August 13, 2024 • 9 mins
Greg Boehmer, the Principal at St. James Catholic School, talks his passion for horses and some of the positive changes coming to St. James...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I always like to visit with various people from the community.
One of them is the principal of Saint James Catholic School.
You probably see it on Bardstown Road at it's not
far from Eastern Parkway. It's a little bit, let me say,
north of there by Edenside. Saint James legendary place. In fact,
(00:23):
I think I've had my buddy on here a few
times before to talk about playing the Oregon at Saint James,
because it's famous in that church. The school is still
operating nicely, and it's pretty exciting to have the principle,
Greg Bohmer in the studio with me, because this guy's
he's lived all around the world and he picked Louisville.
He picked this area. That's what I heard anyway, Greg,
(00:43):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That is absolute lutely correct. We were out in Arizona
for about six years and got into saddlebreds, and I'm
figuring out where we're going to make our next move,
and why not go to the saddle bread capital of
the world in Shelbyville. And when you're a principal of
a Catholic school and you're looking for a job, why
(01:04):
not Louisville it's the second oldest archdiocese in the country. Yeah,
lots of Catholic schools, and the job at Saint James
popped and it was a perfect fit for me.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We'll get to Saint James in a minute. The saddle
bread thing is crazy good. In that whole area where you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Are, it is absolutely nuts. My wife is showing at
her first World Championships in Louisville.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, this is like the super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It is absolutely And I drive roadsters, so I have
a County Fair Championship on Saturday night down at the
State Fairground, so big weekend for us.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well that's cool. And do you have a wall with
some ribbons on it? From these various horse adventures.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Have managed to get a few ribbons, not quite as
many blue ribbons as my wife, but I'm on our heels.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Oh that's a little push right there.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Then, Hey, competition makes it makes the.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Heart grow fond. Your name, what's the name of the
horse in this company? Doll me up.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
She's a former world champion, so she'll be showing on
Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Doll Doll met up, Doll me up like makeup, man,
I got you. Well, that's pretty cool. I know that
a lot of people come from far and wide to
get to this horse show.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It is global, it really really is.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And man, people are just fixated on them. I've been
to it before and it's just that the audience is
just locked in on this.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You ever get down a rabbit hole on YouTube look
at some of them from the fifties and it's insane
a the number of people and just the noise that
they make. I mean, it was a passion that is
just unrivaled until you get to Churchill Downs with one
hundred and fifty thousand people screaming when the gate opens.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah. Yeah, the Third Red World's a lot different than
what you're doing, too, because it's your relationships. A lot
different with these babies.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yes, it's fun. I was alt Val holiday too, and
they have horses right inside.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The It is so cool that they put that little
program together.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I tired champions and so there was one just he
was hanging over the fence when I drove in. So
I just pulled my car over and got out and
just rubbed him. He just wanted to be touched. And
Jimmy Kirchdorffer was telling me, he said, oh, they love
they know when there's an event going on, they see
the cars coming in, they get all excited. So I
just went over and just held his bridle and just
just rubbed him and talked to him. And he's like, oh,
thank you, I've been waiting for somebody to touch my head.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Very social animals, and they do. They do love that
human interaction.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I love them. Okay, So you are the principal
at Saint James and it's a legendary school, beautiful place
and all it. But how is it operating these days
post COVID? Here we are in this kind of new universe.
How is it, mister principal, running a school these days?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I tell you what, the kids really appreciate being back
in the classroom. I think I really feel bad for
some of the juniors and seniors that really missed out
on some of those critical years from a social perspective
during COVID. But you know now that we're back and
the clubs are coming back, the sports are strong again.
(04:11):
I think, really the kids are really engaging in the
school experience and we're going to try to expand upon
that and really hanged in the latest and greatest with
cutting edge technology in the school.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, you have some sort of is it visual works,
is it like film production or what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, we're basically trying to create the next Terry Miners.
