Since 1906, nearly 26,000 students have graduated from Catholic Central—26,000 alumni who found their calling and sense of purpose during their time at Catholic Central. Students like Justin Stitt ’18. Justin writes:

Midway through my fourth year of a five-year program in industrial and interaction design at Syracuse University was not where I expected myself to be seven years ago, in the fall of 2014, when I walked into my first day of classes at Catholic Central. Truthfully, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life when I grew up. I had always been passionate about making and creating things, coming up with new ideas, but often they just stayed as that—ideas. By some chance, that fall I found myself in my guidance counselor’s office wanting to switch out my study hall for the spring semester to an actual class.

Going down to the guidance counselor’s office, I didn’t know what class I wanted it to be; I just knew that I wasn’t really putting my study hall to good use. Don’t get me wrong, taking a break from the school day was nice to let one’s brain relax, but it wasn’t for me. By the end of my meeting, I had switched out the study hall for a graphic design class and you could say the rest is history. Between the graphic design class and computer apps and digital photo classes, I was able to put pen to paper and let my ideas flow. That first spring semester, I created everything from a cereal box brand to T-shirts, posters and CDs for a band. Little did 14-year-old me know what I would be doing today.

Fast forward to this past summer, I interned for Universal Forest Products at their research and design center, working with them to do market research, explore new product areas and build prototypes. This fall, I designed Fire Line, a deployable wildfire spread detection system that uses second life lithium-ion batteries. I also created Grown By Backstreet, a restaurant that helps people build an experience that empowers them to want to try something new with friends, in this case, trying lab-grown meat.

From my time at Catholic Central, I learned that you shouldn’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. You never know what class might spark an ember inside of you and grow into something more than you even imagined.

You Can Change Lives Like Justin’s
When you plan a gift to Catholic Central Foundation, you set students like Justin up for success. To learn more, please contact Beth Banta at 616.233.5816 or bethbanta@grcatholiccentral.org.