JEN BISCHOFF
Online Editor
Three weeks into high school, the Rev. Charles Kestermeier, S.J., knew he wanted to be a Jesuit by watching their example. He recalls that they were good, intelligent men and were having the time of their lives.
“I don’t think I have seen so much laughter among adults. And I just said ‘that’s it,'” Kestermeier said. “I just knew that is where I’m going.”
Since watching and learning from the Jesuits, he has moved onto watching his students, and continues to learn.
“Watching growth is exciting, and I’m still excited by the amount of growth you guys go through and I just find it incredible.”
Kestermeier teaches World Literature I, a class many students take their first year at Creighton University.
“English is so much depth into what you’re seeing and understanding. If I can get the little rascals early, it opens their ears and their eyes, and I just love doing that, teasing them, making them doubt themselves in a confident manner—It’s a lot of fun,” Kestermeier said. “Let’s just say I can’t tell you how much you learn when your teaching, organizing things, developing materials—personal relationships—incredible.
Kestermeier attended Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wis., a school very similar to Creighton Prep, where he would eventually come to teach.
He earned his college degree in Minnesota and St. Louis. He then spent three years teaching at Creighton Prep.
Afterwards, he ventured to France for formal theology education. He spent four years, more or less in France, two summers in Spain picking up Spanish and part of his fourth year working in a mental hospital in Wisconsin with adolescents.
He and another Jesuit switched roles for a year. He came back to Marquette High to teach French and the other Jesuit took his job in France teaching English conversation.
Kestermeier went on to earn his doctorate in French in Madison, Wis. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He returned to Creighton Prep in 1982 and has been at Creighton University since 1995.
“I’d gone through Catholic grade school and a heck of a lot of other places, and I saw all kinds of teachers, and I just thought I could do a better job than some of them,” Kestermeier said.
Aside from his confidence to do better, Kestermeier teaches for his students.
He also serves as chaplain in Deglman, chaplain for CSU and the ROTC programs and helps with the Freshman Immersion program.
During the Freshman Immersion Program, Kestermeier has the freshman line up and he labels them as geeks, weirdos or oddballs, but provides hope.
He tells them, “Geeks, oddballs and weirdos. Bad news, huh? Also good news: you’re among your own kind.”
Kestermeier offers two big pieces of advice for freshmen.
“Put away your iPods, cell phones, Facebook and meet the life that’s around you,” Kestermeier said, “Skip the beer parties.”
He also offers his advice and take on life after graduation.
“Be ready for deception—this is the time [graduates] really discover who they are and what they want out of life,” he said.
Kestermeier reflects on the life he wanted and his fulfillment of that life.
“I think I could say fundamentally that I want to be a companion of Christ,” he said. “I want to follow Jesus wherever he goes and absolutely believe that wherever I am, Jesus is there with his hand on my shoulder accompanying me—. I’m very, very satisfied with the life I have chosen because I get up in the morning, and I do something real.”
Kestermeier’s inspiration for what he does is whom he calls, his boss, J.C.
“He went out and mostly what he did to people was talk. He challenged them. He made it real clear when they were screwing up and he invited them to do better,” Kestermeier said. “He pointed to their homework – the way they were living their lives. He corrected it and said “now you go out there and don’t sin anymore.”
And the payoff for following Jesus is not bad.
“The work is hard, but the retirement is literally out of this world” Kestermeier said.
Aside from teaching, Kestermeier engages in other interests.
“I like to preach, you’d never guess, would you? But, I also love to read.”
When Kestermeier retires, maybe 5 or 20 years from now, he would like to work in a parish on the outskirts of town, participating more within a parish.
Kestermeier also notes that he has a very bad sense of humor. Every workday, he sends an e-mail to about 250 people with three or four jokes.
“Here’s a quote you can use, ‘It’s easy to get a Jesuit to start talking. It’s almost impossible to get him to stop,'” Kestermeier said.