Chloe Cripe received quite an announcement two weeks ago, shocking perhaps.
“When she showed me the letter, it took me a good second to figure out why she was showing me a letter from Baltimore, and I didn’t see the Carson Scholars logo,” Cripe said of the moment her mother showed her the acceptance letter. “I opened it and went into shock.”. “I opened it and went into shock.”
Cripe, who was nominated earlier this year as a Carson Scholars candidate, found out she was indeed a scholarship winner and went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this past weekend to receive her accolades.
Cripe received a $1,000 scholarship, a medal, and Fairfield receives a trophy on Cripe’s behalf as one of the national winners.
Cripe was nominated for the honor for her work in the community in combination with her work as a student. The Fairfield sophomore has a laundry list of activities that keep her busy, including 4-H and her church, and is one of the top students in her sophomore class.
Cripe is shown in Pittsburgh with Dr. Ben and Mrs. Candi Carson, the co-founders of the Carson Scholars Fund, and Devon Harris, who was the keynote speaker at the conference in Pittsburgh. In the second photo is Chloe with her influential educator, FJSHS art teacher Kim Amor, along with her Carson Scholars medal.
A 'give back night' is going on tonight at Culver's for Fairfield junior Aislin Hunsberger. Money raised tonight from 5-8 p.m. via purchases at area Culver's restaurants will go to a fund to help Hunsberger travel to New York in June as part of the 2023 Scholastic National Art Awards, to which Hunsberger is a Gold Medalist! Stop in at Culver's from 5-8 p.m. to help out one of our own!
Sports aplenty from Fairfield's spring teams last week.
They needed an extra day to rid the snow, but Fairfield boys golf emerged with a three-stroke win, 170-173, over NorthWood Tuesday at Meadow Valley. Brayden Miller led the Falcons with a 39 and Carter Kitson chipped in a 42. Jayce Smith’s 45 pushed the junior high golfers to a 210 to clip Lakeland and Prairie Heights Thursday at Wawasee Golf Club.
Saturday was a rough weather day, but Fairfield’s varsity shot 318 to finish third at the Manchester Invite. Miller shot 71 to lead the team, Kitson had a personal best 78 and Miles Nine added an 82. The JV competed at the Plymouth Invite, and despite sleet and sticking precipitation, Jasper Carl was second overall with his 85 to highlight Fairfield’s day.
Tennis was nearly flawless Tuesday in a 5-0 shutout of West Noble. The side only gave away two games in its whitewash of the Chargers, shutouts pitched by Addison Mast and Elyse Yoder in singles play and the duo of Amanda McGuire and Elise Schwartz in doubles. Yoder and the one dubs duo of McGuire and Schwartz both won three-set marathons to push Fairfield past Warsaw, 4-1, Thursday night. Mast added a huge win at one singles, beating Addie Lind 7-5, 6-4 in a showcase of two of the top singles players in northern Indiana.
Baseball held off a Garrett rally in the seventh to win, 5-4, Tuesday. All of Fairfield’s runs came in the fourth, Keegan Miller adding an RBI in the process. Garrett scored three in the seventh to put the pressure on, but Landon Miller closed the door in relief to complete the win. Starter Alec Hershberger struck out 14 in six innings of work. Keegan Miller fanned 10 and went the distance on the hill as Fairfield won at Lakeland, 14-2, Thursday evening. Michael Slabaugh had a pair of doubles, a homer, and drove in four.
Friday against No. 6 New Prairie, Cohen Yoder had an RBI but the Cougars were too tough in a 9-2 win. Fairfield bounced back Saturday with a 14-4 win against visiting Concord. Yoder reached base four times, scored three times and drove in three, Slabaugh tripled and walked twice, and Donovan Mast added a double and run scored.
Softball edged Garrett, 2-1, Tuesday. Jasylynn Hall had two hits, a run scored, an RBI and two stolen bases to pace the victors. Makenna Steele homered and drove in four to lead Fairfield to a 10-6 win at Lakeland Thursday night. Ava Bontrager added a double, homer and three RBIs. The JV also got the dub, 8-3, at Lakeland.
Fairfield doubled up Prairie Heights, winning the boys track meet, 86-44, and the girls, 76-51, Tuesday night at home. Olivia Deward won the sprints for the Lady Falcons, taking the 100 (13.72) and the 200 (29.25) while Madelyn Culp hurdled her way to win at 110 (18.04) and 300 (53.94). Jalyn Stofleth added wins in pole vault (7-0) and long jump (14-11.25). Marco Garcia led the way for the boys in three events, taking the 100 (11.66), 200 (24.24) and long jump (18-4). Nick Hofer and Ethan Hochstetler went 1-2 in the throws, Hofer winning the shot put (45-2) and second in discus, while Hochstetler won disc (129-4) and second in shot.
