The Black Alumni Council, which has been around just over 20 years, plays a beneficial role in Cathedral’s financial efforts. However, they also have a key role in the school’s history as well. 

“The Black Alumni Council is a subgroup from the Cathedral Alumni Association, and the Black Alumni Council’s purpose is to directly help connect black alumni back to Cathedral High School,” Vice President for Community Relations and Diversity Mr. Ken Barlow ‘82 said. 

The Council has put on numerous events, Barlow said, to “help support the overall mission of Cathedral High School.” Those events include providing mentoring programs, conducting fundraising events and friend-raising events and sponsoring a cook out the start of the school year for black alumni and families of currently enrolled black students. 

The Council also supports the Black History Month program’s efforts and hosts a BAC golf outing with the sponsorship of Stuart Mortuary. This partnership has a significant history, as this outing was called the Charles E.Q. Stuart BAC golf outing because Stuart is an African American businessman in Indianapolis and a 1945 graduate of Cathedral High School and is the first African American to serve on the Cathedral board of directors. 

His daughter also graduated from the school in 1980 and now runs Stuart Mortuary. “She was the one who basically took on the responsibility to get the financial support,” Barlow said, crediting her for her role in supporting the school. 

“As a result of the funds they have raised over the years through the golf outing and through individual gifts, they support students here at Cathedral High School financially who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to come here,” Barlow said. 

Throughout the last 20 years, the Council has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for the school. Barlow said that he thinks the council is important because not only does it serve as an infinity group for the black alumni of the school, but also because, as Barlow said, “It helps in terms of their work in connecting directly with our black alumni and doing a lot of specific work to do announcements about all the other efforts at Cathedral High School like ShamrAuction, the Fr. Kelly golf outing and our Day of Giving in December.

“They do a lot of marketing (and) promotions for Cathedral to keep our black alumni directly connected to the school.”

Editor’s note: Megaphone reporter Liam Eifert contributed to this story.