Pius X Alumnus Share Experiences, Speaks at National Honor Society
Larry Dugger, Pius X High School class of 1964 alumnus, returned to his alma mater to share his career and life experiences. After presenting and answering questions during six class periods, Dugger was the keynote speaker at Pius X’s National Honor Society (NHS) Honors Night held on Monday evening, February 9, 2015 in the school’s Learning and Performing Arts Center.
The convocation marked the 30th year that Pius X has honored its top scholars with induction into the National Honor Society. This year, 163 junior and senior students were named to the society for their academic performance. To qualify for NHS induction, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher and meet the by-law requirements of the four NHS ideals: character, service, leadership and scholarship. While maintaining this academic standard, NHS students at Pius X also performed more than 2,000 hours of community service and participate in 28 clubs, 10 sports, and eight performance groups. Additionally, more than 50 NHS members offered tutoring and mentoring services to their fellow students during the school year.
“NHS is founded on the ideals of character, service, leadership, and scholarship, all of which are at the heart of the Pius X mission,” stated Mr. Tom Seib, Pius X faculty member and NHS sponsor, noting that “while we emphasize all four goals, the Pius X Chapter focuses mainly on service and leadership. Larry Dugger talked about the importance of living up to all of these ideals and appreciating the gifts given to us in all of our lives.”
As one who had previously walked the Pius X halls, Dugger’s goal was to help students be fully aware of the advantages of graduating from Pius X. Recently retired after a 40 year career, Dugger held senior management positions at three nuclear power stations, worked for 29 years at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and served as the chairman of the Nuclear Safety Committee.
“The core values and related behaviors that you are acquiring will substantially enhance your professional development and the satisfaction you will receive from you life’s work, if you continue to practice them,” Dugger shared. “Your values will drive your quest for personal excellence and success. In retrospect, I consider myself very fortunate to have graduated from Pius X.”
He continued by encouraging the honored students to worry less about what they were capable of and to be more ambitious in the goals they set for themselves. He further reminded students that personal values are directly tied to personal excellence.
“Excellence is a journey,” Dugger stated. “The pursuit of excellence is a culture and a set of behaviors and underlying values that become a way of life. The most fundamental of these are integrity, humility, compassion, and respect.”
Dugger challenged students to make a commitment to their own personal excellence. “You have been taught these values explicitly in your religion classes. You have also seen them illustrated by class assignments and the example of the Pius X staff.”
Dugger also emphasized that companies and professional institutions actively seek people with ethical values that match their vision. While some companies believe people can be coached into the right personal or organizational behaviors, “it is an uphill battle and the learned behavior may not be sustained unless the right values were engrained during an individual’s upbringing.”
“The world desperately needs the values you have learned,” Dugger noted. “If you identify them, internalize them, and live by them, they will drive both your career success and personal satisfaction in your life’s work.”
Pius X students gained valuable insight into career opportunities in the engineering field throughout the school day as Dugger also took time to talk with six physics classes, including two groups of advanced placement students.
“Interacting with the students today was really enjoyable,” Dugger shared. “The upper classmen were particularly attentive and curious. They really led the discussion and asked quality questions. They truly own their own learning process.”
Pius X is more than twice the size as the days when Dugger was co-captain of the football team and a member of the first Pius X basketball team to win the city title and go to the Class A state tournament. Returning to his alma mater felt very good.
“I received a great start here and the opportunity to give back in some small way is very special,” Dugger commented. “My goal was to help make students aware of the advantages of graduating from Pius X and to stimulate and encourage them to use these advantages as they approach their careers.”
The NHS ceremony also included an address by the NHS president Gus Mattern. He noted that true leaders demonstrate their leadership by serving others. “I used to view service as an obligation,” Mattern stated. “Without understanding the true virtues of service, you cannot fully appreciate it.”
Mattern then related the beautiful story of the developing friendship between himself and Ben, a freshman student that has autism. Mattern and another student worked with Ben during the summer to help Ben learn where his classes were located. They also walked him to his classes during the first week of school.
“Those five minutes I spent with Ben two or three times a day probably taught me more than the hours I spent in the classroom. Ben never gave up, no matter how frustrated he was or how hard the task. He approached his daily life with such joy that I have never seen in any other person,” Mattern shared. “I try to emulate his joy as best I can, but only Ben can do Ben as well as him.”