We have spent the last year really trying to brand,
put a branding campaign together for the school, and we've
had some really nice TV coverage of some of the
events that we have had going on and watching the
(04:50):
kids get behind or get in front of the camera
and do these interviews with the reporters. I'm watching, I'm
going these kids are really really digging this. So we
looked into getting a grant for a sound and video
editing lab which these students would be able to learn
how to do weather forecasts. They're going to do the
(05:12):
daily newscast for the school. They're going to be able
to edit sound, edit videos, they're going to shoot short movies.
So we're trying to give these kids life skills, trying
to get them excited about writing your own script. It
can't be O MG L O L right, it needs
to be something that you can read.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, And you know, it's good that you're getting them
ready for a world that's waiting for them because a
lot of times in this marketplace now we do have
newbies that are coming in and they put them to
work right away, writing and editing and doing all that
as opposed to saying, well, you got to go work
in a smaller market first. Nowadays it's just grab and go.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And the kids really see that. You know, there are
opportunities out there to not just sit behind a desk
and work forty hours a week. You can get into
something that you can be passionate about, but it comes
at a little bit of a cost. You have to
be able to speak, you have to be able to write,
(06:13):
you have to be able to communicate your thoughts, you know,
to people if this is something that you want to do.
And so I think if we can lay the foundation
for that in the middle school level, that by the
time they get to high school, if they are able
to develop it at a Saint Axe or a Trinity
with their programs, that once they get to that, you know,
that age where they can make a decision which way
(06:34):
they want to go. I feel like you really played
a big part in doing our job for them being
becoming professionals. Maybe.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I know a lot of the Catholic parishes have had
shrinking populations. There you are on Bardstown Road at Saint
James Saint Agnes isn't that far away? Saint Francis of
a CC five.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
We have five Catholic k through eights in two and
a half miles.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, and I'm thinking of Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Holy Spirits, Gairfield, Saint step.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Sat Stephen Martin, that's my grade school, and Mother Sorrows.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you know, the interesting thing is that even though
you have so many schools in close proximity, each one
of our schools are different. And I tell parents when
they come to our school for a tour and send
their son or daughter to shadow, you need to find
the right school. We do a wonderful job with the
smaller class sizes. We don't have thirty in a class,
we don't have twenty five. Our average class size right
(07:30):
around eleven. So if you have a student that just doesn't,
you know, really work well in a larger classroom, they're
going to get the individualized attention that they need. I
have an amazing learning needs coordinator in my assistant principal,
Karen Snap. The passion that she runs around the school
like forty two year olds. She's seventy two. I get
(07:52):
tired watching her, but she helps those kids that don't
have that natural ability in the classroom, and she really
does a nice job working with them, giving them the
strategy so that they can be successful and not get frustrated.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
You've got a pretty good cross section two of students,
not just neighborhood. Isn't there a now free bus service.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
We pulled from twenty four different zip codes across Louisville.
We just expanded our bus service. It had been coming
from the west side down Dixie Highway. We expanded it
towards Taylor Boulevard this year and we've picked up some
new families with some of the advertising of that new
bus line down that way. So I think it's an
(08:36):
opportunity for kids that really couldn't make it. That's a
long car ride for a parent that has to get
to work by seven thirty quarter of eight. So with
the bus service, we're hoping that we're providing opportunities for
students in that Barry section of town. Why not to
get over to Saint James and get that quality education.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Fantastic people from all around the community too. That's always
good for.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Everybody, and as well, the financial aid is there. We
work very closely with the Catholic Education Foundation, So you
know their motto is the answer is yes, and we
find a way to work with our families to make
sure that you know this, the student's quality education doesn't
come at the expense of the family budget.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Principal Ballmer, it's a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you, Terry,
glad to be here. Have you back anytime you're a
Saint James Catholic School. There it's Etonside and Bardstown Road
in the Highlands. And then we'll look forward at the
horse show this week too, and you're gonna get a ribbon,
so you can. You can.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'm going to go out there and show my horse
best I can and have a beer afterwards.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
See what happens. Then best of luck. Back in a
view on news radio Waight forty wha s
I always like to visit with various people from the community.
