Butler Catholic science classes led to hospital leadership role
When Margie McLaughlin started going to school in the 1960s, she was a student of St. Michael the Archangel on Butler's South Side. By the time she graduated in 1972, her school had merged with two other Catholic schools to form a cohort of 1,200 students under the Butler Catholic School umbrella.
“I learned to love science in grade school from my sixth and eighth grade teachers,” McLaughlin said. “It was all so intriguing to me, and I could attribute it all to Catholic school.”
That love of science would lead McLaughlin to become the director of noninvasive cardiology at Butler Health System, where she retired last year. She recently reflected on her career path and her family's educational ties to the Butler Catholic School, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
McLaughlin credits her education with helping her develop the habits, along with the love, needed to be successful. She now has grandnieces and nephews who go to the school and when her three children were school-age, they also went to Butler Catholic School.
“As an adult who sent my children there, it's important for the faculty to know your kids,” the Butler resident said. “When you're in a school that is focused on family, all the other students become your brothers and sisters. It's important that way.”
She also said that religion is important in her life and wanted to instill the same religious values in her children.
“I like that they could pray in school for five days in a row, along with going to church,” McLaughlin said. “They lived their faith in school. And that way, it's not all concentrated at church on Sunday.”
McLaughlin also said that while she was a student she didn't appreciate the strict rules set in a Catholic education, but she learned to appreciate it afterward and wanted her children to receive the same treatment.“The discipline, the kids were held accountable for their behavior. We always knew our kids were being disciplined. And rightfully so. I like that they had to live up to expectations,” she said. “You knew the teachers so well and it was all fair and age-appropriate discipline.”After her children graduated from the school, they all went to Butler High School, where, McLaughlin said, they excelled, especially in math and English.“They're all book readers and they learned their love of reading at (Butler Catholic),” she said.McLaughlin said the transition to public school was a little rough for her children, but they adapted after the first few months of their freshmen year.“The sheer size was a little surprising for them,” she said.A Butler County Community College alumna, McLaughlin went on to graduate from Penn State University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in biology. During her studies, she took up a job with Butler Health System and stayed with the company, moving her way up in management.“When we started open heart surgery, that was a big deal at the time for a community hospital to do. Everyone wasn't sure we would succeed, and during my time there we became a nationally recognized service,” McLaughlin said. “We worked so hard and now we do things as good if not better than UPMC and other regional leaders.”
