All students invited to tonight’s Be the Light event
(Seguin) – There’s a new driving force to help further the positive influence that coaches, athletes and all students can have not only in the world but among themselves.
Seguin High School is introducing the return of an FCA chapter to its campus. Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a nationally recognized organization, is the latest beacon of faith to assimilate throughout the local high school campus.
Among those helping to facilitate the new chapter is Ashley Farris, Seguin ISD assistant athletic director.
“What we are trying to do here through FCA is just empower coaches, athletes, all students and community members to unite and inspire and just go out and change the world through the Gospel and the Word of the Lord. We just kicked it off I’d say about a month and a half ago with what we call our FCA Huddles which is what we do every week Thursday mornings and basically what we do there is have a devotional that it either given by a student here or we bring in guest speakers. But once a month, the very first Wednesday of each month, we are doing off campus events. The first one was at the Ski Lodge for the month of September and that was a great event.
We had over 140 people there and then this one is going to at our Outdoor Learning Center,” said Farris.
Farris says although the work to bring back the group started in the spring, the importance of having such a group for all students was realized over the summer.
“We, of course, open it up to our entire student body. All of our staff members are invited each week to these ‘huddles.’ To me, personally, when I got to Seguin, and just walking the halls and getting to know the athletic department and the students, I thought that there was a big thing missing and FCA has not been here since 2016 and it was just on my heart that I think this was a big piece and then, of course, when we lost our fallen senior Chloe Belicek in July, that was kind of like, ‘okay, this is exactly what we need right now.’ We have to get this started. We had so many kids and so many community members hurting from her death, and we just really needed to put our focus on God and know that his plan is the right plan and so, there was no better time to do it, so we got it started,” said Farris.
Farris says the organization’s introduction to the district continues tonight during the Be the Light FCA Event being planned at the Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center.
“It’s absolutely free. We feed the students. Obviously, we are not providing enough food for the adults but most certainly, the students will get to eat hotdogs and chili and of course, we have Pastor Chris Larson coming to speak to us which we are super excited about. I don’t know if you have heard him speak but your soul will definitely be set on fire for the Lord after you listen to that man talk. So, we are really happy for him coming out and giving up his time with his family to come speak with our students and our community members,” said Farris.
Also, on tap tonight will be music by Madelyn Abrameit plus fun games and raffle prizes. Although the event is free, students will be collecting donations for the residents at the Windsor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Those attending tonight are encouraged to bring a pair of socks, blankets or cardigans to be donated to those residents.
Farris says the group is relying heavily on the outside community to help host these off-site FCA events and encourages those who wish to be a part of the effort to contact the Seguin ISD Athletic Department.
“Really, the work behind the scenes comes from our community members, a bunch of our parents have set this up in order for this to happen for the ones off campus. It takes a lot of people volunteering time and money for food. We have live music. We have guest speakers so it’s just really helpful when we have the support of community and the support of our parents to really help set all these events up,” said Farris.
The Be the Light event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the SOLC. The SOLC is located at 1865 E. Highway 90.