“Ben has been a true sign of Christ to me,” Mattern noted. “As we prepare to go to college and life beyond high school, there will be times of difficulty. It’s in these times that we need Christ and we need our faith.”
The other Pius X NHS officers for the 2014-2015 school year are: Julio Gutierrez, vice president; Kaitlin VanLoon, secretary; Isaac Driewer, treasurer; Abraham Driewer, senior representative; Anna Stuchlik, junior representative; and Clare Morehouse, sophomore representative.
Senior class members inducted into NHS include: Zenaida Adame, Ansley Alberts, Kristen Benes, Rebecca Brooks, Jordan Brozek, Lauren Bruning, Maggie Burmeister, Justin Coffey, Abraham Driewer, Isaac Driewer, Sarah Endacott, MacKenzie Fiedler, Jeffrey Gabell, Nycholas Gierhan, Mary Guenther, Julio Gutierrez, Philip Hanigan, David Hatch, Evan Helman, Aaron Heyen, Logan Johson, Sydney Johnson, Kade Kalkowski, Benjamin Keaschall, Thomas Kelly, Mark Kilts, Mary Kincheloe, Jacob Kreikemeier, Elizabeth Labadie, Joseph Largen, Meredith Larsen, Tina Le, Lucy Long, Connor Maly, Augustine Mattern, Claire McDermott, Rachel Merrill, Carly Moore, Firdavskhon Nasimov, Vi Nguyen, Isaac O’Gara, Shane O’Grady, Kyle Peirce, Emma Petersen, Kathyrn Petersen, Emily Pfeifer, Lindsey Pinkerton, Emily Pletcher, Chad Quigley, John Rice, Madison Royse, Kennedy Sander, Marcus Sanders, Scott Schieuer, Madison Schmidt, Briahtia Sebek, Meghan Straub, Adam Szatko, Hannah Terrell, Anna Tetherow, Ally Thomsen, Nicole Timm, Kylie Tucker, Abby Tvrdy, Natalia Unger, Max Vandenhul, Collin VanLoon, Kaitlin VanLoon, Landon Warner, Mark Wathen, Lydia Wemhoff, Leah Wilson, and Hannah Zuercher.
Junior class members inducted into NHS include: Eric Adame, William Addy, Nicholas Aldridge, Scott Allder, Taylor Angele, Nathan Asselin, Lillian Barnett, Ellie Beiermann, John Boes, Nina Bui, Alexis Chapelle, Noah Contreras, Lucy Cook, Bailey Cowling, Kelsey Daberkow, Anna Dalton, Alli Davis, Nicholas Dean, Aaron Decker, Bailey Deterding, Kathryn Drozda, Rachael Duden, Marissa Farmer, Agnes Fiedler, Emma Finder, Alex Fish, Fiona Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Foley, Tyler Gill, Braden Guess, Nathan Hall, Savannah Hanus, Nichole Heimes, Leah Heyen, Henry Jaros, Molly Kasparek, Morgan Kempf, Willa Koenig, Rose Kotopka, Celine Kottwitz, Caleb Kowalski, Thomas Krick, Catherine Krueger, April Kruse, Liam Kruse, Casey Laframboise, David Liescheski, Kristen Machacek, Claire Maguire, Nathan Mai, Peter Mai, Cari Mazour, Anah McNeal, Kelcie Meyers, Sydney Mlnarik, Bradley Moss, Philip Murphy, Angela Nguyen, Tram Nguyen, Trent Nguyen, Rylie O’Meara, Matthew Pham, Emily Pick, Natasha Pierce, Chloe Pinkman, Tanner Resseguie, Daniel Roberson, Kylie Root, Kyle Sager, Alec Schafers, Reagan Scott, Maresa Searls, Morgan Shipley, Therese Sievert, Kylie Sims, Elizabeth Staab, Brooke Strokan, Anna Stuchlik, Rilee Sukup, Independence Talken, David Tines, Mickey Tran, Whitney Tran, Kacie Tremain, Nathan Ullman, Megan Wackel, Bryan Warday, Jenna Wennekamp, Jacquelyn Wright, and Jared Yost.
