Black and Gold Day has been an FHN tradition since 1992. Its origins go back to the ‘80s when it was started at Francis Howell High School as Blue and Gold Day, mainly as a way to engage the community and demonstrate what the sports teams had to offer.
Schools in FHSD have a long history. It was the mid 80’s when North had just been built and the first freshmen class began attending the school.
Tracy Wuertenberg, a current English teacher at Francis Howell North, was a student at Francis Howell at the time, and experienced the district’s expansion. The school only began with a 9th grade class, but as the freshmen became sophomores and so forth, new classes were introduced every school year.
“As the kids moved up grades, the school began to form, because the school wasn’t even all built at once,” said Wuertenberg.
The 1992 school year was the first time that North was filled with students in all grade levels. Many admired the long standing tradition hosted at Howell High, and decided it was worth continuing at North.
“It started by the athletic boosters back in 1992, and it’s pretty much been the same weekend every year,” Coil said. “The idea was to kind of have it as a showcase to fall sports and a kickoff to the school year.”
Kim Coil is currently a social studies teacher at Francis Howell North, and was a cheer athletic booster herself when the tradition began in the ‘90s. Athletic boosters were parents involved in their student’s activities, working to support those sports teams.
While Blue and Gold day no longer exists at Howell High, North’s version of the tradition has now existed for over 30 years.
“Similar to Blue and Gold Day, there used to be bounce houses and dunk tanks, and all kinds of activities,” Wuertenberg said. “Now I feel like Black and Gold Day is more of a fundraiser day, with a couple of scrimmages that only the people that are playing participate in.”
Whether we have a field full of entertainment or not, North’s Black and Gold Day is looked forward to every year, and sets up sports teams and clubs for great success throughout their individual seasons.
“I just think it is a great way for the community to come and see what we offer as far as our athletics and organizations are concerned,” Coil said. “And it’s a great kickoff for back to school to have the kids and parents, and everybody in the FHN community come and celebrate that we are back.”