One of them is the principal of Saint James Catholic School.
You probably see it on Bardstown Road at it's not
far from Eastern Parkway. It's a little bit, let me say,
north of there by Edenside. Saint James legendary place. In fact,
(00:23):
I think I've had my buddy on here a few
times before to talk about playing the Oregon at Saint James,
because it's famous in that church. The school is still
operating nicely, and it's pretty exciting to have the principle,
Greg Bohmer in the studio with me, because this guy's
he's lived all around the world and he picked Louisville.
He picked this area. That's what I heard anyway, Greg,
(00:43):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
That is absolute lutely correct. We were out in Arizona
for about six years and got into saddlebreds, and I'm
figuring out where we're going to make our next move,
and why not go to the saddle bread capital of
the world in Shelbyville. And when you're a principal of
a Catholic school and you're looking for a job, why
(01:04):
not Louisville it's the second oldest archdiocese in the country. Yeah,
lots of Catholic schools, and the job at Saint James
popped and it was a perfect fit for me.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
We'll get to Saint James in a minute. The saddle
bread thing is crazy good. In that whole area where you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Are, it is absolutely nuts. My wife is showing at
her first World Championships in Louisville.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, this is like the super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It is absolutely And I drive roadsters, so I have
a County Fair Championship on Saturday night down at the
State Fairground, so big weekend for us.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well that's cool. And do you have a wall with
some ribbons on it? From these various horse adventures.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Have managed to get a few ribbons, not quite as
many blue ribbons as my wife, but I'm on our heels.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Oh that's a little push right there.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Then, Hey, competition makes it makes the.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Heart grow fond. Your name, what's the name of the
horse in this company? Doll me up.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
She's a former world champion, so she'll be showing on
Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Doll Doll met up, Doll me up like makeup, man,
I got you. Well, that's pretty cool. I know that
a lot of people come from far and wide to
get to this horse show.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It is global, it really really is.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And man, people are just fixated on them. I've been
to it before and it's just that the audience is
just locked in on this.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You ever get down a rabbit hole on YouTube look
at some of them from the fifties and it's insane
a the number of people and just the noise that
they make. I mean, it was a passion that is
just unrivaled until you get to Churchill Downs with one
hundred and fifty thousand people screaming when the gate opens.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah. Yeah, the Third Red World's a lot different than
what you're doing, too, because it's your relationships. A lot
different with these babies.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yes, it's fun. I was alt Val holiday too, and
they have horses right inside.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The It is so cool that they put that little
program together.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I tired champions and so there was one just he
was hanging over the fence when I drove in. So
I just pulled my car over and got out and
just rubbed him. He just wanted to be touched. And
Jimmy Kirchdorffer was telling me, he said, oh, they love
they know when there's an event going on, they see
the cars coming in, they get all excited. So I
just went over and just held his bridle and just
just rubbed him and talked to him. And he's like, oh,
thank you, I've been waiting for somebody to touch my head.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Very social animals, and they do. They do love that
human interaction.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I love them. Okay, So you are the principal
at Saint James and it's a legendary school, beautiful place
and all it. But how is it operating these days
post COVID? Here we are in this kind of new universe.
How is it, mister principal, running a school these days?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I tell you what, the kids really appreciate being back
in the classroom. I think I really feel bad for
some of the juniors and seniors that really missed out
on some of those critical years from a social perspective
during COVID. But you know now that we're back and
the clubs are coming back, the sports are strong again.
(04:11):
I think, really the kids are really engaging in the
school experience and we're going to try to expand upon
that and really hanged in the latest and greatest with
cutting edge technology in the school.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, you have some sort of is it visual works,
is it like film production or what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Well, we're basically trying to create the next Terry Miners.
