Alumni Association

Forever True

July, 2023

Dates to Remember

Teutonia Mannerchor Alumni Luncheon

The next alumni luncheon will take place on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. You can call Jim Eberz (412) 445-4446 or Don Gruber (412) 874-2906. The cost of the luncheon is $15 which is payable at the door. Soft drinks and beer cost extra.

The May luncheon drew a crowd of around 50 alums and guests. Once again Jim Eberz ('64) with help from his wife, Sarah made everything run smoothly. Here are some photos starting with the class of 1958 who responded to the class of 1959 challenge and had the largest class representation.

Some first time attendees were 1972 classmates: Tom Devlin and Ray Colbert.

Alumni Spotlight

It's Alumni Story Time

During the summer months we like to share alumni memories of places and people that made North Catholic so dear to our hearts. The picture above is one of those places that students from the Troy Hill days have stories to tell. So let's hear your memory, story or tale of this location near the halls of Troy. Send ito us here.

Interested in being a featured alum in the coming months? Just let us know by clicking here.

Flashback Photo

Last Month's Flashback

This is a picture from the 1973 Domenec High School yearbook. These are Domenec girls marching on the Diocesan Building in downtown Pittsburgh in 1973 to advocate for making North Catholic co-educational because Domenec was closing at the end of the 1972-73 school year. Many of the girls from Domenec would become students at North in the fall of 1973. It is a seminal moment in the history of North Catholic as the school became a coed institution. It also was the beginning of the end of the girls academies in the North Hills as Holy Ghost Academy, St Benedict Academy, and all of the other academies began to close. Mount Alvernia was the last all girls school to close in 2011.

This picture generated quite a few responses. Everybody knew that it was a protest by the girls from Domenec high school and that they were picketing to merge with North. Al Young ('67), Ed Scheid ('69), Jan Rittle ('73), and David Thompson ('73) from the "pre-girl" era knew what was going on in the photo. John Murphy ('73) commented, "North became coed in the fall of 1973, unfortunately, I graduated in June of '73 as part of the last all male class."

Carl Apel ('74) identified some of the protesters adding "Bishop Domenec girls protesting on Blvd Allies in front of Diocese of Pittsburgh to make North Coed and a woman’s basketball dynasty.  One girl looks like Colleen Dugan and another Joann Schreiber."

Kathy Janosco-Smith ('75) said "this is a photo of Domenec High School students.  The school was being closed and we wanted to stay together as students at one school, rather than splitting up to attend a number of other Catholic girls high schools. I believe this was in late 1972 or early 1973.  I  wasn’t there that day, but I imagine that they were probably marching on the Diocese offices.  I wish the photo was a bit larger so that I could see the young women’s faces a bit more clearly, but one carrying the sign looks like Karen Buterbaugh ’76.  Maybe Terri Preskar ’76  (wearing glasses) and Susan Zack ‘76 (behind the sign and facing the opposite direction) are in there as well."

Joyce Osborne-Fischer (Domenec '71) added these thoughts,"One reason that North was their only hope was that there was no buying of parochial students by the Pittsburgh Public School District at that time. We took public transportation to get to HS. One of the reasons many of us chose Domenec over the girls' academies in the northern suburbs, is that busses from all over the North Side funneled down through Allegheny Center [near Domenec] on their way into town.

We could transfer to the Troy Hill bus to get to North. It would have been difficult for many of us to get to another Catholic High School.

There also was an ad hoc committee of girls from DHS and boys from NC which met with officials of the diocese to plead their case that NC should become co-ed. An article about this meeting appeared in the newspaper."



This Month's Flashback

These flashback photos are an interesting part of North Catholic history. Who are these young faces? What is so unique about their photos?



Send your guesses to us here.

The display case just inside the entrance to the school houses memorabilia from the school's history. There is also North Catholic apparel available.

You can check out the NC gear in the spirit shop by clicking here.

Alumni Surprise Photo

At the recent NCEA conference, NC teacher Maria Campbell ran into a familiar face from the of North Catholic.

