Aug. 25, the day of Newton’s annual Fall Festival. Athletic director Brian Becker paces through the halls thinking about the busy evening ahead. Becker prepares every year to make sure people enjoy their time at Fall Fest.
Every year, Fall Fest takes a lot of time to plan, especially with the selected venue of Fisher Field. Many of the students here in Newton High School await Fall Fest to celebrate the school’s athletics.
“I am the organizer so it all kind of gets put together by me,” Becker said. “I plan the event order and I introduce the coaches who then introduce the players on the teams so it’s all orchestrated by me. Fall Fest is our fall sports preview, so we start right after school by taking team pictures and photos.”
Behind the scenes, Becker organizes the photos and the practices that will take place at that afternoon and evening. During Fall Fest, it’s the team’s time to shine with short scrimmages.
“We have scrimmages, so the volleyball team will scrimmage here at the high school, and then when we go over to the football stadium. We have the junior railer football team that typically scrimmages, we have the middle school football team scrimmage, the high school soccer team scrimmages and then we introduce everybody. The pep band plays, the cheerleaders perform and the Railiners perform,” Becker said.
During Fall Fest, Becker spends his time down on the field with the teams he introduces.
“I spend most of my time down on the field introducing the coaches and the teams,” Becker said. “It’s something that we do every year so it doesn’t take that much preparation because I know how it’s going to go, but it probably takes a couple of hours.”
It might seem Becker goes through large amounts of stress but it is a rewarding experience in the end.
“It’s a lot of work for him and he does it because it’s exposure for the kids and an opportunity for the community,” assistant principal Tige Stone said. “[It’s] a good opportunity to re-unite the community and the school.”
The other NHS admin realizes that the event is stressful to plan, especially with the additional obstacles this year. Because of the excessive heat, Becker had to spend time replanning and reorganizing the event.
“I think there could be some anxiety,” principal Blake Smith said. “We have the heat and he already had it planned out and now has to change the plans. He has to think about the impact on coaches, the athletes and the parents. There’s also a ton of planning and coordinating because it’s not just high school sports but it’s also middle school.”
Becker puts time and effort into preparing for Fall Fest because he knows how important the event is to the high school. Without him, Newton wouldn’t be able to see and enjoy fall sports.
“It’s just a fun activity and a good way for everybody in the community to come out and see the teams we have,” Becker said.
