FAMILY SPOTLIGHT – THE GEORGE AND VIRGINIA BOHRER FAMILY
For George and Virginia Bohrer, the decision to send their six children to Bishop Carroll Catholic High School was not one of choice, but of necessity. “People have asked us how we can afford to send six kids to Catholic schools and we always answer, ‘We can’t afford not to,” said Virginia. A 1982 graduate herself, Virginia (Lansberry) and George truly value the education that their children have received. “We feel kids are products of their environment, so as parents, it is our responsibility to keep our kids in the best environment possible. Society is working hard to teach our children that Christianity is one of many guides in life and religions are pretty much the same. Bishop Carroll is a faith-based educational institution that reinforces our Catholic beliefs.”
Parents of Jared (BC Class of 2007), Hillary (2010), Tyler (2014), Matthew (2016), Zachary (2018), and Ryan (2021), George and Virginia feel that Bishop Carroll allows students to freely express their faith and are encouraged to excel academically. “We feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to send our children to BC and are very thankful for the support of our faith community.”
All of the Bohrer children feel that the school has done a great job of preparing them for life. Tyler is very appreciative of having several computer classes as he is now a software developer for FedEx in Akron, Ohio. “It meant a lot that even though there was only a small group of students interested in taking the class that we still had it,” said Tyler. He adds, “BC does a lot better job at teaching the material compared to many other schools.”
Zach echoed Tyler’s thoughts in saying, “The advanced classes at BC allowed me to be ahead of many of the other students in my college courses.” Zach is currently attending West Virginia University for chemical engineering and is participating in a process engineering co-op program.
Matt also has many praises for the classes he took at Bishop Carroll. “The small classes allowed for me to get to know the teachers and fellow students better. Small classes don’t always work out for everyone, but for me, I liked that set up. The way the class schedule is organized also is preferrable, with full-year classes instead of block scheduling. This helped me get the most out of each class.” Matt graduated from Saint Vincent and is currently an engineer with the family business.
Hillary, who is married to fellow 2010 graduate Garrett Weiland, feels that the relationships she forged at Bishop Carroll have benefitted her greatly. “I enjoyed the relationships that were able to be formed from the smaller class sizes, not just with my classmates, but also with the faculty. It felt like more of a family environment. The teachers knew you by name, even if you weren’t in their class, and they all cared about your success and future.” Hillary is a physical therapist and Garrett is a coal miner. They live in Carrolltown with their young daughter Harper.
Jared, the oldest Bohrer, shares many of Hillary’s sentiments, commenting that BC helped him realize that helping people through education has life applications. “Realizing that guiding someone to come to the right conclusion themselves has a much more lasting effect than just giving someone the answers. Creating a workplace where people learn what to do and are not just told what to do has helped me and everyone around me grow.”
The youngest of the family, Ryan, just graduated from Bishop Carroll. He will be attending Saint Francis University for computer science and will be part of the Esports Rocket League team. Ryan was a pilot member of the Rocket League team at Bishop Carroll. Between classes and extracurriculars, Ryan says, “Bishop Carroll helped me grow and become more of myself and find out what I want to do with my life.”
The Bohrer family has, and always will be, strong members of the greater Bishop Carroll family. The school has benefitted from their presence just as much as they say they benefitted from BCCHS. Virginia concluded her thoughts with a powerful statement – “God has blessed us in so many ways, and we count Bishop Carroll Catholic High School as one of those blessings!”