Celebrating a multi-generation family milestone and the value of a Christ-centered Lutheran education.


One of the great things about Lutheran education is how it tends to run in the family. Often, multiple generations of families will be educated at the same school. Sometimes, students go on to attend one of the fine schools in the Concordia University System (CUS).

Occasionally—though very rarely, to be sure—members of multiple generations will earn a graduate degree from two different schools at the very same time.

But that’s exactly what happened in December when Penny Van Dellen (CUAA ’91) and her daughter, Katherine Hackbarth (CUAA ’22), earned their Master’s degrees from Concordia University Wisconsin and Concordia University Ann Arbor, respectively.

First-generation college student

Lutheran education has always been important to Penny, she says, but college wasn’t always on the horizon. She comes from a blue-collar upbringing and was the first in her family to attend.

“The only reason I decided to go to Concordia, or attend college at all, was because my wonderful, phenomenal boyfriend was there!” she explains. “I thought, well, I can teach, so I looked into it and teaching was something that was available.

“My parents were thrilled, because going to college is not something that had even been voiced by any of us kids.”

Jim and Penny Van Dellen

Things worked out—in more ways than one. Penny married her boyfriend, Jim, a year older, after her freshman year. They moved into married housing and have been married ever since. In fact, today Jim is the principal at St. John’s Lutheran School in West Bend, Wisconsin, where Penny teaches middle school.

Her new master’s degree is in Counseling. But she’s not looking to leave and get a counseling job, she just wants to be a better minister to the kids she already serves.

“It’s no secret that mental health issues are increasing in kids this age,” she says. “I just noticed a lot of my kids being anxious, and not being able to verbalize what they were thinking. And I thought, ‘I really would love to know how to help the kids more.’ So Jim and I thought, ‘We’re going to spend our money on something, we might as well spend it to get an education and help these kids more.’”

And it’s already bearing fruit in how she’s able to teach kids coping skills and strategies to deal with the stress and anxiety they’re experiencing.

Mother-daughter expertise

For Katherine, who is in her third year teaching 6th grade at Immanuel Lutheran School in Macomb, Michigan, it’s great having a mother with so much experience and expertise that she can call on for advice.

Sam and Katherine Hackbarth with their son, Oscar.

“I do call pretty frequently,” Katherine says, “to talk to either my mom or my dad and say, ‘This came up—what would you do?’”

But it’s also “a two-way street,” Penny adds. Because Katherine, whose MS is in Curriculum & Instruction, “has more of the up-to-date information regarding computers or content, where we have more experience on how to address parents or to problem solve with things that come up, related to school.”

Katherine credits much of her success in the program to Dr. Sara Clemm von Hohenberg (“Dr. CvH”), Director of the Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction with Elementary and Secondary Teacher Certification Program at CUAA.

“She was just really inspirational and encouraging and made sure I was able to get everything done,” Katherine says. “She always looked for opportunities for me and really supported me through everything. And I think she’s a big reason why I am where I am right now.”

Foundational faith

Through all of it, faith remains paramount in Penny’s and Katherine’s approach to teaching.

“I can’t really separate my faith from who I am,” Penny says. “Whenever I have assignments for class, I’m immediately holding it up against Scripture. Like, ‘What would God say about this?’ or ‘What is the right thing to do in God’s eyes?’

“We can’t just solve problems on our own; we need to have some basis for speaking or thinking the way we do, especially with psychology. A lot of counselors and psychologists [in the secular realm] are like, ‘do what’s best for you, or what you want to do.’ And I think that’s dangerous to even say to kids. We have to start with, ‘What does God want for us? What does Christ want for us?’”

That’s really at the crux of what Lutheran Schools are all about: putting Christ and His teachings first and foremost in everything that’s taught.

“So, of course, we were always going to send our kids to Lutheran schools,” Penny says. “Because our most important job is to prepare our kids for eternity, and the best way to do that is through Lutheran Schools.”

“I know nothing besides Lutheran education,” Katherine says. I went to a Lutheran grade school, Lutheran high school, Lutheran college. I don’t think I could see myself in a public school.”

And now she’s teaching in a Lutheran school. As is her mother—and her father. And even her husband, Sam (whom she met at CUAA), is a science teacher at Lutheran High North in Macomb.

A heart for Christ

In fact, Lutheran education is such an important concept to her, Penny can scarcely imagine teaching in any other environment.

“For me to teach without having everything Christ-centered would … I mean, I’ve never done that,” she says. “I don’t know how good I would be at that. Regardless of what my kids say to me, it’s a constant: What does God want? What does Scripture say? That’s what really propels me forward in my teaching and in assessing what my students need or what they want to do. I just teach them to hold every thought captive to Christ. And then that’s a springboard for what they should do or even how they should feel.

“Because, like it says in Jeremiah [17:9] your heart is the biggest deceiver of all. I tell my kids that just because you feel a certain way, that doesn’t mean it’s true. So my kids are pretty well versed in taking what they hear and aligning it with Scripture to see where God would fall on that.

“So yes, Lutheran education is super important to us.”

And you don’t need a master’s degree to understand why.

Learn more about Katherine’s CUAA journey HERE!


Want in?

CUAA will continue to offer a variety of degrees in 2025-26 and beyond. Pursue a degree in healthcare at our North Building with its newly remodeled features and state-of-the-art simulation equipment, or earn your master’s degree in education through one of our well-established online programs. In the near future, Concordia will look to reintroduce church work training opportunities in Ann Arbor by building a new vision and model for the undergraduate degree programs here.