The Power of Activities Edition

The True Purpose of Sports/Activities

As principal of Fremd High School, nothing pleases me more than to see our students find success AND to achieve it by doing things the RIGHT way. This morning, I received an email from the Swimming official who presided over Thursday’s Palatine vs. Fremd dual, Mike Hutton. I am sharing part of his email, with his permission, to illustrate one of the more important lessons that our students can learn: It’s important to approach everything in life with humility and respect, and to treat everyone you encounter with dignity:

"I had the absolute pleasure of being one of the officials assigned to the Palatine vs. Fremd swim meet earlier this evening, Thursday, December 8.  The sportsmanship exhibited by both teams all evening, but in one event in particular, is something I feel needs to be brought to your attention. During the junior varsity 500-yard Freestyle event, a swimmer from the Palatine team was challenged to maintain a pace equivalent to the other swimmers. He was lagging far behind. To illustrate this, there were 6 competitors in the race, and as the 5th-place swimmer finished the event, the swimmer still had 175 yards remaining.  He was clearly exhausted.  He needed to stop and hold the wall each lap before proceeding some more (this is legal.) Lap by lap, as the swimmer got closer to completing the 500-yard distance requirement, the entire Fremd team and coaching staff was at the edge of the pool cheering, in fact screaming, for him to gut it out and finish.  His Palatine teammates were doing the same.  The announcer got the crowd from both schools to do so also. Everyone was on their feet encouraging this young man to complete the race.  It was one of the most authentic, genuine and remarkable moments I have witnessed in my 27-year IHSA officiating career."

I tip my cap to Coach Kristen Newby, her assistant coaches, and the entire Boys Swimming Team for emphasizing good sportsmanship, win or lose. This is one of MANY examples of doing the right thing that can be found in any number of our programs.

A Christmas Carol

For two more nights only! Come see FHS students in the theater program perform A Christmas Carol. Performances on Friday and Saturday night begin at 7:00 in the Kolze Auditorium. Tickets are $7 at the door.

Heart Screenings

A big thank you to all of the parent and community volunteers who helped with the EKGs sponsored by Young Hearts for Life. Eighty-five volunteers donated their time to help us screen almost 1687 students. To quote PE teacher Jason Hogrefe, “Fremd has been changing lives for over 50 years; today Fremd was saving lives as well.”

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to Coach Martin Zacharia and the Fremd Debate Team on their performance at the Belvidere North PF/LD Invitational and also to Kashif Javid, Piyush Biswas, and Matt Grabianski on being the Varsity Champions in their divisions. Award Winners include: Varsity: Adhith Palla & Abhi Balu, 4th; Piyush Biswas, 5th Speaker. 
• Congratulations to this week’s Viking Pride recipients:  Nick Argyropoulos, Maria Barto, Emme Beaupre, Jason Godawski, Reagan Goluch, LaMyra Hall, Scott Hanssler, Alyssa Honickel, Emily Hopkins, Zayla Jyawook, Thomas Knuth, Sarah Madden, Jack McVicker, Kyle Morin, Sarah Roach, William Spencer, Uma Trott, Emilee Velazquez, Vaishnavi Vembar and Kayla Wakuta-Scott.
• Congratulations to FHS Sophomore Sydney Niewiedzial, who placed 2nd out of 116 competitors at the Regional Championships and will represent Trinity and the United States for the 6th time at the World Championships of Irish dance (often referred to as the Olympics of Irish dance), held April 9-16, 2017, in Dublin, Ireland. Sydney is currently ranked 6th in the World. http://www.trinityirishdancers.com/

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

December 9	Girls Basketball @ Conant H.S. - 6:00 p.m. Boys Basketball @ Conant H.S. - 7:30 p.m. Winter Play “A Christmas Carol” - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
December 10	Booster Craft Fair - 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. Winter Play “A Christmas Carol” - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. Girls Bowling Tournament @ Streamwood Bowl, 9:00 a.m. Boys Swimming & Diving Relays @ Barrington H.S. - 1:30 p.m.
December 11	Competitive Cheer Invitational @ Stevenson H.S. - 8:00 a.m.
December 12	Girls Bowling Match vs. Elk Grove H.S. @ Arlington Lanes - 4:45 p.m. Incoming Freshman/Parent Night - 7:00 p.m.
December 13	Girls Basketball Shootout @ Lake Zurich H.S. - 5:00 p.m. Winter Choir Concert - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
December 14	Girls Bowling Match vs. Schaumburg @ Arlington Lanes - 4:30 p.m. Girls Gymnastics Triangular @ Conant H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
December 15	Winter Orchestra Concert - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. Girls Bowling vs. Glenbrook North @ Deerfield Brunswick Lanes - 4:30 p.m.

For a more complete list, please visit our Athletics Page.

Ask the Principal

Are you curious about something at Fremd but have never asked? Email me at ktenopir@d211.org. If your question is pertinent to a wider audience, I will include it in the next blog post.