Meet the Staff - Joseph D. Hollowell
Now in his 29th year at Roncalli, Joe has also served as Chemistry teacher, football and baseball coach, science department chair, dean of students, and for five years he served as principal prior to becoming president. Joe also has a passion for outdoor education and still teaches a wilderness education and leadership class known as Summer Field Study every summer. In this program over 2,000 young people have traveled, camped, backpacked, rafted, rock climbed, and hiked through Alaska, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and many other natural wonders as they reflect on the goodness of God’s creation and each person’s role in that creation. Joe still considers himself to be first and foremost a teacher. His tenure in that capacity was marked by many successes. At Roncalli, Joe became the first faculty member in twenty-five years to be selected by the students as an honorary member of the National Honor Society. In 1985, he was named as a GTE GIFT Fellow, one of only sixty-five in the United States. As a GTE Fellow Joe earned a $15,000 grant for the development and conversion of wooded acreage adjacent to the school to an outdoor classroom that has now served over 7,000 elementary school children. In 1987, he was one of 40 teachers honored by the Governor and by the Indiana Department of Education for his selection as a charter member of the Indiana Academic All-Star Mentor Teachers. Mr. Hollowell earned both his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in School Administration at Butler University. Joe and his wife Diane are proud parents of eleven children with two of them actively pursuing a call to the priesthood. Joe serves Catholic School Management and its clients, on a part-time basis, in areas of Catholic School Management administration, presidential mentoring, planning, and development. July 2008 |
For 18 years Joe has served as the chief administrator of Roncalli High School, the past 13 years as the school’s first president. During that time Roncalli has earned the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award three times – the only high school in Indiana to have accomplished that feat. Roncalli is also one of only five high schools in the Country to have been honored for its exemplary service learning program by the U. S. Department of Education. The school has also been honored by the Concerned Businessmen of America as the top school in the nation by receiving their “Set A Good Example Award” through contributions the school has made to the life of the broader community. Under Joe’s leadership Roncalli has increased its enrollment by over 500 students, doubled the size of its campus, and, through two capital campaigns and other funding initiatives, raised over $16 million for facility expansion and renovation.