We had a number of people who identified Brother Jack Dempsey, former guidance counselor. Brother Jack is now in Los Angeles at Chaminade College Prep, works in guidance, and is the director of the Marianist community.

Thanks to Doritta Pelc ('84), James Mazzotta ('81), Rich Lang ('62), Ed Schied ('69) who pointed out that Brother Jack was the last Marianist at North when he left in 1999, and Mrs Marianne Lyons.

Taylor Swift and NC Alumni

Over 140,000 people attended Taylor Swift's ERA Tour concerts and there were quite a few alums in the crowd. Here's just a few.

This group of women includes Katie Mae McGuire (far left), Stacey Green (center), Madison Knapp, MacKenzie Knapp, and Alexis MacGregor, and their friends

Class of 1956

Retired general John Schoeppner (r) leads St Petersburg, Florida, Vet’s group in a Memorial Day Remembrance. John, having flown 154 F-105 Vietnam combat missions, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and 12 Air Medals, shares the stage with a true American hero, USAF Colonel Sam Martin, a veteran of 100 F-105 combat missions over North Vietnam, earning 3 Silver Stars for valor, and 2 Purple Hearts having been shot down twice and rescued.



Jack Nieri and his wife this past Mothers Day.

Class of 1960

The Vaughan men on Fathers Day: John the father with his son John ('81).

Class of 1964

Rick Weber recently hosted a party at his home that included some NC alums as well as WWII vets. The group picture includes WWII vet Pat Guy (center in the white jacket) who was celebrating his 101st birthday.

Class of 1965

Classmates enjoy the breakfast smiles: Mike Sibenac, Dave Divosevic, Wayne Byerly, Dan Riggio, and Bruce Titus.

Class of 1970

Joe Brosky and his wife, Donna, display their "Seen 'Em All" passports after visiting all of the Pennyslvania state parks.

Class of 1973

Barry Hartman and his wife are all smiles after watching their daughter Jess Hartman Morris ('09) peform.

Class of 1978

That's Larry Schell and his wife on his Spyder as they participated in a charity ride to raise money for cancer research.

Class of 1980

Denise Garcia Matschner is all smiles with her latest grandbaby.

Class of 1983

Amy Larkin Palmer and her husband are the proud parents of their latest NC grad, Gianna.

Class of 1987

Megan Parks and her mom are all set to depart on a vacation.

Class of 1988

Paul Morris in the yellow vest is a “Blocker” at the Ride for the Fight cancer charity ride that raised about $8,000. There were over 60 riders who took part in the charity ride.

Class of 1989

Kathy Strahler and her husband smile for the camera.

Class of 1992

Jackie Francis Szymanski celebrates 24 years of marriage with her husband.

Ann McSorley Hollis celebrates 20 years of working at Bradley University.

At Cinderlands Brew House some grads met up with the editor of the alumni newsletter. Pictured (l-r): Lisa Wehner Dzubinski, Jeff Dzubinski, Kristina Pollard Kim, Walt Quinn ('65), and Kristen Petitta-Frankovich.

Jennifer Korenich-Haley shares a moment with her daughter who was awarded the St Joan of Arc Medallion for her over 250 hours of community service.

Class of 1993

Andrea Weigl is one of the producers of the four part documentary, "Burden of Proof" on HBO.

Class of 1994

Jacque Morrow and his wife spend some time in The Big Easy.

Cassie Scott Shank and her family stop for a photo during an outdoor hike.

Class of 1995

Orlando Ryan celebrates his son's graduation.

Mike Quinn and his daughter enjoy a cool treat at Kennywood.

Bob Sobehart spends the day with his daughter at her softball game.

Class of 1997

RJ Rakow and his wife celebrate their 15th anniversary.

It's a Disney World trip for Lyndsay Jessop Stuja and her family.

Class of 1999

Steve Tuite is the proud uncle in this photo.

Class of 2000

Shauna Gonzales Wolf and her husband celebrate their first anniversary

Dave Breit and his wife are looking good as they get ready to attend a wedding.

Class of 2001

Bobby Jessop and his crew are out for another adventure.

Kathleen Carr Tedford poses with her daughters as they get ready for a wedding.

Courtney Zedrick Proie and her daughter are headed down to the North Shore for the ERA Tour.

Class of 2002

Emily Petrack Graham is with her daughter on the last day of school

Adam Schmidt and his family celebrate a little one's birthday.

Class of 2004

Jon Martrano and his wife share a mome

Rob Tivo and his wife stop for a selfie.

Class of 2005

Matt Musial poses with his new best friend.

PJ O'Connor, his dad Bill, and brother Mick('00) are smiling in spite of another Pirate defeat.

Class of 2006

Marc Gonzales sends along this photo of his family.

Meet the Gales: Mandi Coniglo Gale and husband,

It's a dog day afternoon for Theresa Schneider on this walk in the park.

Class of 2007

Maria Nist Baker and her daughter get ready to head off to the concert. (you know which one!)

Class of 2008

Sara Harper has her hands on a bat of beer at Wrigley Field.

Class of 2009

That's the Helmicks: Kailey Joyce and her husband, Tim.

LaShae Robinson and her daughter on Mothers Day.

Class of 2011

Robert Warywoda and his wife have an announcement.

Class of 2012

Johnathan LeGrande kicks back and enjoys some time in the sun.

Jordan Mitrik and his sister Shayla ('10) celebrate their father.

Katie Mae McGuire is ready for a night out in New Orleans.

The Tunstalls - Lydzi Mueller Tunstall and husband Shawn ('13)

Class of 2014

Nicolette Bilicic shows off her medal upon competing in her first DEKA Strong

Class of 2016

Tyler Zahurak and his mom Heather Zahurak Malloy ('97) as she celebrates her 10th anniversary.

Class of 2018

Sophia Wiest was the commencement speaker at The Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Class of 2022

Damien Mulhern enjoys a cool treat on his visit to Ireland.

Class of 2023

It's Bright Lights, Big City as Paulina Bradley gets ready for The Jimmy Awards rehearsal.

****

If you know an alum who doesn't get the newsletter and would like to receive it, send us their email address and we will add them to the distribution list.

Thanks to Tatyana Cook Dietzel ('16), Joe Brosky ('70), Alexis MacGregor ('13), Elizabeth Rettger Buckley ('06), Julie Lenzner ('95), Carmen DiGiacomo ('59), Molly Joyce Koerper ('09), Mike Quinn('95), Bob Gaertner ('57), Mackenzie Knapp Noftz ('13), John Schoeppner ('56), Jeff Dzubinski ('92), and Jim Eberz ('64) for sending information and pictures to us.

If you have news/photos you want to share with classmates, send them to alumni news.

ALL reunion updates will ALSO be available on the school's website, northcatholic.org or by clicking here!

NC Class of 1957

The class of 1957 is planning their 66th reunion. It will be held on June 14th at Roma Restaurant Banquet Room located at 8350 Perry Highway in the North Hills.

If you have any questions, contact Larry Mull at lrmull@verizon.net or Bob Gaertner at gaertner338@verizon.net



NC Class of 1958

Save the Weekend! The Class of 1958 will hold its 65th reunion on the weekend of September 8, 9, and 10, 2023. There will be a dinner on Friday evening Sept. 8, a stag gathering in the evening on Sept. 9, followed by Mass and brunch on Sunday, Sept. 10. Additional details will follow in subsequent issues of the Alumni News and on the school website.

NC Class of 1966

The Class of ’66 has its own ‘Reunion Book!’ To view the Reunion Book: 

           Go to YouTube on any browser

           Put “North Catholic Reunion Book” on Search bar.