At Saturday's Goshen Relays, Nick Hofer led the Falcons with a win in shot put, sending the pill 47-7 for honors.
Other top threes for Fairfield included the 4x100 relay second (46.62), the 800 sprint medley third (1:50.21) and Ethan Hochstetler third in discus (135-10).
Fairfield hosted Lakeland in a boys-girls junior high track double dual Wednesday, and saw the home side win both matchups, the girls 70-48 and the boys 82-35.
Highlights for the girls included 100 and 200 hurdles wins from Shelby Miller at 19.12 and 34.52, and a double from Joya Holsopple in pole vault (10-0) and long jump (14-8). Gavin Abbs led the boys with three wins, taking the 100 dash (13.28), 110 hurdles (20.50) and long jump (16-10). Wyatt Mast add added wins in the 800 (2:29.53) and high jump (4-8).
Holsopple set the Fairfield school record with a pole vault of 10-6 in the meet at Westview Friday evening. She added wins in long jump (14-7.5) and the 100 (14.10) to highlight the evening. Westview won the girls meet 65-53. The Westview boys rolled 97-21, the 4x100 relay the lone Falcon win at 52.25.
New Paris Fire Department has a special guest speaker Tuesday evening in Mary Irvin.
With over 30 years of special education teaching experience, Irvin spoke at NPFD and completed a training to support strategies and skills in working with special needs populations. Irvin spoke primarily to working with students with Autism, but most strategies would be great for all students with special needs.
“It was a great opportunity for me to meet with firemen and discuss possibilities with future partnerships to support familiarity and comfort of families with loved ones with special needs and emergency personnel,” said Shanda Branneman, Director of Special Education with Fairfield Community Schools. “I look forward to future field trips, fostering connections with individual families, and making families aware of important initiatives in Elkhart County, such as Project Lifesaver.”
As we close March on the athletic calendar, Fairfield varsity baseball and tennis joined softball and track with games played.
Baseball started 1-1, losing to Goshen 5-1 on Tuesday in the home opener, but rallying with a big 11-1 at Tippecanoe Valley on Thursday. A five-run fifth for the RedHawks broke open the contest that Fairfield led 1-0 going into the frame. Alec Hershberger had the lone RBI on a double for Fairfield. At Tippy, Cohen Yoder had three hits and three runs scored and Owen Garrison added a double and three runs driven in. Keegan Miller got the win on the hill, striking out five in four innings.
Fairfield has one more game before break, hosting Adams tomorrow morning.
Softball ran its record to 5-0 with a string of impressive wins over quality opponents. Last Friday, the Lady Falcons piled up 16 hits including a homer from Makenna Steele in a 12-2 win at Bremen. Three days later, Fairfield hung 17 hits on Northridge in a 16-8 result in Middlebury. Steele, Bailey Willard and Jasylynn Hall all homered and drove in 12 of the team’s runs. Slow and steady won the race at NorthWood on Tuesday, as Fairfield spoiled NorthWood’s first game at its new stadium in a 9-2 final. Hall had a triple and two runs scored and Steele struck out 10 in the circle. In its third game of the week against Northern Lakes Conference opponents, Fairfield visited Concord and used a six-run sixth inning to rally for a 9-4 victory. Faith Berkey picked up the pitching win, allowing just four Concord hits and helped her own cause with a double and three RBIs.
Fairfield returns to action April 10 with a home contest against Wawasee.
Tennis (1-0) opened with a Northeast Corner Conference win Thursday, allowing just four games to Lakeland in a 5-0 result.
Abby Gall at three singles and the duo of Malles Behles and Ella Branneman at two doubles both won via shutouts. Addison Mast at one singles and the one dubs combo of Amanda McGuire and Elise Schwartz gave up just one game, and Elyse Yoder at two singles won 6-2, 6-0.
The Fairfield High School football team took six of its upcoming senior class to Benton Elementary this past week to read to classes of first and second graders as part of the Read with a Falcon program. Reading to the Benton students were Ethan Hochstetler, Ethan Schmucker, Alex Hofer, Mitchell Stump, Caleb Borkholder and Sawyer Ernsberger.
Special thank you to FHS football head coach Matt Thacker for providing the photos and videos!
Super exciting news, the spring musical is coming up soon!!!! The cast of Mamma Mia is excited to perform and can’t wait for everyone to see it!
Performance days are April 21+22 @7pm
The link for tickets: https://fairfieldhsin.ludus.com/index.php
They are quiet today, but during school hours our libraries and librarians are the hub of our schools. If you happen to see one, thank a librarian today!
Welcome to our new website!