Look for the Helper s

For many in the Mater Dei community, finding a ser vant?s hear t and being a ser vant leader is not often too difficult to locate or become. For decades, our faith- based school has asked students and families alike to ?do unto other s as you would have them do unto you? and live by the motto ?Go For th to Ser ve? after gr aduation. This philosophy has set the tone for gener ations to not only lear n at Mater Dei but to ser ve other s thereafter. Keeping these values in mind, I?d like to remind people what Mr. Roger s (a TV host of an old children?s show for those that aren?t old enough to know) said about times of cr isis. He said, ?look for the helper s?- which was something his mother told him when he was younger. Shedding light on something positive in a bad situation and acknowledging those willing to help in times of distress. It doesn?t take away from what the tr agedy may have been but focuses on what can be done to help and those that are willing to do it. These same people are the ones that makeup Mater Dei?s community- as are the gr aduates as well. In living like Jesus, ever yone from Mater Dei str ives to ser ve other s in all aspects of our lives. For us all, it?s a responsibility, but for some, it is also a ?duty.? A duty to not only spir itually, but physically represent one?s self as a public ser vant by donning a unifor m or badge to represent all. A fir st responder holds an impor tant role in safeguarding the foundations of society. People who choose to stand for the idea of ?good? and something much greater than themselves ultimately chooses to ser ve other s. No matter what er a we live in, it?s a Godly profession and noble, to say the least. Mater Dei has helped mold many of these ser vants enter ing the community. As St. Michael the Archangel leads God?s ar my of angels, fir st responder s who sacr ifice for all can lead in ser vice before themselves as well I?ve compiled a group of more MD gr ads as follows who?ve shared their stor ies. M i ke Bi shop '97 Some may know Mike Bishop from school in the ?90s (1997 MD gr ad), as a West Side Nut Club member, or more presently from helping teach educational narcotics classes to Mr. Jewell?s senior s. He is is a Vanderbur gh County Sher iff?s Office Ser geant Deputy. Deputies are an extension of the elected Sher iff of said county and pr imar ily patrol the non- city areas of the county. Having the same ar rest power s state- wide as most police agencies do, they still pr imar ily patrol and respond to r uns outside the city limits. The city has designated its own police force for enforcement of the law and public safety. That said, the need for such a presence remains in the county as well where citizens can expect to see a deputy when needing help. The Sher iff?s Office is also constitutionally required to maintain secur ity for the cour ts, act as officer s of the cour ts, and manage the county jail. This requires deputies to also perfor m these functions for the Sher iff and are an integr al par t of their ser vice as well. Illegal narcotics can be seen as the root of most evil from many points of view and another integr al par t of the Sher iff?s Office is the er adication of such. Bishop spent at least eight year s of his career in the Joint Task Force (JTF) which is where the narcotics unit of the Sher iff?s Office works ?jointly? with the Evansville Police depar tment?s unit and member s of the Prosecutor ?s Office. They share office

Ser vi ce t o O t h er s space and work cases together, combining their effor ts and effect on combating the dr ug problem in Vanderbur gh/Evansville. Assigned to the JTF, Bishop was also a narcotics K9 handler. He worked with a yellow Labr ador named Hunter where their focus was to suppor t detectives in locating illegal dr ugs. The K9 is tr ained to sniff out the dr ugs exposing the cr ime or recover ing evidence for detectives. Bishop and K9 Hunter were responsible for helping locate hundreds of dr ugs and illegal meth labs throughout the county. This exper ience was the highlight of Bishop?s career so far ; enjoying doing school presentations with Hunter and helping teach D.A.R.E. progr ams, too. He believes a lot of the hard work was instilled from Mater Dei saying, ?If you don?t work hard you will not succeed at the level the duty requires?. K9 handler s go through weeks of tr aining and must become proficient enough to be cer tified in their tr aining skills. This keeps the team professional but also credentialed in their locating aspects that can be L ook f or t h e H el p er s By Matt Kar ges '06 EDI T OR?S N OT E: T his is the second par t of the ser ies about M ater Dei gr aduates who have gone on to become fir st r esponder s. T his spotlight is to show not only their effor ts in ser ving the public, but also to give the M D family an idea of what fir st r esponder jobs entail and the impor tance of them as well.- M att Kar ges ?06/ Evansville Police Ser geant upheld in cour t. After Bishop?s par tner Hunter retired, he tested for ser geant which is a super visor r ank above deputy. Testing for r ank requires a lot of studying (reading assigned books and depar tment procedures) and an inter view assessment as well. If you score well enough, you may later get promoted and Bishop accomplished just that. He made ser geant and over saw the deputies in JTF for a couple of year s until retur ning to road patrol as a super visor where he can be found today. Becoming a super visor is an impor tant position and task not all attain. Mater Dei has always had a higher standard in education perfor mance and of strong discipline in athletics as well. With this, Bishop feels MD definitely helped prepare him for this stage in his career- long before he knew it.

