F.A.S.T. 2011

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and took advantage of the opportunity to connect with friends and family. My holiday began wonderfully with a terrific Faculty and Students Together (F.A.S.T.) event which set a positive tone for the remainder of the weekend.

As I mentioned to our parents in a letter at the beginning of last week, F.A.S.T. is a day of games, activities, and competition which aims to foster school spirit. Our students value the day as one of the highlights of the year and I often hear our graduating seniors talk about F.A.S.T. fondly when looking back on their high school experience. Despite that, over the course of the past few years, F.A.S.T. has moved away from its original intent and has not always created the sense of school pride that we hoped for.

I am extremely excited to let you know that this year's F.A.S.T. was an overwhelming success. Thanks to the efforts of our student council, our students were able to keep many of the traditions that are so important to them while adding opportunities for community service and volunteerism that brought our school together in a way that was exciting and inspiring.

The student council accomplished this by making F.A.S.T. the culminating event in "A Month of Giving." Throughout November, our students organized and participated in community service projects including raking the yards of our senior citizens, collecting food for local food pantries, running fundraisers to benefit Children's Hospital, and collecting winter clothing for those in need. Additionally, on the day of F.A.S.T. all of our students  participated in a session of community service during which they wrote letters to our troops, made bracelets for patients at Children's Hospital, or made cards for patients at Children's Hospital.

The result of this work was a day that brought us together. F.A.S.T. provided a chance for good-natured competition between classes. More importantly, however, it gave our students and teachers a day to celebrate our pride in our school and the many ways that our students have given back to our communities.

There are many moments that stand out from the day including the decorations that adorned each class's wall, the spirited dress of our students in their class colors, and the cheering on of their classmates during the pep rally. My most memorable moment, though, came at the start of our pep rally when seniors Chelsea McGuinness and Harry Rider were singing our national anthem. Chelsea and Harry sounded great and were providing a wonderful rendition of the anthem when their microphones cut out unexpectedly for a brief moment. In that second of silence, our student body collectively began singing the song. When the microphone came back on, Chelsea and Harry led nearly 800 students in a loud and proud singing of the anthem. It was a moment that captured the collective spirit of the school and the pride that made our day such a success.

As a precursor to the Thanksgiving holiday, F.A.S.T. was a great reminder the many reasons that I am thankful for our school and our students. Our day reaffirmed that Nipmuc is a special school with a great deal to be proud of.