Laughter. Shared experiences. Similar interests and fun times. These are only a few of the words that describe a ‘bromance’, a deep friendship between two guys. Throughout FHN, there are multiple ‘bromances’ between the male staff. 

Anyone who’s been down in Zachary Fettig’s room knows of the ‘bromance’ between him and Mark Olwig, two history teachers who share the same hallway. According to Fettig, the pair have known each other for about 15 years.

“He was coaching St. Charles West, we actually knew each other before [working at FHN],” Fettig said.

The two can frequently be seen chatting in the halls and messing around, often tossing around tennis balls and joking around. At the start of each semester, their classes participate in a large ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors!’ tournament.

”I think we get together well. We have similar interests and similar personalities . . . and the location of our classrooms certainly helps,” Fettig said. 

Olwig believes that the reason they have many things in common is due to their similar personalities and hobbies.

“We teach the same subject, we also love soccer, and we both coach the boys and the girls teams here at North,” Olwig said. “We have a lot of common things . . it’s mostly a school driven friendship . . when you’re around people that have things in common, and you see each other often in the hallways, yeah, it makes the school day go faster.”

Another one of the school’s ‘bromances’ is between science teacher Joseph Brocksmith and history teacher Sean Fowler. Though their classrooms are not located in the same hallway, they still have a strong friendship. Brocksmith openly admits that the two of them often hang out after school, and that their classes frequently interact.

“It’s kind of odd, because in many ways we’re different, but in many ways we’re the same”, Brocksmith says. “I always think it’s entertaining that when we have conversations. I’ll talk about his wife, and how she’s similar to me, and he’ll talk about my wife, and she’s real similar to him. It’s kinda funny.”

Fowler shares the sentiment.

“I don’t know [why we get along so well], a lot of people say we’re like the odd couple because they’re so different,” Fowler said. “I’m a little bit more serious, and he’s a little bit more goofy, and I think it plays off well.”

Both commented on how as they came to get to know each other, they learned of many weird facts about each other and their families.

“It’s almost like we lived parallel lives,” Fowler said. “Our fathers were very similar to each other, my mom dated his wife’s dad, it was really interesting.”

 Some students take note of the relationship between the two teachers interacting quite frequently inside and outside of school.

“[Fowler] will literally just walk into class, and they always eat lunch together,” junior Jon Fitch said.