The Forest Hills athletic office acquired a new athletic secretary this year: Kristi Swayze. Swayze will have big shoes to fill for the cherished Ranger athletic community, following the retirement of beloved former secretary Carol Sprys.

Sprys called Swayze before leaving the position for good and explained that she was giving up her throne at Forest Hills Central. She was adamant that Swayze should at least consider the opportunity to join the Ranger family. 

Sprys was confident that the former Rockford athletic secretary would do an excellent job taking over. At the time, Swayze was working in “early childhood” helping different families get services, and was not specifically looking to leave the occupation. However, Swayze was open to the idea of getting back into athletics. 

“Mrs. Sprys called me and said that she was retiring and asked if I wanted to get back into athletics,” Swayze said. “Then Mr. Udell called me with the same question. I was not looking to leave early childhood,” Swayze commented. “I enjoyed working with families and kids with disabilities, and helping them get the services they needed.”

Swayze was given the information for the opening and given the opportunity to take the spot long before she committed herself to be a Ranger. She had received personal recommendations from Carol Sprys, Clark Udell, and even peers of hers who have sent student-athletes through the district. In the end, it was her passion for athletics that brought her back to the field.

“I realized this past spring how much I missed athletics,” Swayze said. “I missed being in a school, I missed being around students, and in a high school athletic setting.”

Previously in her high school athletics career, Swayze worked as the athletic secretary in Rockford high school. She has 15 years of experience under her belt as she starts a new chapter at Forest Hills Central. Six weeks into the school year, it is clear that she has impacted our athletic programs immensely. JV football head coach, and varsity assistant coach, Anthony Sultini has seen nothing but the best come from Swayze throughout the beginning of the year. 

“Out of my 16 years of coaching, I have never seen an athletic secretary in the middle of a football huddle, on the field, during timeouts, asking players if they need water. Right there, that shows me that she is going above and beyond all of the regular responsibilities that an athletic secretary usually does,” Sultini said. 

Not only has Swayze aided our athletic department, but she has also helped the FHC Sports Report to no ends. She has gone out of her way this year to help the staff expand its website and organize functions like the “gameday” episode against Grand Blanc. Her generosity is much appreciated by editor-in-chief Thomas Cobb.

“It was a very crucial time for our site, and [Gameday] was such as far-out idea to begin with,” Cobb said. “With her help, we started to slowly narrow that idea down to being feasible. In the end, it was with her work, and effort that got us to where we wanted to be.” 

Despite her past work with Rockford, the Michigan State graduate has always believed in the green and white. In fact, that just might be one of the reasons that pushed Swayze over the edge to jump back into athletics.

“I bleed green and white,” Swayze said. “Had this been any other school, I wouldn’t have gone.”