Athletics Perspective on Better Together

​Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Spring Fundraiser so far. You have helped us raise $70,836 toward our goal of $90,000. There's still time to double your donation.

Better Together...13 years ago when I arrived at Monroe, I had no idea what these words would ultimately mean. Today, I get it. These two words often come to mind when I consider the challenges we face and the success we have enjoyed as an athletics department. It’s impossible not to think of these two words, to visualize them, and not smile.

These two words, more than any others, personify who we are. They define the significance of of our entire school and more specifically, they are at the heart of every victory and success we have enjoyed. Those two words separate us from all other competition. CSF does not exist because the state decided we should. These schools are here, because we choose to be and we could not have existed for 75 years without each of us lending a hand for the greater good of Monroe. We are a Community. We are a Family. We are Better Together.

My first year as Athletic Director, Monroe hosted the regional swim meet. I had no idea what I was doing. As the athletics director of the smallest school in the region, I saw the task as daunting. However, my concerns were immediately alleviated. The parents of the four swimmers, aided by many more in our community, ran essentially every aspect of the meet and did so at a level the bigger schools could only dream of. I knew right away, I had joined a special organization.

I learned early on, if something gets done at Monroe, it gets done by us. For the most part, all tasks are accomplished with the help of others. When the school needed to spruce up the gym, I didn't make it happen. Joyce Gavora spent hours looking into how we could improve our facility before we settled on mats for the walls. I did not paint the tiles lining our gym walls by myself, our parents showed up in force to lend a hand. When the opportunity presented itself to upgrade the locker rooms, we did so as a community. A community member purchased used lockers. Parents sanded the lockers. A parent found a coworker to come in and paint the lockers. What would have been impossible for one person was accomplished together, as a community.

Better Together goes far beyond alumni keeping the scorebook at a basketball or volleyball game. It is about love, faith and kindness. It is about the understanding of knowing, when you are down, you will feel the arms of every member of this community pick you up, holding you and allowing you to once again put one foot in front of the other and move forward in life.

This community only grows stronger with each year. With each hand of a kindergartener extended to bless a graduating senior, the community grows stronger. As each graduate stands up in front of the community armed with the knowledge that there is nothing they cannot do in life, this community is strengthened.

Anyone who has spent time in the mountains and seen a full curl ram, understands the majesty he invokes. The standard vision is that of a lone ram, regal and magnificent as he overlooks, at seven times the power of a human being, the mountainside and area below. However, over time, it has become clear through my experience here at Monroe, the strength of these Rams is not in the individual, but in the flock.

We are, indeed, Better Together.

Frank Ostanik
CSF Athletic Director