“The Patriot” will break down the Board of Trustees’ history, role, importance, and goals over the coming weeks.
President Richard O’Hara said, “There is always a need in schools to demystify the Board and their role and purposes. The Board at John Carroll functions very well. They are thoughtful of what their role is compared to the role of the administration.”
However, much of the work of the Board is unknown to students.“If you’re having big Board problems and it’s in the news, that’s really not good. Whether it’s a business institution or a school, if we’re doing our job, it will be under the radar,” said Rachael Rice, class of ’88.
Board members continue to maintain a strong connection with the school, proposing distinct ideas for its future success.
“It’s a weighty responsibility. People really think hard before they agree to volunteer. People do it because they love John Carroll, love the Catholic education, and love the young men and women that are here,” said Chairwoman Sister Mary Helen Beirne.
Vice Chair John Karas said, “The future of Harford County is how we educate our young men and women. If we can build the proper foundation among young people in Harford County, then we’re doing a service to the future of the community. I want to continue to work to make John Carroll the best it can be for the students who go there.”
Larry Burton, class of ’80, expressed the importance of the school to him. “I had a great experience here when I was a student. In fact, I was the student president my senior year, was involved in basketball [and] tennis. It really set me up nicely for college. The fact that John Carroll was a more intimate setting, it allowed me the opportunity to explore different activities, get to meet different folks…I’d like to see [the school] continue to have a really broad program with lots of different opportunities for students to get involved so they can find out what they have a passion for.”
To add onto Burton’s idea, Rice said, “This is certainly nowhere in the mission statement, but for me, the closest friends I have are the people that I went there [John Carroll] with…I think it gave us this common experience. It really formed in a lot of ways who I am today and I want other people to have that positive experience.”
Trustee emeritus Gus Brown served on the Board from October 1997 to 2007, and was Chairman for seven years.“I consider John Carroll to be my second parish. Young people, including my children, are taught the value of morals, academics, and tolerance [at JC].”
The alumni members range “from the first graduating class up to the ‘90s,” said Sr. Beirne, to the “marketing field, finance and business, commercial and residential real estate, clergy, education, engineering, political consulting, and physicians.”
“When you’re building a Board, you look for people that have finance background, you look for people that have fundraising background, marketing background,” said Rice.
Abou the importance of alumni on the Board, Burton also shared that he felt the alumni on the Board were important. “Because we’ve been through this school, I think you have a certain passion if you’ve had the kind of experience I’ve had. Alumni have been in these walls, they know the teachers, and they know the kind of education they’ve gotten and the friendships that have been formed. So I think it’s important to bring that personal touch of John Carroll alumni to the Board.”
Karas joined the Board in 2007, after his youngest graduated from JC, because “it [the Board] is a combination of community service and giving back to a school that’s been very good to my family.”
In his second year on the board, Burton joined after a long history of involvement with the school. He said, “I actually coached basketball here for 17 years. My job responsibilities kept increasing such that I couldn’t commit every day after school. I was actually asked to be the alumni rep for two years. I got involved in the right size study while I was still the alumni rep. I got involved in the athletic task force. I got on these committees that were looking to help lay the future course of John Carroll. I was very active on those committees and I think somebody noticed and asked if I wanted to become a Board member. ”
Rice, who was asked to join the Board in 2005, had “always been a very involved alumnus.” She said, “I coached [tennis] for five years after college. I’ve run all of my reunions. I’ve always been around and helped out on various fronts. When I think of where John Carroll has launched me and taken me and taught me, I just think it makes our community better when we can provide young people in the community with that experience.”
Brown was the only of his five other siblings to not attend JC because he was a sophomore the year the school opened. He said, “I’ve always been very involved at John Carroll. My father [Freeborn Augustus Brown] was the first president of the Board of Trustees [now Board chairman]. So when I started practicing law, I did a little legal work for John Carroll. He [Augustus] was on the Board at the time. Three of my four children attended John Carroll. So I’ve always had a connection and it just seemed to be appropriate to volunteer to offer to be on the Board.”
However, in 2008, then-chairman Tom Kelso’s first act was to give Brown an honorary John Carroll degree at graduation.
Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected].