Originally, Ludwig wanted to be an engineer. He spent his collegiate career taking mostly math and science classes, though that wasn’t working out quite as well as he wanted. He was feeling great about his math classes and teachers, but was struggling in physics. Using the skills and credits he acquired taking his math classes, Ludwig decided to pivot.

“I wasn’t enjoying myself,” said Ludwig. “I decided to make a change, since I had all these math credits. When I was younger, my dad told me I’d make a great teacher and I used to laugh at him. He was a teacher and I told him I didn’t want to be like him, that made him mad. But, inspired by the teachers I had, I wanted to give back.”

From there, Ludwig took two student teaching assignments in Jamestown, one in middle school and the other in high school. It’s at Washington Middle School in Jamestown where Ludwig said he was sold on this path.

“I had a fantastic experience and that sealed it for me,” said Ludwig. “I was good with kids and I enjoyed that age level.”

Submitted Photo Andrew Ludwig speaks during a recent school board meeting in Fredonia.

To start his career in education, Ludwig was looking to leave the area. But that was before a position at his alma mater, Fredonia Middle School, became available. Better yet, the position was vacated by a teacher Ludwig idolized while he was at school. Ludwig secured that position and ended up teaching for 17 years in the Middle School. It was also during that time that Ludwig became involved in administration and leadership positions. He was on the team set to hire a Middle School Principal, and after experiencing a heavy amount of turnover at that position in his tenure, he decided he wanted to fill it himself.

“I was younger and working summers and weekends doing construction and was told that my body couldn’t do this forever and I could make more money going into administration,” said Ludwig. “I did an internship and was named interim principal and I applied for the permanent position and did it for 16 years.”

“It was a revolving door at FMS,” Ludwig continued. “I had been there 10 years and we had eight principals. I never got tired of teaching but we needed some stability and a good leader.”

While Ludwig was working in administration, his teaching itch was filled by another avenue: coaching wrestling. Wrestling was his way of hanging onto teaching, even while working in administration.

“One of things I enjoyed in my career was coaching wrestling,” he said. “I did that even when I moved into administration. I did that for seven years, and that allowed me to help kids still. Wrestling became a way to help kids who were struggling out.”

After 33 years spent in Fredonia, Ludwig was incentivized to retire, and the offer was too good to refuse, so that’s exactly what he did. In his retirement, he was happily teaching math at JCC, until the Rev. Dan Walsh from Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church — someone who had been heavily influential in Ludwig’s spiritual life — reached out to ask for help. Walsh wanted Ludwig at NCCS, and originally, Ludwig was reluctant.

“I told him I couldn’t because I was teaching at JCC,” said Ludwig. “He asked if I would be on the school board, and I agreed to that. The school was struggling, very close to closing.”

But Walsh was persistent, even before knowing that JCC informed Ludwig he wouldn’t have any classes to teach in the spring. While Ludwig was offered part time positions at Medaille and Bryant & Stratton college, Walsh just kept going after him.

“I was really reluctant,” said Ludwig. “I didn’t want to lead a ship that was going under little by little, but he was relentless. He told me I’d have a greater impact here, saving this place. It was really hard to say no. They asked me to hang on until we got through the rough patch, and that was four years ago.”

In those four years, huge strides have been made. Ludwig credits Walsh as the main reason NCCS remains open, but that is also because of the rest of the team that has been assembled. And Ludwig was a big part of that recruitment process, bringing in people he knew from Fredonia, such as retirees and people off the substitute teacher list.

And that’s now how Ludwig finds his purpose: Keeping NCCS open. During the pandemic, the school doubled their enrollment because they were the only school in the area allowed to be open every day. There was fear originally that the parents of those children would be one timing school, going back to the public schools after the restrictions loosened. But those people stayed.

“People were so happy with the product that they stayed,” he said. “Enrollment has gone up every year since the pandemic because word has gotten out about our great staff, and the immediate future looks bright. Beyond a couple years, it’s a bit more challenging.”

While the pandemic helped enrollment at the school, that money was spent helping costs lost by the diocese funding going away. Between the additional enrollment and additional donations, the school was able to offset the loss of funding, but Ludwig said there has to be another change in order to ensure the long term success of the school.”

“I have faith, I believe in miracles and the power of prayer but that can’t be your only business model,” said Ludwig.

Currently, Ludwig is working with the Catholic Children’s Learning Corporation, which was founded by Dr. Michael LaFever, the former Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Buffalo. LaFever assisted in saving NCCS five years ago, and now with this, might be able to do so again.

“The business model is to find or create a profitable business and make it a non-profit to pair with a Catholic School,” said Ludwig. “We’ve been working with them for a year now trying to find some business around here, but the area is so depressed that we’re not sure what we can buy. We have a couple irons in the fire, and the immediate future looks great with the full house and grant money, but if we don’t keep getting miracles, our days are numbered.”

But Ludwig wants more than just to float, he wants the school to thrive. He wants to be able to pay teachers a higher wage, fix up the building, and take several other steps to insure the school’s long term success. What he’s trying to do at NCCS right now is nothing like he’s ever experienced in his career before.

“I never had to worry at Fredonia,” said Ludwig. “If I made a mistake or walked away, the place wouldn’t close. It was too big to fail. That’s not the case here. If we don’t do everything right, the school will close.”