St. Mary’s grad heads to Notre Dame in fall
Kolbe Barta, a graduating senior at St. Mary’s Catholic School, leaves behind the Rams to become one of the Fighting Irish at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana this fall.
A National Merit Scholar finalist, Barta said Notre Dame was always on his radar, but he wanted to visit several different schools “to put his mind at ease.”
“I didn’t really know where I was going to go until I visited Notre Dame…I just fell in love with it,” Barta said.
Barta and his mother, Kate, visited the University of Notre Dame in February.
“It was like watching him try on a glove, so to speak, tailor made just for him,” Kate Barta said.
Notre Dame was an “overwhelmingly good fit” for Kolbe, according to his mother. The school checked off so many of the boxes of what Barta wanted from a school.
Notre Dame met his enthusiasm for learning and academic challenge, his passion for Jesus and his Catholic faith, his sense of adventure and his encounters with so many kind and hospitable students and faculty.
Barta had eyed other universities that were not religious institutions, but he said while visiting Notre Dame he met people who were both faithful in their religious beliefs and top of their fields. “That put my mind at ease and made the decision pretty easy,” he said.
Kate Barta added, “When Kolbe was accepted and received such a hearty scholarship, it was clear that it was indeed providential.”
While Barta was an athlete for St. Mary’s Rams, playing football, basketball and golf, his scholarship is academic. Noting that Notre Dame has “some pretty high level sports,” Barta still plans to participate in intramural teams. Yet, Aaron Barta, Kolbe’s father added that his son had wanted to attend an academically rigorous university.
The oldest of eight children, Barta has always been driven and pushed himself to exceed and excel at school and at home. Despite leaving a school where his graduating class is six students, Barta is not concerned about Notre Dame’s incoming freshman class of more than 2,000 students.
Barta said leaving his family and community will be bittersweet, but he added, “I don’t have any doubts or reservations about going up there. (Notre Dame) has the kind of feel and resources of a bigger university, but they also have the capacity to care for each individual student, so it’s not too big.”
Aaron Barta said, “We’re so proud of him. I’m excited to see where his life brings him.”
