Fort Scott Tiger Day tradition continues

FSHS athletes hang out with eighth-grade students at Fort Scott Middle School Friday during the 23rd annual Tiger Day. The event, first conducted in 1989, is held on one Friday each year when the football team has a home game so that the FSMS students can show their support for Tigers on game day.

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Every year since 1989, Fort Scott High School senior athletes have been coming to Fort Scott Middle School for the annual Tiger Day, and this year was no different.

Friday, the FSMS cafeteria was full of seniors in FSHS's fall sports spending time with the younger kids telling stories. FSMS Principal Barbara Albright said that the "long-standing tradition" has served as a memory building experience as much for the athletes as the middle school students.

"Our community is big on traditions, and Tiger Day is definitely a long-standing tradition between FSHS and FSMS," Albright said in an e-mail. "The middle school students enjoy the opportunity to visit and eat lunch with the senior role models, and the seniors know the routine from being middle school students on Tiger Day in the past."

A group of Fort Scott High School senior athletes share a fun moment with eighth-grade students at Fort Scott Middle School Friday during the 23rd annual Tiger Day on Friday.

While the biggest benefit of the event is allowing students to have up-close meetings with their idols, students also have an opportunity to have their picture taken with the seniors and show their support for the Tigers since the event is usually held on a day when the football team has a home game.

According to Albright, FSMS Assistant Principal D.J. Brown does the majority of the preparation for the event, something he takes a great deal of pride in because he was one of the visiting seniors himself in 1990.