CRUSADING FOR A MOELLER EDUCATION Reunions provide special times, particularly for Catholic high schools. After all, alumni are key cogs in the continued success and vitality of private Catholic institutions.
When the Moeller High School class of 1975 gathered in 2015, a good number of the group of 230 classmates met to rekindle old memories and friendships They took a gander at the old school to see the changes and chat about what has happened in the 40 years since they wore the cap and gown and went off to tackle the world. It was at the reunion where a challenging idea took root. Classmates Jeff Holtmeier, Mike Sussli and Jim Donnellon -- 1975 class president -- had continued a friendship born at Moeller more than four decades ago. They hold their alma mater dear and tasked themselves to do something special -- raise $75,000 for use as Moeller scholarships; and challenge classmates to unite and meet the goal. They generated $100,000.
“We believe in giving an opportunity to those who want a Catholic education -- particularly at a special place like Moeller High School. The (annual) tuition is more than 13 grand. There are young men who clearly would love to come to Moeller, but because of their economic reality there’s no way to span the gap of what they can afford and the full tab,” said Donnellon, director of Barnes Dennig, a highly recognized accounting firm. He has served Moeller on the education commission and the athletic advisory board and is a past president of the alumni association.
Mike Sussli, senior vice president at UBS Financial Services, and a financial planning consultant, said the key goal “is to raise awareness within our class of trying to help kids go to Moeller who just might not be able to financially afford it. We want to make people aware there is a financial aid need. I would classify it more as an awareness campaign within our class. It would be great if we can all contribute something to help a young man attend Moeller.
“If we can help young men experience the Moeller family, I feel we need to do it. I’ve been out of school more than 40 years now and we probably don’t have another 40 left in our time. We all try to leave a place a little better. This fund will give young men an opportunity to do that and I wish it was 10 times what it is. We are all very appreciative of what we got from Moeller High School and what we have in our friendships with each other.” Today, Holtmeier is an international entrepreneur in technology and communications with numerous companies founded, built and successfully sold or transitioned. Following the reunion and after a couple of coffee shop organizational meetings, he hosted about 20 select classmates at a get-together at his Indian Hill home. The purpose? Raise money. “We learned Moeller does not have a significant endowment as do St. Xavier and Elder High School. Moeller isn’t as old; founded in 1960. We got together and noticed some things, such as Moeller costs creeping up and the capabilities of the school to provide scholarship support for students weakening. We wanted to figure out how our class of 1975 could put together a campaign and see if we could raise (substantial) money as a class.” “We worked with the school and put together a campaign of sorts to reach out to many of our former classmates. I had the event at my house where we invited key donors and Moeller’s president, Marshall Hyzdu ‘96. As a result of our efforts, by the end of 2016, we raised about $100,000. Roughly, we have 20 guys giving in varying amounts. We have some pledges to continue the effort over the next couple of years.” “The three of us may be the catalysts but everyone who participated in the effort to get this money raised made it happen. Everybody ‘ponied’ up a little bit,” Holtmeier said.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2017
“A lot of the parents can come up with some of the tuition, but they can’t make the whole thing. We fill in the gap.”
“We wish we could give more. The hope is to get some momentum and find out there are others willing to help too. We want to see this grow.”
Sussli, also assistant varsity basketball coach, praised his alma mater. “Moeller means a lot to me and it helped me from a total perspective -- not only spiritually. It made me a man, so to speak. As you enter, it says: ‘Through These Doors Walk the Men of Moeller.’ That really rings true. For me it’s important that we do everything we can to make sure that every young man who wants to attend Moller receives that opportunity regardless of financial hardships or roadblocks.”
“Why?” asked Donnellon rhetorically. “Because I’ve gotten more from Moeller than I’ve ever been able to give back.”
Donnellon said his wish is to see his class and other classes band together and tackle the need. The class of 1977 began a similar effort earlier and it has been very successful.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2017
This year a student in the incoming class of 2021 will be the first to receive the class of 1975 scholarship.
CLASS OF 1975 NAMED SCHOLARSHIP DONORS Special thanks to our donors listed below who have contributed to the Class of 1975 Named Scholarship
Dan Bell Roger Benz Steve Byrnes John Calvin Gary Capehart Vincent Condeni Scott Crable Tom DeNoma Jim Donnellon, Jr. Steve Donnellon Patrick Fehring, Jr. Michael Fette
Raymond Gerdes Dan Goodhart Mark Greiner Steve Greiwe Rob Grinkemeyer Jeff Hock Jeff Holtmeier Steven Hugenberg Joseph Huster Gregory King Bob Kolkmeyer Rich Koulouris
James Kowalski Allen Kroth Ken LaRose Alan Laub Tim Moorman Timothy Mueller Jim Schmitt Michael Schuckman Michael Schwarber Michael Sussli Mark Tilsley Lonny Yaegel