Joseph “Joe” Baltes can be described as an outgoing, personable, and responsible young man. Baltes attended Cathedral Prep all four years of his high school career before graduating in 2014. Growing up, Prep was always a big influence in his life, as his family members attended Prep. Baltes’ decision in going to Prep was influenced by his grade school experience in the Catholic Diocesan grade school system. Plus his grandpa and brother-in-law both attended Prep as well. 

Baltes has nothing but good things to say about his time at Cathedral Preparatory School. His great high school experience comes from the memories made, the people he was with, and the educational portion of his four years. As mentioned before, Baltes is a very responsible person. Throughout his high school career, he played baseball and was a part of the National Honors Society, which recognizes the students who have demonstrated, and continue to demonstrate excellence in scholarship, service, leadership, and character.

Baltes began playing baseball before high school and continued to play throughout his four years at Prep. He was a very hard worker while also contributing to the team during the season and had a batting average of .400 as a junior.

Next, when asked what his favorite memory is from his days at Prep, Baltes had no hesitation. “This is a no brainer,” he said. “It was my freshman year and my first rally ever. They had ‘Levels’ by Avicci playing as I walked into the rally.” He went on to say that was the most fun rally he’d ever been a part of.

Baltes’ favorite and most memorable class during his time at Prep was a World War II history class taught by Mr. Flanagan. All of his friends in that class, the funny memories, the teacher, and the subject were all reasons as to why that class was so enjoyable to him.

Baltes liked history, which also explains the fact that Mr. Daeschner was his favorite teacher from his time attending Prep. “Mr. Daeschner instilled a strong work ethic in me ever since the start of my high school years as a freshman. Because of this, I now have a strong work ethic for the rest of my life,” he said.

Baltes’ advice for the current Prep students is to avoid procrastination. He wants to make sure it’s known that the high school experience is more fun if you don’t have to worry about schoolwork at the last minute while rushing to get it done. For him personally, he believes Prep prepared him for his post-high-school life. Prep taught him time management skills, as well as quality writing skills that he continues to use each and every day. Overall, Baltes also feels that his workload at Prep was very similar to the workload in college.  In his opinion, the hardest part of college was balancing school work with personal time. 

Baltes attended Penn State University for his four years of college. He decided to go with the 2+2 program, splitting time between the Penn State Behrend campus in Erie and the main campus in State College, Pa., before graduating.

Baltes is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Cathedral Prep baseball team.