Briar Cliff Sunday: spotlight on alumna, Catholic school teacher

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
Editor’s note: As the diocese will have a special collection for Briar Cliff University (BCU) at the end of Catholic Schools Week, we are highlighting a former Bishop’s Scholar who teaches in a diocesan Catholic School. Briar Cliff Sunday is set for the weekend of Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Supporters can contribute at their local parish or at briarcliff.edu/donate.
 
Elise Mangan, language arts educator at Holy Cross School – Blessed Sacrament Center, has been involved in Catholic education for most of her young life. The Carroll Kuemper High School graduate is also a graduate of BCU and was a 2015 Bishop’s Scholar. (This diocesan scholarship provides nearly $30,000 towards tuition at BCU.)
 
“I was exposed to Briar Cliff a lot because my parents went there and my brother was there at the time, so we were always coming up to Sioux City and I just really liked it,” Mangan said.
 
Catholic education is a family affair as parents Roger and Kathy Berg are both Catholic high school graduates - Roger is a Kuemper alumnus and Kathy is a graduate of Storm Lake St. Mary High School. The two elected to send their children to a Catholic school as well.
 
“I felt with Kuemper, I was really well prepared and I had that Catholic background and I didn’t want that to stop,” Mangan said. “I wanted to go to a Catholic college and had the mindset that I wanted to teach in a Catholic school.”
 
The teacher said she appreciated the high standards the Kuemper educators had for their students.
 
“I remember being challenged and people thinking outside the box and doing really fun things,” Mangan reflected. “Now I try to take those things and apply them to what we do here.”
 
Her Kuemper sixth grade language arts teacher - her mother - greatly influenced her desire to work in education.
 Kathy Berg and Elise Mangan/courtesy of Briar Cliff University“I would not be the teacher that I am without her. She is the blueprint for what I am as a teacher,” Mangan said. “I feel we’re very similar in a lot of ways – both personally and in the classroom … I learned a lot from her – the way she can command a room while also being fun, kind and understanding and have the respect of all the students.” 

BCU experience
Once enrolled as a student on the BCU campus, Mangan felt welcomed, made friends and was impressed with the education department and professors.
 
“The teaching program was amazing … They did so many things right away to make sure (teaching) was what you wanted to do. I love the way the program was structured,” the teacher said. “Even now I think back to the way that we did lesson plans in college, which was a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of writing.”
 
Education students were able to participate in numerous practicums in Catholic and public schools for a well-rounded experience. Mangan experienced practicums at various schools and at the Blessed Sacrament Center where she now teaches.
 
“Briar Cliff really set us up well. I feel all my classmates are excellent teachers and were well prepared,” she said of her education.
 
The faith building opportunities at BCU also resonated with the Kuemper graduate while she was on campus. She wanted to continue where Kuemper left off.
 
“Briar Cliff had so many great retreats, programs, Catholic Daughters and all these things to be a part of. I really loved it and that’s where I found a lot of good friends,” she said.
 
From her practicum time at the Blessed Sacrament Center and connecting with the teachers who mentored her, Mangan knew she wanted to teach in a Catholic school when she graduated in 2019.
 
“I wanted to come back and teach here,” Mangan said.
 
Although it’s been several years since she graduated from BCU, the alumna stays connected. She said she stays in contact with her former professors and serves on the university’s external advisory committee for the education department.
 
“Now that I’ve taught long enough, I have had Briar Cliff practicum students in my classroom. That’s been fun,” Mangan said, noting she is happy to help prepare the next generation of educators.

 BCU scholarship
The BCU graduate expressed her gratitude for the generous Bishop’s Scholarship she received nine years ago to help fund her college education.
 
“Obviously, the Bishop’s Scholarship was huge. I wanted to go to Briar Cliff anyway, but it really made that possible,” Mangan said. “College can be such a stressful time and the world is more expensive now than ever, so every dollar counts. I was so grateful for my scholarship.”
 
She encourages the diocesan faithful to participate in the Briar Cliff Sunday collection that funds scholarships for parishioners graduating from high school and supporting the only Catholic college in the diocese.
 
“Giving to someone’s education and being able to help them is so important ,” she said, adding that scholarships lessen students’ money concerns while in college. “We want students to continue to be able to go there, feel successful and then go out and join the community … Briar Cliff graduates do amazing things everywhere, so if there’s any way you can support that, it would be excellent.”
 
 
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