Bishop was active in spor ts at MD as many are and was a par t of the ?95, ?96, and ?97 state wrestling teams as well as the state r unner- up team for football in 1994. He was an assistant coach for the ?03 and ?04 state wrestling teams and helped coach freshman football, too. A lot of us tr ade in ?athletic figures? for ?father figures? as we get older- losing a healthy lifestyle or at least the capability of being considered in shape. As any cop needs to be, Bishop had to maintain a level of fitness outside the regular 9- 5 job in the world. Cops need to be ready to respond to any emer gency and help save someone at a moment?s notice if need be. Bishop may sit in his squad car all day today or get out and wrestle with someone wanting to hur t him, something a deputy just never knows. Along with having to r un around with the K9 for eight year s, chase cr iminals and climb around places searching for dr ugs- Bishop was a cer tified physical tactics instr uctor as well. He taught other deputies each year defensive tactics for subduing offender s and protecting themselves with the use of force techniques. All these instances or tr aining and teaching Bishop has done he attr ibutes to his time playing spor ts at Mater Dei. Not many people want to enter tain these ideas or work hard to be an instr uctor and teach other s, but having the discipline and work ethic MD teaches makes it that much easier. Our collective effor ts in ever ything we do or exper ience help us in life. Bishop gr aduated from Ball State Univer sity with a degree in Cr iminal Justice in 2001. The pur suit of higher lear ning has helped benefit him in his duties as deputy as well as Bishop?s mentor s like cur rent Pr incipal Knight, coaches Mike Goebel and Greg Schaefer- - who are people that have helped shape him through the year s. A lot of good comes out of MD, but once the prepar ation for the real world is complete, we must use what we?ve lear ned (whether we know it yet or not) and keep doing good fur ther more. As a deputy, Bishop is able to do just that day in and day out. He?s had a lot of accomplishments ser ving the community and being able to look back on all the work so far, he can at least see the good out of the bad. That good may be getting children out of these homes with unfit parents to keep dangerous dr ugs from being prevalent on the street. MD helped make Bishop the deputy he is now. If you want to make a difference sometimes you have to work hard and do extr a. MD teaches this and Bishop says the same. Just like when he needed extr a lessons in Algebr a from Mr. Keith. He knew that ?if you had to do extr a, then do extr a.? That mindset has left him happy as a mar r ied (wife Kelly), father of three girls, Sher iff?s Office Ser geant patrolling our community for you and me.

Wyatt Seng '14

Wyatt Seng gr aduated from Mater Dei with the class of 2014. He played football and wrestled while attending. After gr aduation, life took him to the Univer sity of Souther n Indiana where a lot of gr aduates flow to and stay home enjoying college life. He gr aduated from USI in 2018 and got a job with Cintas (a full- ser vice unifor m company). While working there, Seng says he had a cousin and other s from MD interest him in applying for the fire depar tment here in Evansville in 2019- star ting his jour ney into public ser vice and becoming a fir st responder. Applying for the fire depar tment is the easy task. Testing to get hired is the tough par t. Applicants must pass requirements to apply (age, residency, cr iminal background check, etc.), then pass a wr itten test, followed by a physical assessment called the CPAT (Candidate Physical Ability Test). This CPAT includes: stair climb, hose dr ag, equipment car r y, ladder r aise and extension, forcible entr y, search, rescue, and finally ceiling breach and pull test. Applicants must perfor m an aer ial ladder climb 75ft up at 70 degrees and then back down in a set amount of time as well. You are placed on a r anked list after all this and are hired based on available openings in a two- year per iod. This is a ver y competitive and strenuous process just to get hired. After getting hired, months and months of tr aining await. This also includes a lot of strenuous activities lear ning about fire control, search and rescue, hazmat tr aining, pre- hospital emer gency care, and a slew of other skills to master. Classroom and real- world tr aining make up the academy and culminate in getting to be called a firefighter at gr aduation? joining a million other s across the countr y as an imper ative figure in public ser vice. When someone calls 911, they gener ally need immediate help. For most calls police are sent to ar r ive, but for most life- saving calls where a threat isn?t necessar ily still there- firefighter s are usually fir st to ar r ive and render aid. They are sent to vehicle accidents with injur y, gas leaks, downed power lines, and of cour se fire calls. They have a lot of jobs outside of just fighting fires though. Firefighter s are an extensively tr ained fir st responder, and they go through a lot to save people?s lives and have to have a hear t for compassion on each r un. Keeping all this in mind, Seng states: ?I can definitely look back and see that Mater Dei instilling the value of ser vice is what drew me to this career. I think that ser vice can be achieved in many ways by helping when you?re needed or going out of your way when it isn't asked of you, but you want to. That is definitely something that I think Mater Dei does a fantastic job of teaching.? Full- time firefighter s in Evansville work a 24- hour shift. Then they have a few days off, but their ?shift? is equal to the aver age job shift three times over. Sure, they get to work out and cook great meals (hence the movie scenes having big dinner s and watching ?COPS? T.V. show in recliner s, but Seng didn?t confir m that par t), but they also tr ain A LOT and take care of their extensive equipment and gear in down time. Just like a lot of emer gency ser vices, taxpayer s are still getting their money?s wor th when they have this downtime. Par tly because they are always ready and tr ained and also because it is like a sense of insur ance that they?re prepared at a moment?s notice when the wor st things happen no matter what they?re doing. Firefighter s are always prepared, and thankfully they tr ain as much as they do. The ?Great Chicago Fire? of 1871 that killed hundreds and bur ned over three- square miles of the city is considered a wor r y of the past due to cur rent fire depar tment preparedness standards. There are 14 fire stations across Evansville and over 270 swor n firefighter s. The depar tment is compr ised of suppression units, water rescue, hazmat, rope/confined space rescue, dive team, honor guard, and more. Their skill, tr aining, readiness of each station and round- the- clock ser vice help keep the community safe ever y day of the year. Firefighting is an essential job and rewarding career to have when it comes to helping other s.

