Events

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS

MATT BOURGEOIS '99

"Husband, Father, Electrician, Musician, Sound and Lighting Engineer, VCHS Alum"

Written by Doug Hamilton ’87, VCHS Alumni Director

Matt Bourgeois is a proud graduate of the VCHS class of 1999. He would describe himself as a late bloomer, but those who know him well can attest to this personality being primarily based on his servant’s heart to his church, his family, and his alma mater! This month’s VC Network features a graduate who has spent a lot of time serving Vandebilt as both a professional and a volunteer!

Matt is currently the Vice-President of E3 Electrical, Inc., a first-class electrical contracting and engineering firm in Houma, LA. (His business partner is fellow VCHS 1999 graduate, Stan Whitney.) After graduating from VCHS in 1999, Matt earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Nicholls State University. While getting his bachelor’s degree, he spent time as an electrician for Cenac Towing Company and has been working with E3 Electrical ever since. E3 Electrical is currently one of the contractors that services the electrical needs of Vandebilt Catholic and assists with the planning of future upgrades to the over 60-year-old facility.

Even before Matt started to serve Vandebilt Catholic in a professional capacity, he was already serving in a voluntary position. This volunteer work began his junior year at Vandebilt Catholic when Mrs. Winnie Goulas (Drama Club, Terrier Theatre) noticed his creativity while building a chandelier for prom out of PVC pipe! Matt credits Mrs. Goulas for noticing him and thanks her for encouraging him to get involved: “Mrs. Goulas just told me-Hey Mr. Bourgeois-you are going to come help drama! We need help with sound and lights!”

Mrs. Goulas probably does not know the full impact of her decision to recruit Matt, for he has been working on VCHS shows for many years-including this year’s show Sister Act! Under Matt’s direction, sound and lighting has been elevated to a professional level. Many students get to work along side Matt which provides them with exciting opportunities that they might otherwise not have!

Matt is married to fellow 1999 graduate and teacher Erin (Hamner) Bourgeois and they have three more Terriers in the family: Sophia ’27, Gavin ’28, and Allison ’28. The Bourgeois family is very busy with music, sports, theater, and cheer! In Matt’s spare time…lol, he shares his musical talents playing music with More Than Sunday (a local Christian band), The Caniacs (a local entertainment band) and provides music for St. Bernadette church! Those that follow Matt, know that he is an excellent musician on top of all the other things he does in life!

We are proud to feature a graduate that truly represents the values expressed by the words on our school crest: “Faith, Family, Excellence.”

Matt…Vandebilt thanks you for being you, and for all that you do! Terriers Forever!

 MARTIN FOLSE '78

“Witty, Fun, and a little Mischievous” 

Written by Doug Hamilton ’87, VCHS Alumni Director 

When asked to describe himself during his years at Vandebilt Catholic, these are the words that 1978 graduate Martin Folse (owner of local tv station HTV) used in a recent interview. He loved practical jokes although sometimes he had to learn lessons from them. He remembers one morning, “I super-glued the front office telephone headset to the base to get a reaction from Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Favret!” (Both are former VCHS front office/finance workers.) Martin describes their reactions as initially humorous and then, very quickly stern once they could not get the head pieces off the base! He recalls that he had to clean the phone even more spotless than when it was brand new, and quickly understood how much “tough love” he received from VCHS. Martin spent a lot of time in the front office and all around the campus, because his bus was usually the first to drop off at Vandebilt and therefore, he was often at VCHS very early. “Mr. ‘Smiley’ Lasseigne, (former VCHS maintenance supervisor) would spend time with me showing me how to turn on the pumps and operate the heating system in the boiler room. Brother Bernard showed me his weed eater invention (prototype) well before the weed eater ever hit the market. He could have patented that machine. As for Mr. Smiley, I could probably still operate the heating system today!”

Martin has many fond memories of how VCHS was such a fun and wonderful place to be. He realized how much he needed the structure provided by the Brothers (of the Sacred Heart) and faculty, and always felt their love, even when they didn’t agree with some of his mischievous ways. 

“The Brothers were perfect at taking care of my imperfect personality,” said Martin. 

When talking about some of his favorite memories, he immediately went to his time participating in four different sports at VCHS (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Track.) When asked to pick a “favorite”, he said plainly, “whichever sport I was playing at the time.” Martin still holds the all-time interception record for one year and still shares the high jump record that he set in 1978.

Martin might not have been a journalist except for a coin flip at the late Dr. Bobby Haydel Sr.’s ‘57 house one fateful evening. Martin was filling out some paperwork to determine his college major and he asked Dr. Bobby if he had a quarter so he could figure out if he was going pre-med or journalism. The result of that coin flip is now well-known! 

Martin and his five siblings are all proud VCHS graduates, and he credits his family, the Brothers, his teachers, his coaches, his friends, and all the fun times at Vandebilt Catholic for helping shape the person he is today.

Martin has the distinction of having been the Bishop Schexnayder winner in 1978, VCHS Alum of the Year in 1993 and inducted into the VCHS Hall of Fame in 2019. This alumni director is pretty sure that none of these honors were a result of “super-gluing” a telephone or being the reason that Father Donovan quit wearing his toupee. More on that story later…lol. Congratulations Martin and thank you for representing Vandebilt Catholic all these years!