Fourth-generation owner of Insurance Management Company and Cathedral Prep Class of 2012 graduate Joe Bloomstine tells the story of his time as a Rambler and the unforgettable memories made in the high school’s halls. Attending Prep was always a no-brainer to Bloomstine, as there was not only a collection of family alumni, but also a lifelong desire to be a part of the unique brotherhood the high school fosters between students.
“From birth, I was [going to] go to Prep,” Bloomstine said. “All the stories that my old man had, and my brothers had, and my cousins had of having fun at school and just all the memories I heard growing up sounded like so much fun to me.”
Once he entered the hallways as a freshman, Bloomstine began to experience these stories firsthand and expressed enthusiastically the enjoyment he had in high school.
“But it was like you were friends with everyone. I loved it,” he said. “It was like waking up and going to hang out with your best friends for seven hours a day. It was awesome.”
While Bloomstine valued the friends he was able to spend time with in class, he also shared that Father Mccormick, who taught AP Human Geography first period of his freshman year, was his favorite teacher at Prep. Father Mac’s memorability and rigorous class were staples in Bloomstine’s experience at Prep.
“I learned discipline and how to become organized because I was so scared of doing anything stupid under him,” Bloomstine said. “This little priest epitomized Prep for me with his teaching. He changed me. Going there as a freshman, he was the first cutting-edge guy to change you from the grade school kid to the high school kid you were.”
Outside of the classroom, Bloomstine was involved in many extracurricular activities such as Rally Crew, the Prep soccer team, and the Prep football team as a last-minute recruit his senior year.
“The soccer team had lost in the semi-quarterfinals, and we were on the bus ride home when Coach Mischler called me and asked if I could punt a football,” Bloomstine said. “I had four punts, one of which was in the record book for something like 70 yards. I lettered in football when I played only two games!”
Once his four years quickly came to an end, the 2012 alum began to miss most the friendships he had and the time he could spend with his brothers, something he still values very much to this day.
“Being with 112 of your best friends all day long, learning, having fun, and joking around, but growing as a person at the same time forged me into who I am today,” Bloomstine said. “You will never have any moment in your life again where you are with that many friends at the same time. I miss being with the boys.”
The person Bloomstine speaks of becoming is one that is changed in multiple ways, specifically in maturity level and the connections he had to outside world. He emphasizes the impact attending Prep had not only his school behaviors but also on his lifelong habits.
“It propelled myself into becoming a young man from a boy. I walked in there in eighth grade as a boy and left as a professional man,” Bloomstine said. “I knew how to dress myself appropriately, present myself professionally, and made lifelong associates and friends. There’s all these little lessons that you learn throughout your four years that you’ll start to pick up 20 years from now.”
Almost 10 years have passed since Bloomstine graduated from Prep. Since then, he attended the University of Dayton and earned a degree in finance and economics to prepare himself for working as a commercial insurance broker at Insurance Management Company.
“I’m the fourth generation owner of the company,” Bloomstine said. “We place property, casualty, and worker’s compensation insurance for manufacturing, construction, social service, and hospitality clients. We have a global business. My great-grandfather started it back in 1933.”
Aside from Bloomstine’s successful career, he is also engaged to his fiancé Jill Blaszczyk, Villa Maria Class of 2012, and has a strong family dynamic. He has his mother and father, a twin brother named Will (Prep ’12), and a younger sister Ellie (Villa ’13).
Bloomsine’s advice to the current Prep students resonates with the value he has expressed surrounding his time at Prep. The alum encourages those currently walking the hallways of Prep to have fun and make the most of the time they have in school with their brothers.
“Make every day a new memory,” he said. “Nobody else in the world gets to experience what you are experiencing right now. No one else will ever have the memories that you will have because there is no other place like Prep, And if you’re an older kid, watch out for your younger brothers. When the older classmen watch out for you and take you under their wing, it goes so far.”
