You may have only heard about Freeburg Community High School due the heat we took in the summer of 2015 for our seemingly offensive mascot, the Midget. Or, like me, you may be a proud and loyal alumni supporter of FCHS. Either way, we can all agree that high school is a trying, difficult and to say the least, chaotic time in our lives.
Going through high school is one word to me: terrifying. Everything you seem to do, there are judgmental eyes perched over you like hungry vultures above a soon-to-be-dead roadkill dinner platter. They are just waiting for something to point out about your actions, style, or mannerisms that they can draw gossip from.
This is true for most high school stereotypes, due to all of the raging hormones going on in that building. It’s pretty awful. However, Freeburg Community High School is great at making this horrifying ‘high school journey’ much better than that.
I graduated from FCHS in 2014. I did take advantage of all I could in order to be involved by being on the soccer and bowling teams for all four years (captain senior year) and on the track team for my senior year. I was also in band for all four years, being the band president senior year, as well. So, with lots of activities and leadership roles, I was very into being at high school.
However, even without being a triathlete and in the band, being a part of Freeburg Community High School is amazing.
Our fan clubs and support that our clubs get from the surrounding towns is amazing. After being at college, I hear friends of mine saying how their high school fan support was only the students at school. This is baffling to me, because our whole town of Freeburg gets its energy from FCHS sports!
Football games Friday night are always packed to the brim with alumni and supporting people of Freeburg, Smithton, Fayettville and St. Libory. Playoff baseball games three hours away and so many supporting family, friends and students – who have barely any money for gas, carpooling just to be a part of the electric atmosphere of Freeburg baseball.
When the soccer team goes deep into a tournament playing against Gibault, who no one really appreciates in Freeburg, the grandstands will be plenty filled that night. I will never forget seeing a full functioning student section that night when we teed off against the mighty Gibault team in the Metro-east tournament. Students having planned cheers, yelling the other team members’ names to distract them.
Also, our amazing cross-country team goes to state almost every year. When this happens, we would have a tunnel of people outside waiting for them to walk to the bus. Parents, students, the band playing. That is real support.
The sports at FCHS are outstanding. Beyond that, though, the band is always staying busy year-round to keep all of the musically talented folks having fun. I will never forget my times in band. The band is the goofiest group of people with the most ‘I-don’t-care-what-they-think’ mentality, and it is great.
At FCHS, though, the band rocks. Every year, performing marching shows all fall at competitions, practicing endlessly it seems to perfect them. Seeing parents and friends drive to watch the band perform is quite the norm with FCHS. Performing in the St. Louis St. Patrick’s Day parade in front of 250,000 people, in Florida at Disneyworld market, and even in Massachussets at a school for hundreds of children and parents, Freeburg band is everywhere and so enjoyable for students.
Whether it be the band, the clubs and sports, or the amazing teachers who are always ready to be goofy to grab the students’ attention, FCHS has it all. They are focused on bringing up students with an enjoyable and safe high school environment, a high standard of academic quality and with a drive to succeed in whatever their passion may be in life.
So, I am always proud to be a Midget.
