JCA Cooks Up A Good Time

Don’t worry, George Barr and Ed Dollinger will not be quitting their day jobs.

But Barr, the chairman of the board for First Community Bank of Joliet, and Dollinger, a top financial advisor for Edward Jones, certainly looked like a couple Wolfgang Pucks of the grilling genre Tuesday night at Joliet Catholic Academy’s annual staff and faculty barbeque.

“Ed likes to cook and I like to cook,” said Barr, who lives in Plainfield. “So this works out well.”

Both Barr and Dollinger are on the board of directors for the co-educational high school, and each have had three children attend, or are attending, JCA. The idea started as a simple one.

“We realized that the board didn’t necessarily know all of the faculty, staff and administration, and vice versa,” Barr said. “I think the first year we started, we were cooking for 75, last year it was 125 and this year we had the same number or even more. It’s nice to see the new faces.”

“It’s a family environment at JCA,” said Dollinger, a 1981 graduate of Joliet Catholic. “The board wants to get to know the rest of the faculty and staff members and it’s a good time for our families to come out. The kids get to play, it’s a great meal, and we get a chance to grill.”

In his seventh year as the assistant principal at JCA, Bill Pender has kept one eye watching the food and one eye watching his three kids enjoy the various games and activities to play.

“It’s a break from all the year-in, year-out meetings and a chance for the staff to sit, relax and eat an unbelievable meal,” Pender said. “It’s usually one of the best meals of the year for me.”

Over the years, Barr has watched his son Aaron and his daughter Lauren, who’s in her third year of law school at Chicago Kent, graduate from JCA. His son Ian, a talented golfer, is a JCA senior.

“What’s unique here is the relationship between the generations of JCA,” said Barr, who graduated from Frances Parker High School in Chicago. “My son’s class graduated six years ago, and he’s still best friends with those guys and they still go out. It’s pretty remarkable.”

Just as remarkable to Dollinger: his 30th class reunion for Joliet Catholic will be this year. He cannot believe that he already has three grown children. Matt and Casey are sophomore and freshman students at the University of Illinois, respectively, and Nathan is a junior at JCA.

“We’ll have 120, 130 people attending our reunion in September,” Dollinger said. “We have that type of fraternity, that type of relationship, between the students of JCA. And we want our alumni to know that, to have them keep coming back to be a part of the JCA community.”

It’s the type of Catholic community that JCA Principal/CEO Jeffrey Budz and Pender each experienced as students at Chicago Brother Rice. With enrollment on the rise at JCA, Pender noticed a likewise increase in the participation of faculty and staff at the barbeque.

“It’s finally gotten to the point that some people are actually bringing their pets too,” Pender said. “This is not about the Pender kids and Budz’s kids getting to play — it’s for everybody. We want everybody to be here and feel like they are an important part of the JCA family.”