Slides are shown on a 7 second interval automatically or you can scan forward using the scanning bar on the lower left, 

NC Class of 1973

Plans are in the works for a 50^th Reunion to be held on October 14, 2023, at North Catholic. Final details are being handled by the reunion committee. Bill Murtha is the contact and can be reached at bill.murtha@fiserv.com or  412-327-4567. You can also email northcatholic1973@gmail.com for more info on what they have planned so far, click here.

NC Class of 1978

The 45th class reunion will be held on September 2, 2023, at The Cabin in North Park. More details to follow. Any questions, please call Joyce Velardita Rouda at 412-322-8337 or Linda Maloney Schindler at 412-526-5763.

NC Class of 1983



The 40th class reunion will be held on Saturday, November 4, 2023, at North Catholic High School at 6PM. More details to follow. Any questions, please call Bob Parey at 724-601-6742.

NC Class of 1990

Martin Miller and Leah Vaughan Quigley are still hoping to organize a class reunion. Keep an eye out for some news

NC Class of 1997

The class of 1997 will celebrate their 25th reunion this year. Let us know about reunion plans so we can spread the word.

NC Class of 1998

Plans are in the works for a 25th reunion this fall. Stay tuned for more details.

NC Class of 2003

"Save the Date" for the 2003 20-year reunion. It will be held at a location to be determined on Saturday, October 7th. There is a class of 2003 Facebook page. Beth Rittle will be providing more information later.

NC Class of 2013

There may be plans in the works for a 10 year reunion. We will share details when we hear more

Military Legacy Scholarship

North Catholic has a Military Legacy Scholarship in honor of all alumni who have served in our nation’s military forces. The goal is to provide a $1,000.00 scholarship annually. To date, over $30,000 has been raised to fund this annual scholarship. The scholarship is awarded annually to the student provided certain benchmarks are met. Every 4 years (or sooner) it is awarded to an incoming 9^th grade student. Molly Burke ('24) is the recipient of the scholarship.

If you wish, you may make a contribution in someone's honor/memory. Donations can be made by sending checks payable to North Catholic, write "North Catholic Military Scholarship" in the memo, and mail to: 

North Catholic High School

1617 Route 228

Cranberry Township, PA 16066

ATTN: Development Office

A kiosk with the names of all alumni who have served in the military stands in the main hallway of the school. Thank you for your service.

The John Latulippe Memorial Scholarship

The John Latuilippe Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to Gabriel Grindstaff - NC class of 2024. Thank you to all who have donated. 

Class of 1959 Scholarship

The NCHS Class of 1959 Scholarship Fund has awarded $5,200 Scholarships for the 2022-23 School Year to Brianna Venturella and Shamus Straub.

The Fund has awarded scholarships totaling $93,200 to ten recipients since the inception of the Fund. Contributions to the Fund can be made at any time and should be sent to the North Catholic Foundation, North Catholic High School, ATTN: Class of 1959 Scholarship Fund, 1617 Route 228, Cranberry Township, PA 16066.

If you would like more information about the Fund, please contact Joe Blitzko(joeyblitz@aol.com), Dick Halleran (rhalleran@verizon.net), or Mike Conroy (conroy1603@gmail.com).

Class of 1965 Legacy Scholarship

The Legacy Scholarship was set up as part of our 50th class reunion by Dan Wolovich and Wayne Young and has been under the direction of Bob Colbert and Walt Quinn for the past few years.

The scholarship has helped students with the ever increasing cost of Catholic education. When we were at North, almost all of the tuition was paid by our parishes (remember having to face your pastor as he reviewed your report card?) Now the cost of tuition has fallen completely on the parents.

In order to help parents provide the great education that we received all those years ago, we need more of our classmates to step up and help keep our legacy scholarship fund growing. No contribution is too small. Thanks to classmates, DAN WOLOVICH, BILL GUBANIC and JOE MCKELVEY for their recent contributions. Dan, Bill and Joe continue to make contributions periodically through out the year. Other classmates have continued to make small monthly contributions by setting up a monthly credit card donation (read $10 to $25). The great thing about that is it's painless and adds to the scholarship fund which continues to grow. As of the beginning of April there is $45,000 in our endowment.

