Alumni Spotlight - Katherine McNeeley '09

Katherine McNeeley was a Panther before she was officially an EC Panther. Having grown up in Elyria and attending St. Jude from Kindergarten through 8th grade, it was an easy and natural transition to move down the street for high school. Her Panther passion was ignited early on by attending EC football games and participating in various basketball and volleyball camps. Even today, Katherine remains involved at her alma mater as an active member of the Elyria Catholic Advisory Council (ECAC).

During her high school years, Katherine was influenced heavily by her coaches as her commitment to the basketball and volleyball programs grew. She credits the amazing Math Faculty as having had an outsized impact on her future success in college, “Mr. Blazak and Mrs. Fritz were tough teachers, but they helped me a lot when I went to Ohio State with the math classes I took. Katherine remembers Principal Krakowiak fondly. “He made it a point to walk down the hall and know everyone's name…he practiced what he preached and was a pillar of my experience at EC.”

Katherine was always interested in a career in medicine and grew up in a home with two parents who were dentists, but it wasn’t until she shadowed a dentist in Columbus that she knew she’d be carrying on the McNeeley dentistry legacy in Elyria.

Today Dr. McNeeley works right down the road from EC at McNeeley and Shuba Family Dental. They are General Dentists who do a bit of everything and work with patients young and old. What drew her to dentistry was the fact that you really get to know the patients and continue their care throughout their life, which she says is unique about dentistry. She summed it saying, “I feel very lucky to be working with my parents and one of my best friends from OSU Dental School, Judy Reu. My parents have been in Elyria since the 1980s and many of our patients are now just friends. It is great to have so many EC teachers and former coaches as patients. I feel like I’ve known most of our patients my entire life. My favorite part about being a dentist is helping someone with a problem. In dentistry, if someone comes in in pain, we are generally able to help them that day or at least point them in the right direction.”

Katherine McNeeley was recruited by her friend, former teammate and ECAC Chairperson, Zoë Zwegat Schmid '10, to get involved with the governance at Elyria Catholic. As a member of the Student Life Subcommittee, Katherine works with Assistant Principal Tom Taylor ‘79 and fellow ECAC members, Al McKinney ‘85 and Joan Villarreal ‘69, to enhance resources to support the socio-emotional needs of students and teachers, including mental health issues, increased emotional intelligence, and overall wellness. They are also working to create programming and benchmarks for students to engage in leadership roles that support their personal, professional, and spiritual goals. McNeeley added, “It's been really nice to be connected to Elyria Catholic and be a part of all the great things that are happening there and to be a voice for the local community within the ECAC.”

In her free time, Katherine enjoys spending time with her 1 year old daughter, Alice ‘40, and her husband, Mike Freeh ‘09, whom she met her sophomore year and has been dating since they were both 16. She loves to be active and still plays beach volleyball on a team with one of her high school rivals from Chanel High School, who ended up being her college roommate and is now a dear friend and treasured teammate.