Catholic Central Alumni are among the most prominent members of our community, as they provide a blueprint for currents students to know how to live out the CC values as they leave campus. An amazing example for students to look to is Dr. Tom Korte (’05).

Korte fondly remembers his Corex retreat, a CC tradition for seniors, saying “it really brought everyone together” and highlighted the community Catholic Central creates through its students. Even now Korte still feels “the spirit of the community” whether at a “sporting event or a choir recital.” CC creates a special family where current students and past are always welcome.

This kind of community that CC values is deeply rooted in faith which has had a significant impact of Korte. He says “Catholic Central helped develop my faith life … without those spiritual foundations, I would have not met challenges head on with a faith and spiritually centered attitude.”

After his four years at Catholic, Korte attended Hillsdale College with an already clear view of his future in dentistry. Hillsdale was a good fit for Korte because of the Christian values that are upheld, and the opportunity to continue playing football. He excelled at football during his time in high school, even being inducted into the Cougar Hall of Fame in 2017.

Korte specifically remembers his biology class with the infamous Coach T. He would “[stand] on table yelling bones in the body, and you’d have to memorize them.” This built on his “natural” love for biology and math which he uses in his current profession daily.

Korte has children that attend St. Paul’s and imagines nothing less of sending them to Catholic Central when the time comes. He says “the thing that sets Catholic Central apart is [the] faith life and our leadership … it’s great academically, for sure. But it’s more dynamic than that in a way, we have a higher purpose than that.”

If you are an Alumni and interested in being featured in the Blue & White, please reach out to me at phoebetagliareni@dogrschools.org.