Gary ‘Papa’ Schultz has worked with hundreds of students as high school principal from 1982-2008. He watched them mature from freshman to graduating seniors. However, after his recent retirement, Schultz shifted his focus from principal to launching Fresno Christian’s Alumni Association; he aims to re-connect every FC graduate back to their home roots.
As Alumni Director, Schultz formed the Alumni Association in the fall of ’08 in order to improve school communication, recognize the many accomplishments of alumni, establish financial support, utilize alumni talents, provide leadership, and promote ‘Eagle Spirit’. Out of the 1566 FC alumni, Schultz, along with the Alumni Board, has located 1422 of those graduates and contacted them through varies means of communication such as email, phone and Facebook. Schultz also found that 84 graduates met at FC and eventually married each other.
“One of my goals for this year, in addition to the goals of the Association, is to find all of the alumni,” Schultz said. “I have the list of every graduate and I contact most of them through email, phone and Facebook. Facebook is one of the fastest ways for me to connect with people. Within the first week of creating my Facebook account, 250 alumni found me without me even trying to contact them.”
Every FC graduate is automatically included in the Alumni Association. The Advisory Board is made up of 60 alumni who are assigned to obtain contact information from the graduates in their specific class. They also work together to plan reunions and fundraising events and also recognize alumni who have gone off to do outstanding things with their lives.
“The alumni board has five members from the class of 2000 who are working right now to plan their reunion for this summer,” Schultz said. “The members vary in location from New York, Chicago, Denver, Sacramento and LA. They do all of their planning through e-mail which enables people to be mobile but stay connected at the same address.”
Before last year, no former graduates had been contacted or informed about current events or ways to stay involved with the school. Due to the small class sizes, one might think that graduates remained close to their high school friends. However, according to Schultz, many graduates said that they had not talked to “FC people” in 15 or 20 years. Now the association is working to engage alumni in clubs and events so that they have the opportunity to give back to their school.
One main development that resulted from the formation of the FC Alumni Board is the scholarship fund. The scholarship fund serves to provide students who are not able to afford tuition, a way to attend campus schools.
Although the poor economy makes it difficult to raise a substantial amount of money, the association received many contributions last year. According to Schultz, he hopes that the scholarship fund will raise enough money that one day no student who wishes to attend FC will be inhibited by cost.
“If you take 1500 alumni, and every one of those people gives time, money or service, their presence and acknowledgement of the school will benefit us in numerous ways,” Schultz said. “I hope to utilize more alumni in the future for career presentations, substitute teachers and alumni scholarships. I have had a lot of success so far with contacting people and getting them involved with the school because I know all of them and they know me. Other directors only know four years or so of grads but I know 30 years of alumni.”
As principal for nearly 30 years, Schultz not only chooses to stay in contact with students he has mentored through high school, he also receives the privilege of inquiring where these students have now ended up and what they have accomplished in their lives.
Three weeks ago Schultz contacted two FC alumni, Daniel and Amber (Dragoo) Myrick, from the class of 2001 and 2002. Daniel is in the Marines and Amber works for a software company in San Diego. Two weeks before their first child was due, Daniel received word that he was to be shipped out to Iraq. Although he was allowed to stay home until his child was born, the family prayed for God to provide a way for them to stay together. Within a short time, God answered their prayers, and Daniel was reassigned to the U.S.
“I have planted and watered for 30 years,” Schultz said. “Now I am harvesting. As a principal, I worked with students and then they moved on with their lives. Now these kids I mentored range from ages 20 to 40. I get to hear all the stories about how they’ve come through rough times and how God’s provided for them. I get to say to myself. I helped that student. Many of our graduates have gone on to be lawyers and doctors and even the mayor of Fresno. Now I work to re-connect the alumni and provide a support group for the school.”
For more information on the Alumni Association, contact Schultz by phone: 559.1695, ext. 150, or through e-mail at: [email protected] or through Facebook.com.
