When students graduate from high school, it can feel as if they’ve disappeared. Their names may be mentioned occasionally by teachers and staff reflecting on years past, but not much is heard about where they went and what became of them after high school. But some former students do return to visit and share their stories, such as 2013 FCHS graduate Chris Markham, who currently resides at the University of Mary Washington and is going into his senior year.

Markham has a major in journalism and a minor in sports management. During his sophomore year of college, Markham became the sports editor of Mary Washington’s newspaper, The Blue and Gray. He then became head editor of the paper for his junior and senior years. Markham said that he’s enjoyed college, and he can’t believe that it’s almost over. After graduation, he hopes to become a sports writer, although he is also interested in coaching.

While he was at FCHS, Markham was an editor of the school’s student-run newspaper, back when it was still made of paper. In print, the newspaper was called The Blue and Gold, and when it moved online, Markham helped come up with the new name for the student news site: The Fluco Beat.

His first experience in journalism came when he was a sophomore in high school. He was put in Elizabeth Pellicane’s Mass Media class, and although he hadn’t been looking forward to it, a visit from some journalism students convinced him to try her Journalism class as well. Markham encourages current high school students to try new things too. “When opportunities come like that, take them,” said Markham.

The Mass Media and Journalism classes helped Markham develop his people skills and prepared him to continue pursuing the field of journalism in college. Markham’s favorite part of journalism is interviewing people, which is difficult but gives the interviewer a chance to learn interesting things about someone they wouldn’t have met or talked to otherwise. At college, he was given the chance to interview Mary Washington’s new president, Troy Paino.

Markham said he explored few college options when he was at FCHS, something which he wouldn’t recommend other students doing. He visited CNU and George Mason along with Mary Washington, but he only applied to Mary Washington as he was invited to run cross country there. His acceptance letter came in early December on the day of a cross country meet. During the meet he had been spiked in the foot, so when he walked home to find his parents smiling at him with a ripped open letter, he wasn’t really in the mood to be excited about having been accepted into the college he wanted.

Markham encourages students to go forward and try new things that they may not have considered before. “Work hard while you’re [in high school],” he said. Besides taking several semesters of Pellicane’s Journalism class, Markham was Senior Class Secretary, was an anchor on In The Know, and had the honor of being Head Lumberjack on Lumberjack Friday. In his speech for the class officer election, he compared his first three years of high school to the first three miles of a cross country race. Those first three miles are long and hard, Markham explained, but the last tenth of a mile passes quickly, and so does senior year. So in order to make the most of your time here, seize each opportunity and run with it to the finish line.