Campaign Chronicles Winter 2025
A note from Capital Campaign co-chair and DuBois Central Catholic School Alumna, Sharon Varischetti, '87
DuBois Central Catholic School has embarked on a bold journey, launching its first capital campaign in over 17 years—a $7.5 million initiative to strengthen our tradition of faith-based education and academic excellence. This effort is about more than buildings, it’s about investing in our students’ futures. Your continued support ensures that generations to come will learn, grow, and live their faith with confidence. Thanks to the generosity of early donors, we’ve already reached 80% of our goal—but there’s still work to be done!” Follow our progress and learn how you can help at duboiscatholic.com/campaign.jsp
Campaign Committee Member Spotlight: Carol Korthaus
Carol Korthaus is a living legend at DuBois Central Catholic. Carol, who taught at DCC from 1987 until 2021, has wonderful memories from her time with the school. “Teaching at DCC was an awesome experience!” In addition to teaching English for over thirty years, she was heavily involved with the theater department. “With Father Walk we ushered in a new era in Central musical production. From Godspell until the present day, we have presented great musical experiences.” All told, Mrs. Korthaus produced 28 musicals at DCC. Many alumni and students were impacted by her love of the theater.
Carol agreed to be part of the capital campaign committee because she saw first-hand how the culture of DCC shaped so many young lives. “We want to ensure that our future is as solid and productive as our past had been! The momentum is building toward the goal of 7.5 million to build the multipurpose building, to upgrade the physical facilities, to fund the endowment fund, to provide direction and vision to our mission, to fund faculty benefits and enrichment.”
“Looking back, we have given the world some great scholars, athletes, performers, good citizens and great parents. I am on the Campaign Committee to hopefully reach some recent graduates who are becoming more successful professionally and who are building families based on the values that were learned at Central. Now the mandate is to continue the tradition and build on a solid foundation of Catholic education.”
Even though she has retired from full time teaching, Carol still spends a lot of time with the students of DCC. In addition to serving on the campaign committee, Carol coaches the mock trial team and is a regular substitute teacher. Thank you, Carol, for your dedication to DuBois Central!
Profiles in Giving – Steve Barber, Class of ‘97
Steve Barber and his wife Jennifer are thrilled to be supporters of the capital campaign. Steve, who graduated from DCC in 1997, is grateful for the values he learned at the school. “DCC is important to me because it is part of the foundation of who I am. My parents always told me that if home life, who we are, and Central all align we will be great contributors to society.”
Steve was involved in a number of sports as a student, including basketball, soccer and tennis. He was also a member of the National Honor Society. “My motivation to supporting the campaign is to pay it forward. I owe part of my success in life to where I began. I hope others will get the same benefit as I did.”
You are invited to join Steve and Carol in supporting Looking to the Future: The Campaign for DuBois Central Catholic. Together, we can build a great future for generation of students to come!
DuBois Central Catholic School Update
Our students are doing amazing things! Our new DECA business program was incredibly busy this winter. After winning medals at the regional DECA conference held at Penn State DuBois, high school students traveled to Hershey, PA to take part in the statewide conference. They met students from across the state, and participated in seminars and competitions. Both events were awesome experiences for the kids. They’re already planning their strategy for next year.
Middle school students spent fall and winter creating a video for the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” contest. First, they visited Atlas Pressed Metals to learn how the manufacturing process works. After compiling hours of interviews and video of the factory, the students then created a 2.5 minute video entry for the contest. In March, they joined schools from across the Northcentral PA region to participate in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” conference in St. Marys, PA. The day was full of hands-on activities highlighting the many career paths in our region’s manufacturing sector. In the afternoon award ceremony, our 8th grade DECA class won first place for videography for their entry in the video contest.
Winter sports teams had some amazing accomplishments. For the first time in over 20 years, the Lady Cardinals basketball team brought home the PIAA District 1 championship. This is the first district title to be secured by the Lady Cardinal Varsity Basketball team since 1999. The DCC rifle team had a great season, too. In January, they won first place in the Scopos' 3 Position (3X20) Air Rifle Virtual Match. Junior Elle Osterman will be heading to the USA Shooting Junior Olympic National Championship for precision air rifle in Anniston, Alabama April 13-15.
Upper-level grades weren’t the only students competing this winter. Fifth grade students participated in the “Design Lives Here” Challenge." Through the competition, student teams were challenged to create designs to make life easier. They were to identify a problem, then design and build a device that solves the problem. Once they were done building, students in grades 1-5 voted for the best design. The final winners were Ella and Gia Wicks, and Carter Morrison and Cory Edwards. These two teams went on to attend a regional competition with students from other schools across Western Pennsylvania. At the competition, students presented their invention to a team of engineers for voting. In addition to the contest, participants were grouped in new teams and enjoyed a day of engineering challenges. It was a fun, exciting day for the kids.
For more information about Looking to the Future: The Campaign for DuBois Central Catholic, please contact:
Advancement Director Mark Barchony
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 814-371-3060 x632