Students talk changes

The Peoples Church hallways which lay dormant for most of the summer weekdays are now bustling with the daily activities of a new school year. FC officially came back in session Aug. 17 and brought with it many new policies, practices and faces.

Rory Coulton, ’18, enjoyed last year’s lunch set up more but thinks that the new location will be much cooler on warm days.

“I think I like eating outside better because we have more of a variety of places to sit and it’s less crowded outside,” Coulton added. “I think a lot of people liked it better eating outside. But I think on hot days it would be better to have a cool place to sit in if we wanted to.”

Orders for hot lunches must be filled out on the FC website by 9 p.m. the former day in order to purchase a cafeteria meal. On Mon.-Wed. all food will be catered by Moving Feast Catering and will range in variety upon a daily basis.  On Thu and Fri lunch will be provided by JH an HS Leadership. $3.50 will cover the cost of the entire meal.

Celeste Counts, ’17, enjoyed a quesadilla from Moving Feast the second day of school and plans on buying more lunches in the future.

“I think the lunch was very good,” Counts said. “This is the first one I’ve had but I really liked it. I definitely plan to have more lunches here. I actually already ordered them.”

This year a tighter rein on the usage of cellar devices will also be implanted. Due to the fact that phones are not in FC’s approved device list, they will be considered ‘off limits’ within the classroom setting.

Students are to place their phones within the designated containment holders upon entering each class. Phones will be kept safe within these holders until their owners are allowed to pick them up at the end of class. Failure to abide by this rule will result in confiscation of the device for a set period of time. For more information on device usage and other policy’s see  the student hand book.

Leadership, civics and economics teacher, Robert Foshee says that the new rule was designed to maximize concentration within the classroom setting.

“The new policy is a good way to know where to have a phone and where not to have a phone,” Foshee said. “The goal is not to have it lost or to have a giant bucket of phones but have it out of the way and make it less distracting. Most times people aren’t going to use their phones as much but when it vibrates it distracts them. Now they can look at the end of class and not be distracted by it.”

Scott Bucher (mathematics and science), Kristina Breshears(mathematics), Kim Castro (JH English), Rachel Rodriguez (Spanish) and Rob VanBindsbergen (Calculus, Advanced Math and Physics) have been added to the FC Staff this year. Hope Villines has also been promoted to the role of HS/JH cheer coach. In addition, several new custodians have also joined the FC cleanup crew.

Gillian Rea, ’16, says that her last first day of school was both a joyous experience and a sorrowful one

“My last first day was bitter sweet,” Rea said. “I’m excited to get on with my future and leave high school behind me but at the same time I’m very grateful for everything I’ve learned here. It feels like a tribute to my first day of kindergarten. My hope for this next year is to strengthen our senior class and encourage the under classmen and teach them to be more energetic and excited to spread the love of Christ.”

Inversely, many students experienced their first day of high school this past week. Among them was Griffen Schmidt, ’19.  Schmitt says that he is adjusting quickly to the new atmosphere.

“My first day was fun,” Schmidt said. “It was nice getting to see all of the classes and I enjoyed meeting all of the teachers. I liked meeting all of the new high schoolers. Leadership was fun and I liked how we did riddles in history. One different thing is that now I have a bottom locker and probably the classes are a little more difficult.”

Elizabeth Hienshaw, ’19, says that the start of freshmen year was personally bright. She looks forward to playing softball in the spring.

“My freshmen year has been great so far,” Hienshaw said. “The main differences is that there’s more homework and different teachers. They’re all very nice. I want to do a lot of things this year; one of those is play softball.”

Junior Vanessa Wood, ’17, rejoined the FC community this year after a period of absence from the school. She says that the acceptance of the student body helped her to adjust to the new environment.

“It was a really good first day I enjoyed it a lot,” Vanessa said. “Everyone here are my original friends so when I came back everyone wanted me to. The first day was great. I was really nervous because it was a new campus and I hadn’t been here in a while but everyone was really nice and I really liked the teachers. It was good to be back.”

President of the student body, Timothy Nyberg, ’16, says that his personal goal for this school year is to strengthen student leadership and input a long lasting energetic spirit into the student body.

“As president I want this year to be an exciting and event packed year,” Nyberg said. “My goal is to create a functional, well run leadership program where everyone’s voices and opinions are heard. We have so many new and exciting things planned for this year and I hope the changes we make will create an environment that encourages involvement and participation.”

A mandatory Emergency Information sheet has been handed out to all students and is due upon the earliest date possible. Seniors may obtain the privilege to leave campus during lunch hours upon filling out the Off-Campus Lunch form.

For another news article, see Promo: Beach Trip.

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