Steve Walsh fondly remembers the early 1980s when he worked summers as a custodian for All Saints Parish and loaded trucks at the local Meijer’s store -- all to save up the $900 to $1,000 he needed to pay his tuition to the high school he loves. Today, Walsh, a well-known Cincinnati area banker, realizes it is impossible for young men to earn enough money doing summer jobs to come up with the more than $14,600 a year it costs to attend Moeller High School. Walsh also realizes parents are often financially handcuffed by tuition costs and find it too costly to fulfill their sons’ dreams of becoming a Crusader. “I have a trust set up and one of the beneficiaries of the trust is Moeller High School,” said Walsh, 53, who presently works locally for New England-based Citizens Bank. “I endowed a scholarship at Moeller as the Walsh Family Scholarship. I have a brother, Pat, who went to school there, too. On my passing, one of the bequests for the estate is to add additional monies to the Walsh Family Scholarship.” “The reason I put the scholarship up in the first place was to provide a way to help other young men reap the benefits of a Moeller education. When I was in high school, my brother and I had to pay our own way through school. Back then you could do that. No kid could do that today,” said Walsh, class of ‘82. “I understand how challenging it is to save for Catholic education at the high school level and I have been ever grateful that people helped me get summer jobs enabling me to attend Moeller. This is my small way of trying to help another kid or kids have the same benefits of a Moeller education,” Walsh said. “Moeller educates young men so they will make a positive difference in the community, and in society. Moeller educates future leaders and what I do is a way to pay that forward.”
Following his days at Moeller, Walsh completed an undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Dayton and then earned a Masters degree in business administration. He has a daughter, Ivy, a Junior at Mount Notre Dame High School who is on the Moeller cheerleading team. He belongs to St. Margaret of York Parish in Loveland, Ohio. Recalling his days at Moeller, Walsh noted: “The people are what I valued the most -- the faculty members who both educated me and instilled values. I value my classmates. I was blessed to go to a school with a lot of very outstanding people. I have a lot of positive memories of the faculty members who were a very positive influence on me and really shaped my future, and I’m grateful for that.” There are role models Walsh has never forgotten. “Football Coach Gerry Faust, Father Tom Kreidler, were particularly positive people. Dick Beerman was really the person who enabled me to have a job and if it wasn’t for Mr. Beerman I would not have been able attend Moeller. At the time I spent at Moeller, there was a pretty large group of Marianist Brothers who taught school there. All of those people gave positive example and were inspiring educators.” “I wanted a Catholic education and I think the people I was around reaffirmed the prudence of my decision to attend Moeller. There’s something very special about the values and culture there,” Walsh said. “They really try to educate people to serve, to maintain their faith and to lead. I think those are very desirable qualities. That’s why I continue to support young men going there today. “
57 • ARCHBISHOP MOELLER HIGH SCHOOL
ANNUAL REPORT 2017