Where there is a place that has been profoundly beneficial to a person, when people say an institution has “helped me grow,” or “set me up for life,” the chances for an ongoing relationship are great.
Universities gauge such involvement with statistics such as alumni giving rates. Reunions give graduates a chance to visit those they associated with on campus. For some, a personal beneficence beacons, and a return to their alma mater happens as the first step on their career path.
Emmery Joseph is a Marquette Catholic High School 2019 graduate, known as a good student and a member of two state-champion Blazers girls basketball teams (2018, 2019). There was only a four-year period between her crossing the stage at Marquette’s commencement and her return to become the assistant athletic director at her alma mater this school year.
“Being able to come back to help the school that really set me up for life has been really incredible,” Joseph said.
At Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, Joseph majored in business and sports administration. She was a guard on the Wildcats women’s basketball team. However, the Marquette alumna’s school appreciation is mainly directed to the first and most profound mentoring experiences – those she experienced in Michigan City.
“Katie Collignon is interim principal (at Marquette now). She was my coach at the time and was also an assistant coach at Valparaiso University,” Joseph said. “She was really an inspiration to me as far as women in sports. She was the athletic director while I was here - it was an inspiration to see her in that sense, and to see how she could impact student-athletes’ lives even after they graduated from high school.”
Joseph is back in Valparaiso, her hometown and the place from which she would commute as a Marquette student. She hopes to provide the best in athletic administration to mentor student-athletes in the faith and be a voice for female sports.
As Catholic Schools Week approached, Joseph hoped the exposure will mean more eyes looking into a friendly, faith-based academic setting. “I think it’s a great way to celebrate the connections you build at a Catholic school … going to school here, working here, it’s such a family feel and you don’t get that at a lot of public schools.”
Caleb Sheets greets Joseph, his colleague, each day he reports to Marquette ahead of the starting bell. His position as a Spanish teacher is a responsibility that morphed from his first assignment as a science teacher in 2022, when he returned to the Home of the Blazers, four years after graduating.
Sheets said as a Queen of All Saints junior high student, he recalled how his twin sister and he jointly decided that their next step would take them to a Catholic high school.
Four “fantastic” years of challenging academics and good friendships yielded to Sheets’ study at Marian University in Indianapolis. Launching his not-so-easy pursuit of his first job in a difficult economic climate, he said he came upon a posting for a teacher opening at Marquette. So, without delay, he applied for the position
Though he’s the kind of guy who likes to “stay on the path,” particularly when developing focused lesson plans, his journey to Spanish instruction was via a somewhat indirect route.
“I probably sound a little more confident than I was at the time; my undergraduate degree was in Spanish education and the (Marquette) opening was for a science teacher,” Sheets explained. “I just knew that I had to get back to Marquette somehow. So, I applied for this position, and here I am.”
His focus on Spanish, he said, brings him back to where he once belonged. And emulating the support he receives from teachers, administrators and clergy, he hopes to also provide today’s Blazers with the guidance they need to navigate a complicated world.
The distinction of Marquette being a Catholic institution is that their daily lessons, their conversations and other activities are rooted in faith: “Being able to bring in the faith aspect is really important,” Sheets said. “Even as a young adult myself, faith is something I go back to in every decision that I am faced with.”
At Andrean High School, Gary native Ana Equihua identifies with the Merrillville school’s motto “Magister Meus Christus,” or “Christ Is My Teacher.” After nearly 25 years of service in the office and as a guidance counselor, the Gary native and AHS Class of 1987 member continues to be inspired by her school family.
A licensed social worker, Equihua hopes she can continue to confidentially meet students where they are, facing the challenges of today’s world. Her commitment to the school that inspired her in the ‘80s is born of an inner calling.
“I felt that someone said I was meant to come to Andrean. You know how you get those feelings when God speaks to your heart?” Equihua said. “That’s how I feel … Andrean really impacted me as a student.
She continued, “When they offered me the position of a guidance counselor, I was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you so much.’”
Caption: Spanish teacher Caleb Sheets (left) and assistant athletic director Emmery Joseph (right) stand in a stairwell at Marquette Catholic High School on Jan. 11 in Michigan City. Both excited to be at their alma mater, the colleagues each returned four years after their graduations - Sheets in 2022 and Joseph in 2023. (Bob Wellinski photo)