Throughout Mount Carmel every day there are a number of faculty and staff of whom most students don’t really ever get an understanding for how much they contribute to the school.
When a kid sees a poster for Walkathon or gets on a bus to go to their designated service site for Impact Week, they don’t really ever think about how that came to happen or about who organized it and got everything ready so they could have a great experience.
It’s important to recognize some of the faculty members that do a tremendous amount of work here at MC and maybe don’t get the amount of appreciation that they should. There are a few in particular who stand out among the fantastic faculty and staff at MC, and students should be more aware of what they do for them.
Mr. KC Perlberg joined the MC family just this school year and so far has been the coach of the speech team, director of the school play, taught a full course load, was the statistician for the basketball team, and has been coordinating a research project/documentary throughout the course of this school year.
“It’s a little bit self-inflicted, but being around here is fun,” said Mr. Perlberg. “Being around these kids is fun and working hard for these guys when you get the chance is worth doing. That’s the type of ethos that attracts people to a school like this.”
Students have noticed Mr. Perlberg’s impact in just his first year at MC, and there are those who feel credit is deserved. .
“Of course he should be appreciated more,” said junior Dominic Mancilla. “In speech he killed it, theater he killed it, guitar [class] he’s killed it. It’s just the way he runs things. He can take charge very quickly.”
Mr. Perlberg does think it’s important to recognize the fact that just because his work is a little more noticeable, it doesn’t take away from all the other great things people do here at MC.
“Everyone at this school works hard,” said Mr. Perlberg. “That is part of teaching at a place like this. It’s easy to notice it when I’m on a ladder in the rafters and people are walking through the Student Center and they go ‘Why is Perlberg about to fall and smack his head open?’ That’s a big visual thing and everyone can see you working hard there. You have no idea the hard work that goes into giving every student pointed, direct, constructive feedback on, say, an essay they wrote. It’s one thing to go ‘did they hit the word count and go fine B+’ and then turn it back. It’s another thing to read through it and engage with it. To do that fifty more times, that happens behind the scenes, and that’s unbelievably hard work. That’s something that plenty of other people in this school are much better at than I am.”
Another vital contributor who has been a part of the MC faculty for quite some time is Mr. John Stimler, who was formerly principal at MC for seven years. Currently he is Director of Mission and Ministry, runs the Walkathon, Impact weeks, teaches theology classes, and runs the Saint Baldrick’s event.
“Some of those are just part of my job working ministry,” said Mr. Stimler. “Impact is the biggest one I think, mission collection, some of the stuff in Studium. A lot of people do a lot of things, and then there are just other things that either I picked up or I have been asked to do, or told to do.”
Mr. Stimler deflects some of the success of the Impact weeks to his theology and Campus Ministry colleague, Mr. Matt Petrich.
“I would not do what I do without Mr. Petrich, who has really helped with the campus ministry side of things and taken some things off my plate like the retretes, or the reflections for impact, which had suffered because I didn’t have time to do any of that stuff. I take care of the service sites and getting those all lined up and he takes care of the reflections in the morning and when we come back. There’s the speaker series that he kind of introduced this year that I think was a really great addition to what we were trying to do.”
While some students might not know how much Mr. Stimler is involved in, those who do recognize the effort.
“I appreciate everything Mr. Stimler does,” says junior Kaleb McCluer. “Mr. Stimler puts a lot of time and effort into everything he does, all for the sake of our schooling. He sets up Impact Week and all that stuff, and I think it’s really admirable.”
The main creative mind behind all the online advertising and designs is Ms. Eleanore Menke. She also is the moderator for the Caravan Media Group.
“I’m happy to do it for you guys,” said Ms. Menke. “I think I’m most motivated just by seeing how when a community rallies behind something or someone, a mission for success, anything really when people are behind something it makes it that much easier for the students to succeed, for the athletes to succeed. Knowing that there are people in your corner and that they support you. So I’m always going to go above and beyond, I’m always going to try and do what I can to make things happen around here because I believe in it, I believe in what happens at this school. I know that it’s a special place and that you know everybody’s involved in something.”
One student who is heavily involved in the Caravan Media group knows how much work Ms. Menke puts in behind the scenes.
“As someone that works a lot with the media at this school,” says junior Matt Malloy, also known as the Voice of the Caravan, “as far as, like, social media, the Caravan Broadcast Network, the majority of the things people see online were edited or designed by Ms. Menke. A lot of that stuff on social media was worked on by Ms. Menke. I think that people might not know that. They might not know that it’s pretty much just one person doing all of that. On top of her ‘real job’ that she is paid to do, she takes a lot of time–a ridiculous amount of time–out of her week to help us announce games, do the podcast, and things like that. She could easily just go home, but instead it’s guys like [junior Christos Dimas] and I that come to her and say ‘We have this idea’ or ‘We want to stream this game,’ and there’s really no question about it if she can be there. To help us out she’ll be there.”
Streaming many of the athletic events and games has been a big challenge for her this year. The opportunity for students to watch Caravan teams compete remotely is something many take advantage of, but they likely are not aware of the logistics that go into making it happen.
“Watching the cool things that happen when kids start broadcasting, just kind of the chemistry that happens in a group where everybody kind of knows their role and feels comfortable exploring new things is really special,” said Ms. Menke. “So a lot of what I do just goes hand in hand with all of the other things that I do. It all kind of stacks in. Doing all the work for admissions or design work for development, all that stuff is just a part of the Mount Carmel experience. So it’s kind of fun to have my hands in everything.”
Nearly everyone who was asked the question “Who do you think works the hardest at MC?” gave the same answer: “Walter.” Mr. Walter Perez is someone that has done so much for the school in his 27 years of working here. He is currently the Building Engineer here at MC and handles everything from setups for events to the air conditioning in the building.
He originally worked with the Carmelites in Los Angeles before moving to work here.
“One of the priests, he was moving here and he became the principal,” said Mr. Perez. “I said if there are any openings in Chicago let me know. He called me and said, yeah, there is a maintenance position. That’s how I came here.”
He was working with the Carmelites in L.A. since 1991. While he is very humble about all he does here, it is undeniable that he is indispensable to MC.
“I just love working here,” said Mr. Perez. “I just like coming here and doing my work every day and trying to make sure I do it right as best as I can.”
His colleagues recognize all he does for the school as well.
“Walter is, like, the hardest worker in the building by far,” said Ms. Menke. “He is here earlier than so many people, and he stays here later than most people. He always has an answer. Every time I bring a project or a crazy idea to him he’s like, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it.’ Like he doesn’t say no. He knows this place, you know. I think it’s very important for somebody to work in the capacity that he does, and to know as much as he does.”
Students should appreciate him more because the school simply wouldn’t function without him. The clean walkways into school in the morning despite snowy conditions, the set-up for school events, an immediate, efficient cleanup after a surprise flash flood from last week’s heavy rainstorm during school–all that stuff is Mr. Perez.
“This school would fall down without Mr. Perez,” said Mr. Perlberg. “He keeps us standing.”
MC just celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week. A student who sees any of the faculty or staff in the hallway should make sure to thank them because all the great work they do makes it possible for Caravan kids to have this amazing experience.