When asked about this, Seng said, ?The pur pose I believe I provide as a firefighter is to ser ve the community and help them when they are in need.? He continued ?? we are there to help and if they think it's an emer gency or a possible emer gency we will respond and help to the best of our ability and that's what we tr ain for.? It is evident that Mater Dei has helped Seng be prepared for the difficult task of being a firefighter. Like most fir st responder s the reward is in the ser vice, just as MD teaches. The community is lucky to have those like Seng ser ving as is MD where he continues to ser ve by helping coach wrestling. His wife Sar ah coaches softball, too. A thought Seng left with me was this: ?I hope that many students cur rently and coming through see that being a Fir st Responder is a great way to ser ve."

Heath Stewar t '97 Law enforcement ? is just that. Enforcing the law one can find numerous different agencies and types of ?cops,? so to speak, ever ywhere in the countr y that does so. Different states have different agencies and different laws, but one thing remains the same? they are law enforcement (L.E). Another thing the same in L.E. is the feder al ar m (nationwide author ity to enforce feder al laws and unifor mity within its agency no matter the state). The ?feds? include gover nment agencies like the FBI, CIA, DEA, and ATF. 1997 Mater Dei gr aduate Heath Stewar t is a par t of one of these major agencies mentioned and known as the ATF or Alcohol Tobacco and Firear ms to spell it out; although the official title is ?The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firear ms, and Explosives?. Stewar t?s path to the ATF, like a lot of police career s involved hard work, per sonal effor t in becoming accomplished, and growing out of the seeds planted from Mater Dei?s community. Stewar t could of taken it easy after gr aduating, but he decided to fur ther his education and keep lear ning at Indiana State Univer sity. All that?s expected of a student is to gr aduate, but Stewar t thought to get the most out of his time in college and ended up getting both his bachelor ?s and master ?s degrees in cr iminology. He ear ned the ?Senior Outstanding Cr iminology Award? from the cr iminology depar tment as well. He also spent time mentor ing at- r isk youth at a group home teaching them life skills. His effor ts were to get these kids to finish school and set their own goals in life which would ultimately allow them to move for ward and be more successful as well. There are many unfor tunate people in this world and community who don?t have the same role models that a lot of us are afforded and when someone like Stewar t can step in and help show the way, then we as a whole benefit in the long r un and especially that per son?s life may be changed for the better. This hard work and mindset were star ted off by what Heath credits to Mater Dei by saying, ?I credit the push to always help other s from the foundation staff, coaches, and teacher s built dur ing my time at Mater Dei.? Stewar t star ted working for a living as a fir st responder by joining the Vanderbur gh County Sher iff?s Office in 2004. After tr aining, his fir st assignment was in patrol on the night shift. He spent the next sever al year s getting to patrol the county as a deputy (and tr aining deputy for new hires), often patrolling the St. Joe area where he grew up. Feeling a sense of responsibility to give back to those who helped r aise him he was able to ?protect and ser ve? ever y night in the area where ever yone who helped get him to that place in life slept peacefully in their beds. Some officer s/deputies are more proactive than other s and ultimately more successful in finding cr iminal activity or wanted suspects that they gener ally move on to specialized units that could use their tr aits to combat cr imes needing a more investigative look. So, in 2010 he was tr ansfer red into the narcotics unit with the JTF (same unit as Deputy Bishop). At this time, Vanderbur gh began leading the state in methamphetamine lab seizures (?meth? labs are r udimentar y constr ucted dr ug oper ations that make the dr ug [cr ystal- like substance] out