Nathan Doctor is a 2011 St. Mary Catholic Community School graduate. He is currently a third-year pharmacy student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and anticipates graduating in May of 2021. This is Nathan’s last year of classes and next school year he will begin his pharmacy rotations. After graduation, Nathan plans to have a residency in pharmacy prior to beginning a career in academia. He wants to give back by helping others with pharmacy school, thus impacting many lives. He said, “I want to help create the next generation of Pharmacists.”
One of Nathan’s favorite memories while a student at St. Mary’s was playing the role of Jesus in the eighth grade Godspell production. He said that the production was a lot of fun. He decided he wanted to play Jesus for several reasons. First, he remembered that a teacher told him what a great job he did when he played an angel in the nativity scene as a first-grade student. Second, he watched others play Jesus in their eighth-grade productions and looked forward to doing the same. Playing Jesus gave Nathan the confidence necessary to in high school to pursue roles in other theater productions; he eventually won the lead role in his senior musical. When discussing the musical, Nathan went on to say, “we were blessed to have gifted, enthusiastic St. Mary’s students who went on to participate in theater in high school and beyond.”
Nathan spoke of the rites of passage of eighth grade, the Washington DC trip, the Godspell production, and graduation. He said that all of these were bittersweet because of the loss of a fellow classmate in the summer between seventh and eighth grade. As the Student Council President, Nathan wanted to do something to honor the memory of his lost classmate, so he and his friends had t-shirts made for the eighth-grade students to wear throughout the year and especially during the Washington DC trip.
Nathan said that “it’s the milestones that you look forward to every year;” reconciliation in second grade, first communion in third grade, transitioning from fifth to sixth grade - “moving” down the hall from the elementary wing to the junior high wing and changing the uniform pant color from Navy Blue, worn by Kindergarten through fifth grade students, to wearing Khaki, worn by junior high students.
When asked how St. Mary’s shaped who he is today, Nathan said, “St. Mary’s helped me grow into who I can be. At least 6 of the top grads in my graduating class at Crown Point High School were St. Mary’s graduates. We had a lot of great teachers who had been at St. Mary’s School for a long time.” Nathan saw teachers as a young student and looked forward to having them as he advanced in each grade. He believes that the longevity of the teaching staff helped the students build confidence in them. “You knew the teachers knew their stuff.” He also said, “you don’t know the impact until much later.”
Nathan said that the students at St. Mary Catholic Community School benefit from “a good priest and a good church.” He went on to say that as a student, “You were asked to question what your faith means to you and what it means to have Christ in your life.” He also felt that it was important that non-Catholics didn’t feel excluded and that each person felt like they belonged at St. Mary’s. Nathan said that he “tries to be a good person” throughout his life, as he is making choices and decisions. He feels that the maturity in his faith and spirituality is a direct result of the lessons learned at St. Mary’s.
Nathan said, “I keep coming back to St. Mary’s School.” He worked on the summer crew along with friends Joey, Chris, and Teddy cleaning the school and doing odd jobs. The summer job working with Paul Czyszczon, director of technology and maintenance, “helped me grow”; Nathan learned professionalism in simple lessons. The crew “always needed to be doing something; efficiency and consistency were important as was an eye to detail.” Nathan related that the eye to detail taught by Paul “makes me respect and appreciate the hard work of others” today. “If it looks good, that’s the standard.” One day, when trying to get out of pulling weeds, Nathan told Paul a quote by Emerson, “a weed is but a plant whose virtues remain undiscovered.” Paul laughed, but he had to pull the weeks anyway. He said of working at St. Mary’s, “we had a lot of fun, it made the days go by quickly.” Because of the lessons learned at St. Mary’s, Nathan “wants to feel passionate about what I do and lead others to feel the same way.” He wants to lead by example and model passion so others can see “how much he cares.”
Nathan said that there are a lot of good things to say about St. Mary’s School, that “it’s hard to pick one thing.” He said, “coming to St. Mary’s School you have so many opportunities to grow and become the best person you can be.” He also said, “there is something about this place that brings out the best in people.” As a student, Nathan was able to make memories and he looks back fondly at the time spent at St. Mary’s. He concluded by saying, “this is a great place to go to school, I’ll always be grateful for my opportunities here.”