On Monda March 6, the entire school, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, and all faculty and staff, gathered together to celebrate the founding of FWCD which occurred on March 6, 1963. The official 60th anniversary celebration will happen next fall as that’s when the official opening of FWCD occurred back in ‘63.  

Founders Day is an event to celebrate the parents, trustees, and first headmaster that came together to make Fort Worth Country Day a reality back in the 6’s. Just a few years ago, houses and quads were incorporated into Founders Day as a way to bring students K-12 together and have a sense of camaraderie. The houses are subdivided into F, W, C, D quads and within the quads there’s a friendly competition. The competition is centered around giving back to the community, and the quad that has the most donations wins house points. This year the F quad donations went to the Presbyterian Night Shelter; W quad to Breakthrough Fort Worth; C quad to The Como Community Center; and D quad to Saving Hope Foundation and Animal Rescue Fund.

This Founders Day was celebrated outside by the Caring Bridge and, luckily, the weather ended up being a beautiful spring day. Every division sat together by different tiers. Starting with Lower School on the bottom, Middle School in the middle, and Upper School on top. The tradition of a senior walking their kindergarten buddy and sitting with them during the celebration continued this year, so before the festivities began the class of ‘23 went and met their kindergartener in the kinder building. After all of the kindergarteners and seniors sat down, the celebration began. 

“I loved coming together as a school and my favorite part was meeting my kindergartener,” Ben Blahitka ‘23 said. 

The Founders Day celebration began with opening remarks from Eric Lombardi, Head of School, about the beginning of Fort Worth Country Day and the people who made it possible. The mic was then passed to Jeremy Henderson ‘23, Student Body President, who introduced the special guest speaker to the school: TCU Head Football Coach Sonny Dykes. 

Coach Dykes led TCU to their first National Championship appearance since 1938, a Fiesta Bowl win, and a 13-2 win during his first season with the Horned Frogs. Dykes was introduced by his three children Ally ‘25, Charlie ‘29, and Daniel ‘35. He began his speech praising the amazing education and city that we all live in and experience on a day-to-day basis. He discussed the value of teamwork and leadership, and how it leads to great success for your team and yourself. Dykes used examples of leadership that he has seen on his team by Max Duggan, the TCU starting quarterback, and how Duggan inspired and motivated his team. Dykes repeatedly said in his speech that we as students should be blessed to be getting the quality of education that we are. After he gave his remarks, he answered questions from the audience. The most memorable question came from a kindergartener, who asked “Why do you have football players?” Dykes answered all of the questions with humor and honesty. We as a school are all very grateful that Coach Dykes took time out of his day to speak to our community. 

The mic was handed back to Lomardi to introduce the teachers at our school who are achieving milestones in their careers at FWCD. Many teachers are hitting their five, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year mark at FWCD. We had two Upper School teachers who hit their 20 year mark teaching here: Dr. John Cordell, US Science and Molly Risewick, US Spanish. Other faculty hit their 20 year mark as well; Coach Mike Vincent, soccer; Coach DeAnn Hall, softball; and Carrie Cheng, ballet. This year was a special year for Barbara Meyers, LS science who hit her 35 year mark teaching at FWCD. 

“My favorite part of Founders Day is seeing the milestones that all of the teachers have had,” Paula Weatherholt, Upper School Assistant Division Head, said.

After the milestone teachers were recognized, the entire school stood up to sing the alma mater. It was a very special moment, seeing how everyone from kindergarten all the way to Mr. Lombardi came together and raised their falcons high to honor FWCD. Sadly, we did not have time to compete in some Quad games, but everyone who was in attendance at the celebration had a wonderful time celebrating 60 years of FWCD.