of homemade devices and chemicals). Meth labs were dangerous because they have the propensity to combust or explode? causing injur y and fires at the location. The JTF was ver y successful along with community suppor t in finding these ?labs? and helping slow the prolifer ation of its hand on citizens. New laws being passed to monitor and restr ict the sale of cer tain ingredients have ver y much helped the decline in these labs to this date. This work led Stewar t to become a par t of another task force within JTF that par tnered with the Dr ug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Many ?task force? officer s around the countr y are swor n officer s/deputies of a local or state agency (EPD, VCSO, State Police, etc.) who are empowered by said feder al agency they are par tner ing with (DEA, ATF, etc.) to conduct investigations on their par t and also relative to the home agency, where they are employed. This par tner ship allows more resources and manpower for cr ime investigations for both agencies. By being a DEA task force officer, Stewar t was able to take on longer reaching cases outside Vanderbur gh that led to the inside of Vanderbur gh; pr imar ily stopping the lar ger flow of narcotics into the area. More hard work and effor t pushed Stewar t to take a leap of faith in leaving his career with the VCSO in 2015 when he applied for and took a job with the ATF as a feder al special agent himself. Becoming an official agent is much more competitive and str icter of a process to getting hired than being appointed in the task force. He now became a fully employed feder al agent for the ATF. As if he didn?t have enough schooling in life yet, he had to complete another six- month academy of tr aining with the ATF before getting assigned to a station in Memphis Tennessee. No longer a narcotics cop, Stewar t?s focus was on gun violence (a pr imar y duty of the ATF is to enforce the gun laws of Amer ica). A lot of feder al cases focus on high- level offenses and more intr icate cr ime webs. This can many times get to the root of other major cr imes or other connected cr imes as well. Most fir st responder s don?t have the resources or time to handle these things on the surface due to the pr imar y responsibility of handling emer gency r uns. The ATF does have the means and Stewar t lear ned he had to adapt and follow many leads to solve cases. Stewar t?s tr aining and effor ts paid off when he was able to assist the Memphis Police Homicide Unit with solidifying murder char ges against two suspects. His account of the case: ?I utilized a forensic examination of a locked cell phone to find communication leading up to the moment of the murder. I fur ther deter mined this gang was exploiting local banks and making fr audulent tr ansactions.

These tr ansactions put nearly $250,000 into the hands of the gang to buy dr ugs and guns. I indicted 27 individuals of this gang that resulted in a significant reduction of cr ime in Nor ther n Memphis.? ? quite an accomplishment. Fir st responder s and feder al agents do this ever y day, often unnoticed. Like with anything Mater Dei exemplifies too, being in law enforcement is to ser ve other s and be humble- not ser ve oneself. In 2018 Stewar t was able to retur n to Evansville and be stationed here with the ATF. He ser ves the community here daily and still gives credit to his roots of hard work and per sistence to Mater Dei. He remember s how MD teacher s pushed him to do well in tests that he didn?t necessar ily want to take or wr ite the paper s he needed to, how coaches always pushed him in spor ts and built the never quit attitude that all MD spor ts hold. All of this effor t from faculty and staff helped give him the tr aits and confidence needed to pass all those exams, the school for work, the inter views, polygr aph tests (L.E agencies utilize lie detector tests in the hir ing background process), and physical tests to make it 18 year s in this profession. Stewar t is an asset to this community and in his words, a par t of that credit is due to his family suppor t and time at Mater Dei. He continues to utilize all of this and push his daughter s to follow their dreams as well.

