Catherine Althoff
SENIOR / MOUNT ST. MARY ACADEMY
26 HUSSMAN COMMUNITY AWARD ...................
>> WHY SHE WON
Putting the needs of others ahead of herself is something Catherine Althoff learned from an early age.
Catherine was born four weeks premature, along with her twin sister, Caroline. The twins spent several weeks in a neonatal intensive-care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. Not long after their stay in the NICU, they contracted respiratory syncytial virus, a common lung infection, which put Catherine on a ventilator for a week.
The care that Catherine and her sister received at the hospital stayed with Catherine as she grew up. Now a senior at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, a spirit of selflessness drives her on the court and in her personal life.
During her high school career, Catherine has logged hundreds of volunteer hours and led the Mount St. Mary Academy girls basketball team to the first round of the 2020 Class 7A State Tournament. She also graduated as salutatorian of her class. This dedication to volunteerism, as well as athletics, has earned Catherine this year’s All-Arkansas Preps Hussman Community Award.
“It feels amazing. It was just a complete surprise,” Catherine said. “I didn’t even know that it was something I was being nominated for.”
Catherine was dedicated to soccer during her younger years but decided to focus her athletic energy into basketball in high school. That is when Marilyn Lenggenhager, athletic director at St. Mary, got to know the now 18-year-old senior. It didn’t take long for Lenggenhager to find out that there was much more to Catherine than athletics.
“As I got to know her, I started understanding her passion also for volunteering and giving back to the community,” Lenggenhager said of Catherine. “She has so many passions. She did volunteer work everywhere.”
By “everywhere,” Lenggenhager means Catherine has dedicated hours to volunteer activities, ranging from CARTI, Baptist Health and the American Heart Association to sport-specific training and development programs. Although St. Mary requires a minimum of about 30 volunteer hours for a senior to graduate, Catherine easily surpassed the requirement.
One volunteer activity that was special to Catherine was her involvement with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Star Achievers program when she was a freshman. Her mother, Christine Althoff, said Catherine and Caroline have a special connection to Children’s because of their family’s experiences when the girls were born.
“They contracted RSV infections as infants, and they were four weeks early anyway,” Christine said. “Their lungs were still little. They spent a couple of weeks in the NICU; then they got RSV and ended up having to be hospitalized again.”
IT FEELS AMAZING. … It was just such a surprise, and I felt so honored to be awarded something in two areas that I am very passionate about — basketball and community service.” — Catherine Althoff, HUSSMAN COMMUNITY AWARD RECIPIENT
Catherine said [her illness] did play a role in her choosing to volunteer with that program in particular, noting that not only is she interested in Children’s; she is also interested in volunteering time to any medical organization. Throughout her high school career, Catherine has volunteered 5.5 hours to ACH, 30 hours to CARTI, 30 hours at Baptist Hospital and 25 hours with the American Heart Association’s Sweetheart Program.
Although “anything medical” sparks Catherine’s volunteer interest, she also loves when her two main passions collide — volunteerism and basketball. During her upperclassmen years, Catherine spent 30 hours volunteering with the Mount St. Mary Basketball Skills Academy, helping to develop younger players, as well as working with the school’s student athletic training program throughout her junior and senior years.
“We help athletes [in the training program]. We get to sit at games and watch and run out on the field as something happens,” Catherine said. “That is my favorite thing to do at school. It’s the best.”
Catherine also noted that there is an 80-hour requirement for participation in the program, but she has garnered more than 200 hours, because to her, “it doesn’t even feel like volunteering when you fall in love with it,” she said.
Catherine plans to utilize her interest in sports training to pursue a degree in sports medicine at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, in the fall and, eventually, a career in the field.
Catherine has been committed to Rhodes since touring the campus during her sophomore year, even though she received interest from a variety of larger schools. Although she will attend Rhodes on an academic scholarship she earned with a 4.5 high school grade-point average, she will continue her basketball career at the collegiate level as well.
All the passion Catherine has for volunteering is just as present on the basketball court. Lenggenhager said that as a 5-11 post player, Catherine is always an encouraging leader to the team, which competes in the 7A Central Conference. Although the team consists of roughly only 15 girls, Lenggenhager explained that they compete at the highest level and in the “toughest conference” in the state because
St. Mary’s enrollment is counted alongside Little Rock Catholic High for Boys. With the deck seemingly stacked against them, competing against schools such as North Little Rock and Cabot, Catherine and the other girls were never discouraged.
“It was such an amazing experience going to state to begin with, then playing a team that should have blown us out so close was even better,” Catherine said, referring to a 43-37 loss to Springdale Har-Ber in the first round. “That game was just amazing to me.”
Lenggenhager said Catherine emerged as a passionate leader on the court and had high expectations for herself, as well as the team. This leadership allowed Catherine to mentor younger players, which is something Christine enjoyed seeing from her daughter.
“I love to watch the younger girls look up to her like they do,” Christine said. “To me, that says a lot about Catherine and her character and leadership abilities.”
All these accomplishments do not come about without countless late nights, early mornings and seemingly endless hard work. Catherine is even a bit surprised at all she has accomplished.
“It takes a lot of planning. I honestly don’t even know how I do it myself,” Catherine said.
“I write down everything that I have and try to get as much work done [as possible]. It was hard, but I am glad that I pushed myself and did everything I could in school,” she said.
“Catherine was chosen for the Hussman Community Award because we were impressed with her effort to serve her community and be a role model for others,” said Eliza Gaines, managing editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “She stood out as a hardworking, confident and caring young lady.”
Even though receiving the Hussman
Community Award is exciting, it isn’t surprising for Christine to see her daughter recognized in this way.
“It’s been so great getting to watch her grow up, and I mean, I’ve got three girls, and it’s been great watching all of them,” Christine said. “[Catherine] loves basketball, and I’m so glad she’s going to be able to play in college, and she loves volunteering and helping different organizations. Maybe not all parents get to say that, so I’m really proud that I do.”