Shawn Bergan is retiring after his 27th year as part of the LHS staff, but there is more to Bergan than what his students see at school.
Retirement does not always entail a quiet, inactive life; Bergan plans to continue his career as a part-time teacher while spending more time on his other occupations. Outside of LHS, he coaches for USF Women’s Basketball, presides as the CEO of the snow business AGB Snow, coaches for the 16U Brandon Valley Blitz (his daughter’s softball team) and is a dad of three kids. For Bergan, retiring was not about ending his career but creating additional time to dedicate to other parts of his life.
Many responsibilities come with parenthood. Bergan is the dad of three kids; the youngest is a current sophomore at LHS, the middle child is a freshman at SDSU, and the oldest, Bo, is 21 and has a mental disability that requires him to have extra care. If Bergan were to continue his full-time career at Lincoln, Bo would not be able to spend as much time at home with his family.
“If I would have made the choice not to retire, we would have had to send Bo somewhere else during the day,” said Bergan. “Now it works out so that he can spend more time at home.”
While the additional time on his hands gives Bergan more of the day to spend with his son, looking after Bo is not the only benefit to the flexible hours that come with retirement. By getting off work earlier than before, Bergan will be able to get to USF basketball practices sooner than he previously could. This would allow for more quality time to spend helping them improve. Bergan has been with the Women’s USF Basketball team for 11 seasons, eight of which have been winning seasons. He has done a lot over the years to help evolve the USF team, including guiding them to a top 10 national ranking and their first-ever NSIC South Division title.
Bergan’s role as the softball coach for Blitz is also very demanding. While most of the time taken up by coaching softball occurs during the summer, there are also practices during the school year that run from December through March before school softball starts up. With those practices as well as the planning, fundraising and organizing that goes into running a team, a lot of time goes into that commitment.
Even with all of the work Bergan puts into his everyday life as a coach and a teacher, he is also hoping to spend more time in Watertown working on building his lake house.
“I’ve been working on building a lake house in Watertown on Lake Pelican,” said Bergan. “I want Bo and I to go down there and work on finishing it so we can use it during the summer and host for some of the families on Blitz when we play near Watertown.”
This extra project is something he wants to dedicate more time and effort to working on. Bo would also be able to help alongside his dad, allowing them to spend quality time together.
Bergan is far from a carefree life. From winter commitments with his snow business, to year-round responsibilities as a father, there is much to be done from day to day. Having flexible days is a great addition to the busy life he navigates, and when all is said and done, choosing to retire is a way to open up mobility and invite a change of focus within Bergan’s life — not to reduce productivity.