This year's Legacy Scholarship for this school year was awarded to senior Kaitlyn Kenaan. She is the daughter of NC alum Dan Kenaan ('91). Kaitlyn is an honor student. We typically award a $1,000 scholarship to a boy and a girl. Thomas Zizan, son of Julie (Rogalia) Zizan ('87) graduated; so the committee decided to award just the one scholarship for this school year. We will award two scholarships for the 2023-24 school year.  

Consider making a donation to the fund today!

You can send your check to the school with a notation that it's for the '65 scholarship fund; or If you would like to contribute a small monthly amount via your credit card, contact Amber Nicotra Morrison to set it up.



If you have questions about our efforts, feel free to contact Bob Colbert (bobcolbert@comcast.net) or Walt Quinn (quinn.walter@comcast.net)

Special Shoutout

John Mikulan is also donating 20% of the royalties from his book, The Bark of the Day to the fund.

Class of 1966 Scholarship

The Class of ’66, is proud to announce the selection of their first scholarship recipient, Andrew Scears ('26). The committee, under the leadership of Tom Balestreire, is well on its way to funding its goal of $100,000 for the Class of ’66 Scholarship Fund. The Fund will be administered by the Class in conjunction with the school. We, Tom Maier, Jim Beran, Hank Marziale, Paul Ladish, and Bob Gierl have contacted many but if you or someone you know is wishing to be included, contact Tommy, 404.358.4864, text or call.

NC Class of 1953 Scholarship

Thank you to all who have donated to the North Catholic Class of 1953 Scholarship Fund.  More than $29,000 has been raised.  The ad-hoc committee is pleased to announce that incoming freshman Gianna Fuller has been awarded the scholarship starting in the 2023-2024 school year. 

The Fund was proposed by Reg Urschler in the Spring of 2021, and an ad hoc committee was established, comprised of Reg, Charley Goetz, Bob Muth, and Vince Brogan.

The ad hoc committee urges all classmates to make new or continuing contributions to the Fund. Checks should be made payable to the “NC Class of 1953 Scholarship Fund”and sent to the attention of: Amber Morrison, North Catholic High School, 1617 Route 228, Cranberry Township, Pa 16066.

How fortunate we were to have had the benefit of the education afforded us. What a wonderful opportunity this provides to all of us and the remaining families to "invest" in a "guaranteed return on that investment" by providing a similar opportunity to current students' futures.

Graduation day at North. Congratulations to the class of 2023.

****

North Catholic students had the opportunity to attend a Steubenville Youth Conference at Franciscan University. Throughout the conference, students listened to various talks given by Catholic speakers, participated in the sacraments and Eucharistic adoration, and met many other young people from around the country who share our Catholic faith.

Additionally, four North Catholic students (Julia Schaarsmith, Ellie Stickle, Evie Faber, and Gabriel Grindstaff) attended Franciscan LEAD the week leading up to the conference. LEAD is a five-day long retreat where students learn about leadership, evangelization, and discipleship. As a result of attending this retreat, both Julia and Evie stepped onto the stage at different points throughout the conference to share their testimonies with the nearly one thousand people in attendance.

****

Students had the opportunity to attend the Future Health Care Hero event at UPMC Passavant where they were given a presentation on career opportunities in the healthcare field, attended a healthcare professional Q&A panel, participated in team building activities, and were given a tour of the hospital.

It was a great chance for the students to learn about potential careers in health care.

****

The NC National Honor Society raised $5,000 for the Children's Hospital Foundation through their recent Color Run fundraising efforts. The NHS officers hand delivered the check to Children's Hospital recently and even got a tour of the facility during their visit.

Classroom News

A team of 30 + volunteers, including many of students and alumni, transformed the gym into the 2023 Charged Up FIRST Robotics Competition field.

The next day the school hosted the inaugural North Catholic Robotics Competition, NC/RC, presented by Armstrong. 16 teams from the tri-state region of NY, OH and PA competed in 19 qualification matches and a round-robin playoff bracket.

