Marine Corps made Chad Hochstatter more mature, set him on right path

After graduating from Mendota High School in 2003, Chad Hochstatter attended Illinois Valley Community College but felt he needed to go in a different direction.

“To be quite honest, I didn’t have a lot going on for me,” Hochstatter said. “At that point, I was making some choices that I probably shouldn’t have been making and needed a change.”

Hochstatter was inspired in part by his grandfather Ralph Boelk, a World War II veteran who fought at Iwo Jima and other places in the Pacific as well as a Korean War veteran who fought in the Chosin Reservoir Campaign. Hochstatter decided to join the Marine Corps.

“My grandfather, Ralph Boelk, was in the Marine Corps and he was a heavy influence in my life,” Hochstatter said.

After finishing at IVCC, Hochstatter served in the Marines from 2006 to 2010.

He did his basic training in San Diego and then was stationed in Twentynine Palms, California, with Third Battalion Seventh Marines.

Hochstatter also served two tours in Iraq, going overseas in 2008 and 2009.

“When we were stateside I did a lot of admin paperwork, like pay issues and accountability,” Hochstatter said. “When we got into Iraq, I jumped in with some of the infantry Marines and did patrols with them.”

Hochstatter’s duties also included helping Iraqis with rebuilding the community.

“It was a little bit of a mixed job,” Hochstatter said. “I did a little bit of everything.”

Hochstatter credits his four years in the Marine Corps for turning his life around.

“It absolutely did (put me back on the right path),” Hochstatter said. “It really opened my eyes to the world. Those deployments especially opened my eyes and made me realize how good we have it here in the United States. It really made me mature and grow up. I was that kid in high school who kind of goofed off and didn’t take it seriously. But it really makes you grow up when you don’t have your parents there and you don’t have people there to coach you all the time or push you. You have to push yourself. It definitely made me become a more mature person.”

After returning from the Marine Corps, Hochstatter attended Rockford University to get his bachelor’s degree in elementary education and started teaching at LaMoille in 2013.

While teaching, he went back to Rockford University to get his master’s degree in special education.

In 2016, he became a part-time police officer and in 2019 he was approached by Lt. Greg Kellen and Chief Tom Smith of the Mendota Police Department about becoming the resource officer at Mendota High School.

“For me, it was kind of the best of both worlds,” Hochstatter said. “It’s a good mixture of still being around students and also being a police officer. My overall goal with being a school resource officer is separating that divide. The kind of animosity toward police officers and showing students and showing the youth that I’m a human being just like they are and I’m here to do my job, but more importantly, I’m here to help you and guide you as much as I can.”

Hochstatter has taken that desire to help and guide the youth of Mendota outside the school as well. He coaches multiple youth sports, serves on the board of Mendota Little League and was a co-founder of the Mendota Matadors travel baseball organization.

“I got involved because both of my sons play Little League and there just wasn’t a lot of people who were stepping up to help out with the board and I want to see Mendota sports excel,” said Hochstatter, who played golf and baseball at Mendota High School. “If I want to see Mendota excel, then I need to get involved and be the change. That was my goal to get on there and see if I could help be that change that I want to see in Mendota sports.

“Same thing with helping create Mendota Matador travel baseball,” he said. “My kids are super in love with baseball and I love baseball as well. I was on the Mendota team that got third in state. Those kids who really enjoy baseball, I want to give them extra time and extra opportunity to advance their skills. Our overall goal is to get these kids playing together at a young age so when they get to high school, they’re one cohesive unit and hopefully they can build off each other and put Mendota sports back on the map where they used to be.”

Hochstatter has coached youth baseball, soccer and flag football, and has coached the Holy Cross golf team.

“I just like the opportunity to work with the youth of our city,” Hochstatter said. “I want to try to get many kids involved and build them up to love a sport. It’s not always about making them a better athlete. Sometimes it’s make them better humans. That’s one of the first things I always tell all my players is I’m here to help you become a better human on top of a better athlete. But that better human comes first. Treating each other with respect and kindness, being respectful on the field or court, all those things.”