Senior Samantha Nardi was struggling when she found out her best friend was moving to Texas in her sophomore year. Samantha went to her for relationship advice, family advice and any other time she needed help. They had been best friends since second grade, and now that she was moving she wouldn’t have anyone to guide her to the right path. Her friend moved away in her freshman year and that is when she decided to join Fellowship Christian Athletes.

“My best friend since elementary school was moving to Texas, I was devastated. She told me her dad had a better job offer there, I didn’t know what I was going to do. She was always there guiding me to do the right thing, and always giving me the best advice,” said Nardi.  “FCA helped me get through the change and it’s still helping me with my everyday struggles.”

FCA is an after school Bible study group that comes together every Tuesday to talk about daily struggles that any teenager would go through during high school or just throughout life. The group is made to help students overcome difficulties and give other students advice.

“We get together every Tuesday, we eat, then later split into little groups to have discussions. Each week we have different topics to talk about. We split the guys and girls up, so they can be more comfortable,” said Mrs. Lauren Breite.

Mrs. Breite is one of the sponsors for FCA, along with Mr. Brian Cissell. The group embodies what she believes in, which is the Bible. She said that anyone can join, they love having new people.

“My goal for the students is to live it out,” said Mrs. Breite.

Mrs. Breite said she loves getting to know the students outside of school and off the field, but her main goal is for the students to live out what they believe in.

“It helps me grows as a person considering there’s a lot of times we talk about that I’ve struggled with and by attending them it helps me get through it, it lets other people help me too, they are helping me without even knowing they are,” said senior Elise Thomas.

Thomas joined FCA her sophomore year and has been at every meeting since then.

“The group has grown a lot in many different ways, we used to only have one leader, but now we have six. We used to only have 30 people when I joined the group, but now we have around 70. We get into deep discussions and it’s just more fun,” said senior Rachel Bohrer.

Bohrer has been a member of FCA for four years, she started off as just a member, now she is one of the leaders for the girls section. She feels that being at the meetings helped her come out of the shell, overcome many difficulties and make new friends.

“We started a new program this year where all the seniors get assigned a freshman, we act as a mentor to them. We usually text them twice a week, reminding them of meetings, and sending them Bible verses to encourage them,” said senior Dylan Cochran.

Cochran started going to FCA in his freshman year, and is also now a leader for the boys section. He feels the group has helped him grow more spiritually, and he loves helping other people.

“FCA has helped me come out of my shell, I met a lot of different people through it.  It has helped me grow as a person by all the discussions we have had. Now I have the opportunity to be a team leader. It has helped me grow as a person by all the discussions we have had,” said Cochran.