Not only did Team 5740 field two competitive robots, but the Trojanators were also the second overall pick for playoffs and made it to the finals

classes

****

Congratulations to Chris Smith and Alayna Zebra, both NC '23, for being the recipients of the Campus to Career Crossroads Scholarship Award.

The mission at Campus to Career Crossroads is to develop a supportive and individualized partnership with students and their families in order to help them navigate from high school to career.

Both Alayna and Chris plan to attend Virginia Tech in the fall.

****

Drama

Before heading off to New York City for the Jimmy Awards, Paulina Bradley appeared on Talk Pittsburgh. That's Paulina in the purple shirt talking with Heather Abraham.

Trojan Sports

Recently The Post Gazette named the top 18 stortlines for high school sports in the area and North was involved in two of them. One was Maggie Foley's 4th WPIAL diving title. Maggie joined a select few divers in winning 4 diving titles. The second was Molly Rottman's 11th WPIAL girls basketball title. Rottman title ties her for the most girls titles with her former coach Don Barth who also won 11 titles as a coach at North.

****

Football

Chris Rizzo will be joining North Catholic High School this year as our Dean of Students and Head Football Coach. As Dean of Students, Mr. Rizzo will be focused on attendance and disciplinary issues.  It is his goal to have the conduct and attendance of the students match the rich educational experience at North Catholic High School.

Mr. Rizzo is a native of Bethel Park. After graduation he continued his education and football career at John Carroll University. While at JCU, Mr. Rizzo played outside linebacker for the Bluestreaks and graduated with a Bachelor of History degree in 2015. After graduation, he served as the outside linebackers coach and continued in that role while pursuing his Master of Education degree, which he obtained in 2018. Throughout the pursuit of his advanced degree, Mr. Rizzo remained on the coaching staff and helped the Bluestreaks win the OAC Conference Championship and accompanied the team to a NCAA D-III Final Four appearance.

****

Girls Basketball

The Trojanettes hosted a basketball camp at the school. There were 140 campers in attendance.

It was a great week as the girls learned basketball techniques from the North Catholic Trojanettes.

****

Baseball

Congratulations to Drew Doherty, Sean Dewey,Jack Fennell, and Tommy Schafele who were named to the All-Section team.

****

You can follow the teams and enjoy the sports podcasts by visiting the website northcatholicathletics.org

Planned Giving

Planned giving is a wonderful way to prepare for the day we depart this life and enter into God's kingdom. By planning ahead, you can provide opportunities to young men and women by supporting North Catholic. Planned giving allows us to help continue the work of Christ and pass on our traditions and Catholic Marianist values. Gifts can be specified in one's will as either a dollar amount of a stated percentage of one's estate. A growing number of alumni have taken this step and discovered a great sense of joy and satisfaction that they are helping families. If you are interested in finding out more, please click here or contact Amber Nicotra Morrison in the Development Office at amorrison@northcatholic.org.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  

Luke 12:34

SEND YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO NORTH CATHOLIC INSTEAD OF HARRISBURG!

Taxpayers can opt to have 90% of their tax liability given to North Catholic High School or the private school of their choice through the EITC (Educational Improvement Tax Credit) Program. Funds directed to North Catholic from this program directly support scholarships for students. 

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are two programs that can make it possible for many students to receive a Catholic education.

Interested in more information? Contact NC President Joe Wilson ('91) at jwilson@northcatholic.org or by calling (412) 321-4823.

Watch this short video to learn more how easy it really is!

Click here to watch the short video!

Many thanks to our generous EITC contributors:

COZZA ENTERPRISES

ECKLES CONSTRUCTION

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF PA

FRANK'S PIZZERIA

GRANT STREET GROUP

HAND & SHOULDER CENTER

HUNTINGTON BANK

THE LYNCH LAW GROUP, LLC

MAHER DUESSEL

NEXTIER BANK

POINT SPRING & DRIVESHAFT CO.