interviewed with Father Brian Connor, then the chief administrative officer, and was offered the position.
It’s been said that in every school, the office secretary is the proverbial glue that holds the whole thing together. Everyone relies on the school secretary: the administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, visitors, callers, everyone. Further, the school secretary is expected by all these folks to immediately know everything about everything going on in the school.
During the school year, the front office of a school operates at one of two levels: more chaotic or less chaotic, but never not chaotic. It takes a special personality to thrive in that very public, constantly busy, fishbowl of an environment.
Shonka admitted, “I was planning to stay with the job until all our kids were out of the school. But now I have a hard time even thinking about leaving.
“It’s truly a family,” she continued. “It feels just like home to me. The faculty, the staff, the parents and the students share this great sense of family. I graduated from here. Some of my classmates are now teachers here. Many of them are now parents of our students. I ask myself, ‘which group of these students am I going to walk out on?’”
She said one of her favorite things is seeing the new sixth-graders come in to the school, and watching as they grow and mature through their senior year.
The practice of the faith is also a factor in Shonka’s joy at Aquinas Catholic.
“The Catholic faith is so central to what we do here,” she said. “When I’m having a bad day, I can spend time in the chapel. The priests are available when we have questions or want to go to confession. And the people I work with on a daily basis are just such good people, good friends.
“It’s great when parents of our graduates call the school,” she added. “I get to hear their stories and re-connect with our former students.”
Shonka mentioned that her oldest son, Jake, is married to a fellow Aquinas grad, Cortny. They have six children.
“They recently relocated from Missouri back to Butler County,” Shonka said. “The Catholic parishes and schools of the diocese are so faithful and we have priests to staff the parishes and schools.”
The Shonkas hope their other children, Katie, Nicholas and Benjamin might, like their brother, one day return home to their extended family, the beautiful and mystical Body of Christ that is the Aquinas Catholic School community.
The Shonkas are members of St. Joseph Parish in rural Bellwood.
Shonka 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.
