With a new school year starting next fall and a new principal overseeing our school, FHS will face an array of new changes. More notably, Fauquier’s Booster Club hopes to change FHS for the better.
Booster Club secretary Craig Rooke has always believed, “Leave something better than you found it.” And his mission is just that. Despite his short time at Fauquier, Rooke has already put forth plans to enhance our school’s sports program. Rooke stated, “Kettle Run was built in 2008 and they just received a new track. Our current track was replaced in 2006 (approximately) and is older than Kettle Run’s.” After highlighting this difference, several other Booster Club members were inspired. There are hopes to replace and restore the track and Kelican Field. An ideal plan from Rooke was for a turf field to be built somewhere on campus. Building the field separate from Kelican Field would allow spring sports to be played on the turf field while maintenance focuses on regrowing and managing the grass field for the football season. Allowing our football student-athletes to continue to play on grass would reduce the risk of injury that is heightened when athletes play on turf. Additionally, having two playable fields would expand scheduling possibilities for all sports.
However, achieving goals like this will take a village. Rooke states, “First our Board of Supervisors needs to invest more in the school system and give the School Board and Superintendent a realistic budget. As a school, we can solicit grants from businesses and donors and earmark that specifically for the field project. This type of project would require multiple bids, permits, building committee meetings, environmental concerns, and many other bureaucratic steps and processes.”
But this tedious process hasn’t slowed down Fauquier’s drive for improvement. After touring the school, the Booster Club noted that the Softball field did not have an irrigation system like the Baseball field. Rooke shared, “It was found to be a Title IX violation, and this summer the softball field will have an irrigation system installed.” But this summer won’t be limited to softball renovations. The baseball dugouts will be ungraded and repaired as well this summer.
There are several ways that students and parents can be involved in the process of refining FHS. The Booster Club encourages parents of student-athletes to join. Being a part of the Booster Club is the best way to stay updated on all projects surrounding our school. But for students, attending home sports events can be just as helpful. When you purchase food from our concession stand, you are directly donating money to our school’s sports program.
