Published: June 09, 2009 01:43 pm      

Floyd Central High School Alumni Association enters sophomore year

Organization has seen ranks grow

For Dr. Rex Bickers, this year will be his second serving as a “class president” of sorts. But instead of traversing through school halls making new friends, he will be continuing his effort to reconnect old ones.

Bickers serves as chair over the Floyd Central High School Alumni Association which began last year in May. Running with the success of its inaugural year, the organization is looking to build on this momentum and enthusiasm to make this next year that much more.

“We’re very pleased with the response,” Bickers said. “We’ve [grown from the] 67 people at the original meeting to hearing from about 3,000 people now.”

Bickers is a graduate of the class of 1970; he was one of the three valedictorians. After graduation, he spent 20 years living and working in Ohio before returning to the area in 2003. He was determined to form the FCHS Alumni Association, if for no other reason, to reconnect with his alma mater and the Floyd Knobs community.

“I’m rediscovering my hometown and classmates,” Bickers said. “There is an extensive brotherhood and sisterhood from Floyd Central that I didn’t know about.”

With the total number of FCHS alumni ranging near 12,000, the initial response to FCHS Alumni Association is promising, but it is looking to continue progress.

Along with Bickers, the FCHS Alumni Association has a seven member leadership committee whose members include Kristie Lomond, Vicki Hays, Laura Fleming-Balmer, Donna Riley, Jessica Baird, Michael Smith and Denny Leffler.

“We have worked hard to get the word out that we exist,” Lemond said. “This year’s focus has been to encourage graduate interest and participation.”

In getting the word out, the organization used multiple avenues including Facebook, which has proved to be an effective tool. Having opened in 1968, FCHS has young alumni in comparison with other schools in the area, and through the social-networking site the FCHS Alumni Association has received a positive response from those contacted. So far, 60 percent of new graduates have showed interest.

Last year, the FCHS Alumni Association held four major events in coordination with Floyd Central High School. Four-hundred graduates came to Alumni Night, the organization’s first real function. The event was held during the final game of the 2008 football season, the last game played in the old stadium before school-wide renovations began.

“Certain traditions like this helped [our organization] along,” Bickers said.

Fleming-Balmer felt the same.

“For me personally, I [had] not attended a game in over 20 years,” she said. “This opportunity gave me the push to come back to FCHS.”

Bickers is grateful to FCHS and Principal Louie Jensen, whom he felt has provided a great deal of support.

“Louie Jensen has been fantastic,” Bickers said. “He has provided [the FCHS Alumni Association] guidance. He’s never just said, ‘No, that’s not possible,’ but instead ‘Here’s a better way to do this.’”

And a better way is exactly what the FCHS Alumni Association is looking for as they are forging new territory. FCHS is a public high-school, and though several schools boast their own alumni associations, these are mostly private institutions. As the FCHS Alumni Association looks to grow and do more for the school and community, the issue of organizing funding must be tackled.

“The goal [last year] was to get connected and show that we were serious,” Bickers said. “But it’s true that we’re going to have to ask for money.”

Bickers emphasized that this money would be used for the sole purpose of giving back to the school that afforded him and other grads some of their life opportunities.

“[We] have dreams for [the FCHS Alumni Association] we haven’t even started on,” he said. “We want to offer [students] scholarships, mentoring, internships and summer jobs. We’re working on this, but to do it, we need money.”

The FCHS Alumni Association feels that as it grows so will the help they’re able to provide Floyd Central High School. And with an overwhelming positive response to the organization’s first year, it seems to be heading in the right direction.

“I think it says a lot about a school when so many of the alumni not only have gone on to do great and wonderful things, but that they have gone on to still be a part of the school,” Baird said. “I think it shows the current and future students of FCHS they are not just going to be part of a school for 4 years [but that] they are becoming part of a community of FCHS that will last a lifetime.”

Bickers feels that this commitment from alumni will have the greatest impact on the school.

“For 40 years the alumni haven’t shown students we care,” Bickers said. “That’s not something to be ashamed of, but know it’s time to show we care. We’re protecting the integrity of [Floyd Central.]”

For more information on the Floyd Central High School Alumni Association, email inbox@floydcentralalumni.org. The organization will also be hosting four Alumni Nights this summer at Beef O’Brady’s, this first on June 15.