Chad El fr ei ch '95 Mater Dei High School is located within the city limits of Evansville inside Vanderbur gh County. Being so, the school liaison for the school is an Evansville Police Officer. Many students come to know this officer but don?t put much thought into why there are city cops in some places, deputies in other s, and trooper s elsewhere. It?s as simple as where the pr imar y jur isdiction lies; deputies have the entire county but are responsible for outside the city 911 calls and ser vice; Indiana State Trooper s have the entire state, but are responsible for unincor por ated areas or areas where the police presence isn?t sufficient all the time (more r ur al areas) and their main focus is on statewide cr imes and highway safety. Then it is a complex that they all have ar rest power s throughout the entire state and often work with each other at events and cases shar ing the work. But as it stands, MD is in the city and the Evansville Police Depar tment (EPD) unifor m is what students see most often or when needing help. Mater Dei gr aduate Chad Elfreich (1995) is one of those on EPD who work to help. He is an Evansville Police Ser geant with 20 year s of exper ience. He joined the EPD in 2002 after having some exper ience previously at the Sher iff?s Office and Indiana Univer sity PD. A lot of people know they want to be in this profession or even those that don?t get their star t at other agencies, go to school fir st. Some by ?better ing? themselves by getting other exper ience fir st often found in the militar y, as confinement officer (jailer), or even a dispatcher or police civilian employee. Some agencies take this into account, and it can help your standing in getting hired, but for other s and the EPD it pr imar ily just prepares you for the job since it can?t help your score at all when testing (which is what a tr ue mer it system of testing holds). Keeping this in mind it is great for future officer s to gain exper ience elsewhere fir st and make their tr aining on the job that much easier or daily job effective. Elfreich did just this and while attending IU he joined the IU Police Depar tment. He worked there for two year s as an officer gaining valuable exper ience doing police work on campus before gr aduating and subsequently joining the Vanderbur gh Sher iff?s Office as a jailer. He worked there for three year s. As a jailer one will deal with the same cr iminal element that they do out on the streets? in tur n getting to know how to talk to them and how their lifestyle or mindset is that most may not under stand. All the tr aining and ?know- how? in dealing with people car r ies over into being a street cop. A lot of successful officer s star ted out in the jail as Elfreich did and for him, he?s a had a successful career as well. Over the past 20 year s with EPD, Elfreich has been a field tr aining officer (FTO- Officer that tr ains new cops in the field how to do the job), a firear ms instr uctor (officer that gets cer tified to teach all depar tment member s firear ms pr actices, tr ain new member s how to shoot and under stand firear ms, and assist with the proctor ing of officer s qualifying with their firear ms ever y year per policy), a drone oper ator (the EPD has sever al drones with var ious capabilities pr imar ily used to search for fleeing suspects, look for missing per sons, as well as provide an ?eagles view? of lar ge events for safety threats like at the Fall Festival), and also a member of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Team since 2007. Those are all extr a assignments he took on in addition to his regular duties in patrol. Almost ever y one of those titles included putting in extr a effor t, inter viewing for, and working hard to obtain being considered into the unit? something he attr ibutes to MD helping teach as values he holds. One of the more notable positions is his cur rent one on the SWAT Team. EPD SWAT is the only full- ser vice and capable SWAT team per manently positioned anywhere in this area (local tr i- state). To be a member, EPD officer s must be on the depar tment for at least three year s and have passed all firear ms qualifications, be in good standing with coworker s, and pass a physical assessment involving: mile r un in full SWAT gear, 60- yard spr int car r ying r am in full gear and gas mask, 30- yard low cr awl in full gear and gas mask, move the heaviest SWAT team member 20 yards, r un up 4 floor s of stair s car r ying r am in full gear, jump over the 6- foot wall in full gear, 5 pull- ups and 5 dips in full gear, and an inter view with SWAT leader ship. If you?re selected then you begin tr aining extensively with the SWAT team and lear n to be an effective member of the team for any type of high- level threat or search war r ant incident the team is needed for. SWAT makes use of advanced weapons, increased ar mor, and moder n sur veillance equipment that exceeds that of regular police gear. They complete a lot of tr aining with special weapons: tear gas, breaching with and without small explosives, Bearcat (ar mored vehicle) use, r ifle tr aining, less- lethal launcher s, etc. and tactics: a technique in building searches, bar r icaded gunman, hostage situations, rescuing injured individuals, active shooter tr aining and more. This allows for a professional, exceptional, and qualified unit to be ready to help not only the community at a moment?s notice but for regular patrol officer s as well. Having this unit allows the EPD to be effectively and safely able to respond to any call for ser vice that may exceed the patrol?s capabilities or resources. It?s a challenging and rewarding exper ience to be a par t of the SWAT team. Elfreich has been a sniper, assistant team leader, and now team leader as a ser geant. As team leader, he would have command responsibilities for whatever team he is in char ge of on scene. That could be the front team, rear team, sniper element, ar rest team, less- lethal team, etc. He would repor t to the commander.