Winningest High School Football Coach in FMSD Mike Allen’s passion extends beyond the record

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“My favorite part in general is watching the progression of young people in all facets and avenues,” Allen said.

He’s developed his patience and perseverance so he can inspire the same qualities in his players.

One of his favorite memories is playing for the Upstate Championship in 2015. The team went from a record of 2-5 to 9-5 in one year. What changed?

“Attitude and perseverance,” Allen said. “Those two things, they always win.”

Allen has found that his greatest strength as a coach is his ability to motivate, leading by example.

“I don’t just say what the expectation is, I live it,” Allen said.

The coach hopes that his players would describe him as hard nosed and passionate, but also loving. That was something he prioritized in his coaching method.

“I’d describe coach allen as a nice, funny guy, and he’s going to forever have your back in war,” wide reciever Ja’Derrick Foster (‘23) said. “As he likes to say, he’ll be your biggest cheerleader, but he will also get on you when you make a mistake. I mostly love that he listens to what anyone has to say and is willing to open up to change.”

Coach Allen’s passion for the game and love of his players shows.

“I like the way he says ‘Let’s go play some football’,” James Wells (‘24), outside linebacker said. “He clearly loves the sport of football and his players.”

As Coach Allen challenges his players to succeed, they appreciate his leadership and his passion for the game of football.

“My experience with Coach Allen was great,” Foster said. “I’ve known him pretty much my whole life, he’s like another father figure on and off the football field. I think he really impacts the whole team with his coaching style and how he carries himself.”

Allen’s father’s record stood for 42 years. Fort Mill isn’t the easiest place to secure a win, but Allen’s teams succeeded nevertheless.

“When somebody tells me I can’t do something, I like to go prove them wrong,” Allen said.

“What made me commit to The University of Iowa was the atmosphere,” she said. “It had everything I was looking for in a school-great business program, a hard working team, a coach who believed in me, and could see that I would do great things at the school.”

With Lucas achieving many accomplishments, she hopes to do well while she is in college.

“I plan on accomplishing winning the BIG10 conference in all my running events being an academic All American all four years of college, running a personal best of 51/50 seconds in the 400 meters,” Lucas said.

Emily Eaton, a member of the Nation Ford swim team for six seasons will be committed to the University of South Carolina.

“South Carolina was my number one choice,” she said. “The coaching staff and team was so welcoming. When I went on my official visit, the campus felt like home, and I love the atmosphere.”

Mackenzie Riga committed to Providence College in Providence, R.I.

“I choose PC for the amazing academics and it being a smaller D1 swimming program,” Riga said. “I also really wanted to go to school up north, and visiting Providence and going on the official visit just put all the puzzle pieces together.”

Life without my phone for 3 days

Juice cleanses, fasting, and detoxes are all the rage, but what about a cleanse from cell phones? Phones have become an important part of everyday life. We get o work done on our phones, we socialize on our phones, and we convey important information through our phones.

In an attempt to test how much phones really affect our lives, I went 3 days without mine.

The first day without my phone was a Saturday. Usually I am able to procrastinate getting out of bed by either scrolling through my phone or setting a 10-minute timer. I didn’t have that option, so I woke up and started getting ready. I was able to do homework, clean my room, eat breakfast with my family, and take a run all before I went to work at 1 p.m.

I’m not saying that the choice to go without my phone gave me motivation to get all of that done, but it showed me that I had the time to do it.

One of the most upsetting things for me was the fact that I no longer had access to Spotify. I had to listen to the radio, which was not terrible, but because I am always listening to music, I couldn’t listen to it outside the car.

While at work at Starbucks, I wanted to check my phone multiple times, but kept realizing I was unable to do so. That night, I had dinner and went to bed early instead of staying on my phone for another two hours.

The second day without my phone, I woke up feeling refreshed. I was still getting urges to check my phone, but I was also glad that no one from my work was contacting me when I was not there. I had breakfast with my mom, then we hung out and talked for a while. I spent some time playing guitar and reading before I went to work again.

A friend visited me at work, and we made plans to get coffee for the next day. It was nice to make plans in person and not over the phone.

The third day was a Monday. I was able to grab coffee with a friend before school started. One difficult thing was waiting for my friend to show up when I had no way of knowing if she remembered our plan to meet or not. At school, the day went by relatively quickly, and I found it easier to concentrate on tasks.

Overall, there are definitely pros and cons to not having a cell phone for a couple days. The negatives are that I felt left out, I didn’t have the same access to music, and I couldn’t tell people things the moment they came up. On the positive side though, I was able to connect more authentically with the people around me, I didn’t have to worry about always responding to everyone else, and I wasted less time on social media.

A phone detox is something I would recommend for everyone to try at least once, especially if you are on your phone a lot. A phone cleanse can show you how much time you really have in a day.

Beloved teacher retires

Nation Ford says goodbye to preschool teacher Kathy Verhage

by Georgia Cox

Almost everybody has had a teacher that left a lasting impact on their life. For many students, that teacher is Kathy Verhage. Verhage has been teaching for almost 34 years. She currently teaches Pre-K at Nation Ford High School, working with both pre-schoolers and high-schoolers alike. She’s spent a lot of her life teaching in between kindergarten, first, and second grade. Now, Verhage plans to retire at the end of the ‘22-’23 school year.

She started teaching in 1985, but even from a young age, she knew that she wanted to work with kids.

“I had a job at the Warsaw Community Daycare Center,” she said, “and I always loved children. I started babysitting in fifth grade. I knew that when I started working at that daycare center that this is what I wanted to do.”

For the vast majority of her teaching career, she taught elementary schoolers. In 2018, Verhage made the switch to start teaching in the Pre-K lab at NFHS.

“This job always appealed to me because I can teach how I know kids learn best, which is through play,” she explained. “I can do that here because I don’t have a strict curriculum.”

Her favorite part of the job is, of course, the children she works with. She really values the relationships that she builds between herself and her students.

“I love the kids and the families,” Verhage said. “The relationships built over the years are so special.

It’s so fun to watch them get a concept and work together, to learn empathy and how to persevere. I have the freedom to sit and watch them learn, and I’ve gotten to work with so many wonderful people.”

One of these people is her assistant, Michelle Gregg. She’s been working in the preschool program with Verhage for two years. She was excited at the idea of working with her after her son had Verhage when he was in first grade, and remembered what great of a teacher she was.

“She is the most loving teacher I’ve ever met,” Gregg said. “She tells the parents that they’re her kids, and she means it. They’re a part of her. She is just so good at what she does, she really understands them.”

Verhage is one of those teachers that has a lasting impact on her students, and they have an impact on her. For someone who’s been teaching since the ‘80s, she still remembers all of her previous students.

“I’ve never seen so many students come back and visit a teacher more than they do for her, and she remembers all of them,” Gregg said.

Her former students agree that she is a wonderful teacher, one with her student’s best interests in mind.

“I love her positive energy and kindness,” Ella Borsm (‘23) said. “She really knows how to make a room of children feel safe and loved.”

The students who have her as a teacher now as a part of the Child Development course at NFHS appreciate all she does.

“She really cares for everyone,” Caroline Zban (‘25) said. “She’s so nice, and you can tell that she really loves everyone and wants to help them.”