We have spent the last year really trying to brand,
put a branding campaign together for the school, and we've
had some really nice TV coverage of some of the
events that we have had going on and watching the
(04:50):
kids get behind or get in front of the camera
and do these interviews with the reporters. I'm watching, I'm
going these kids are really really digging this. So we
looked into getting a grant for a sound and video
editing lab which these students would be able to learn
how to do weather forecasts. They're going to do the
(05:12):
daily newscast for the school. They're going to be able
to edit sound, edit videos, they're going to shoot short movies.
So we're trying to give these kids life skills, trying
to get them excited about writing your own script. It
can't be O MG L O L right, it needs
to be something that you can read.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, And you know, it's good that you're getting them
ready for a world that's waiting for them because a
lot of times in this marketplace now we do have
newbies that are coming in and they put them to
work right away, writing and editing and doing all that
as opposed to saying, well, you got to go work
in a smaller market first. Nowadays it's just grab and go.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And the kids really see that. You know, there are
opportunities out there to not just sit behind a desk
and work forty hours a week. You can get into
something that you can be passionate about, but it comes
at a little bit of a cost. You have to
be able to speak, you have to be able to write,
(06:13):
you have to be able to communicate your thoughts, you know,
to people if this is something that you want to do.
And so I think if we can lay the foundation
for that in the middle school level, that by the
time they get to high school, if they are able
to develop it at a Saint Axe or a Trinity
with their programs, that once they get to that, you know,
that age where they can make a decision which way
(06:34):
they want to go. I feel like you really played
a big part in doing our job for them being
becoming professionals. Maybe.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I know a lot of the Catholic parishes have had
shrinking populations. There you are on Bardstown Road at Saint
James Saint Agnes isn't that far away? Saint Francis of
a CC five.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
We have five Catholic k through eights in two and
a half miles.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, and I'm thinking of Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Holy Spirits, Gairfield, Saint step.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Sat Stephen Martin, that's my grade school, and Mother Sorrows.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you know, the interesting thing is that even though
you have so many schools in close proximity, each one
of our schools are different. And I tell parents when
they come to our school for a tour and send
their son or daughter to shadow, you need to find
the right school. We do a wonderful job with the
smaller class sizes. We don't have thirty in a class,
we don't have twenty five. Our average class size right
(07:30):
around eleven. So if you have a student that just doesn't,
you know, really work well in a larger classroom, they're
going to get the individualized attention that they need. I
have an amazing learning needs coordinator in my assistant principal,
Karen Snap. The passion that she runs around the school
like forty two year olds. She's seventy two. I get
(07:52):
tired watching her, but she helps those kids that don't
have that natural ability in the classroom, and she really
does a nice job working with them, giving them the
strategy so that they can be successful and not get frustrated.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
You've got a pretty good cross section two of students,
not just neighborhood. Isn't there a now free bus service.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
We pulled from twenty four different zip codes across Louisville.
We just expanded our bus service. It had been coming
from the west side down Dixie Highway. We expanded it
towards Taylor Boulevard this year and we've picked up some
new families with some of the advertising of that new
bus line down that way. So I think it's an
(08:36):
opportunity for kids that really couldn't make it. That's a
long car ride for a parent that has to get
to work by seven thirty quarter of eight. So with
the bus service, we're hoping that we're providing opportunities for
students in that Barry section of town. Why not to
get over to Saint James and get that quality education.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Fantastic people from all around the community too. That's always
good for.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Everybody, and as well, the financial aid is there. We
work very closely with the Catholic Education Foundation, So you
know their motto is the answer is yes, and we
find a way to work with our families to make
sure that you know this, the student's quality education doesn't
come at the expense of the family budget.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Principal Ballmer, it's a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you, Terry,
glad to be here. Have you back anytime you're a
Saint James Catholic School. There it's Etonside and Bardstown Road
in the Highlands. And then we'll look forward at the
horse show this week too, and you're gonna get a ribbon,
so you can. You can.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I'm going to go out there and show my horse
best I can and have a beer afterwards.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
See what happens. Then best of luck. Back in a
view on news radio Waight forty wha s
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