Jonathan Macat, Lytle Class of 2012, Featured in the Bowdoin Orient
Read this Bowdin Orient News Article: Jonathan Macat ’16 to become assistant director of THRIVE, aid with new programming
Lytle Alumni Update by Lorrianne Migura, Lytle ISD Public Relations Director
Five years ago, I met Jonathan Macat when he was a substitute teacher at Lytle High School. We became fast friends thanks to his quick wit and easy-going spirit. When I learned he “spoke football” I recruited him to mentor my Skull Studios students who were learning how to deliver livestream commentary during our Pirate football games. After reading the article about his recent promotion, I was eager to reconnect with Jonathan for much-overdue updates on his life and reflection. Macat shares, “My path is very inspired by my time in Lytle. Being from a small school and small community gave me the advantage of being a part of all the small groups. Being an involved student, multi-sport athlete, member of the concert and marching band, student council, Boy Scouts, and more helped me to be a well-rounded person - open to many transformative experiences. This led to work in many different places doing very different jobs. A beautiful resilience grows from small, diverse, blue-collar communities. I often share my story with students I work with as they navigate their own versions of these communities. I’m proud to help first-generation and under-resourced students gain better access to higher education opportunities. I’m also pursuing my master’s degree in Higher Education Administration, hopeful about the opportunities this degree will afford me.”
Macat also had a message for Lytle’s young people, “Be kind. Hear out the adults in your life - if they’re saying something to you, it's because they care. Pursue your interests and always try new things. There is no singular way to do anything, so create your path and care for yourself and your community. I’ll always be a kid from a small town in Texas that outsiders cannot pronounce. I was able to play a college sport, earn a degree, travel and thrive; you can, too!” Clearly compelled by deeply ingrained tradition, he adds, “It’s a Great Day to be a Pirate, and Beat Natalia!”
Macat also wanted to express his strong appreciation for Lytle’s tight-knit community, “There are so many townspeople who have always been so helpful to me. I’ll always be proud to be from Lytle. Dios de Bendiga!” As my conversation with Jonathan Macat came to an end, he threw me a lead: His brother, Joshua Macat also has a cool success story. It just so happens that Joshua was one of my students when I became a first-time teacher at Lytle High School in 2012. I couldn’t resist this telling of a tandem Macat Brothers story.
"Be kind. Hear out the adults in your life - if they’re saying something to you, it's because they care. Pursue your interests and always try new things. There is no singular way to do anything, so create your path and care for yourself and your community." Jonathan Macat's advice to Lytle students
From Lytle to the US Army: The Diverse Journey of Joshua Macat, Class of 2015
In the months before graduating from Lytle High School in 2015, Joshua Macat had a few ideas about what he wanted his next adventure to be. Says Macat, “I really thought I was going to play football in college, but toward the end of my senior year I got invited to the TCS Post Grad Academy tryouts in San Antonio. They liked me and offered me a position playing baseball - as a pitcher.” Macat played baseball for a year at TCS Post Grad Academy in McKinney near Dallas, and then continued playing at West Virginia Junior College where he earned his associate’s degree.
After enjoying a summer league baseball stint in Dallas, Macat finished his bachelor’s degree in exercise science at Bethany College in Kansas in 2021. Macat says this was a formative time,“I’m playing college baseball and I had hopes of being drafted. I met people from all over Texas, I was surrounded by talented players and I realized the level I was playing at was not where I’d hoped. Other players had more resources than I did, too. I stuck with it, though. I improved and ended up pitching more and closing more games. It was a cool experience. The best thing was meeting people from all over - Baltimore, Philadelphia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, South America and Europe. The schools I went to were not big colleges in big cities. But despite being small, these schools were big on bringing in students from all over the country and world. I got really close to people who have lived very differently than I did. I didn’t experience that kind of diversity growing up in Lytle.”
Transitioning from player to mentor, Macat started coaching at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kansas, and also coached in the Northwoods Summer League for college students. As a coach, he enjoyed traveling to new destinations with his teams. Macat believes his next job opportunity at Allen Community College came about because of all the coaches he had gotten to know over the years. Macat explains, “These coaches keep in touch and value networking. They liked me and knew my work ethic, so new opportunities for growth and employment kept opening up.”
In December 2022 Joshua graduated from Texas A&M Commerce, with a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology and Sport Coaching with an emphasis in Strength Training. All completed online while he continued working hard. Macat gave personal training a try in a small town where business was slow. Finding a position in a larger market, he moved to Dallas in February of 2023. He soon realized personal training did not bring him the joy that he felt coaching teams, so in August 2023, he took a job in an entirely different industry, working for National Wholesale Supply, a US Distributor of commercial and residential plumbing, water works and electrical equipment. It kept the bills paid as Macat planned his next adventurous leap.
In early 2024, Macat enlisted in the US Army. He signed on to be a medic and headed to bootcamp. Nine years after leaving Lytle, Macat’s journey comes full circle - a little closer to his hometown of Lytle, Texas. Macat's medical training is at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.