March 12th, 1939 was a strange day for America. The streets were empty and filled with silence almost like there was no one at all. This was because everyone was listening to their radios. Playing on their radios was the first ever fireside chat done by FDR, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was sitting in the White House with multiple mics all around him. He mainly discussed the banking crisis in America. In one simple speech, he was able to ease the worry Americans had about the banks and end the banking crisis in America.
The chats took place during WWII and the Great Depression. They were essential for keeping up the hopes of the American people and were also a way for him to connect with them. At a time when the American people needed leadership the most, he stepped up and met their needs exactly. He used simple language to simulate having a conversation with a friend, which was greatly received by the public.
Though the chats were written by his speech writers and advisors, he played a large role in making them too. He would often change some words or phrases on the fly to make the speeches more personal. He usually talked about the founding fathers and referenced faith a lot, telling the American people to face challenges head-on and encouraging them that things would get better eventually. The chats were a big part of both his presidency and American history for the impact they had on Americans nationwide.
Fireside chats at FWPA are much different from FDR’s, but overall, hold the same values as the ones Teddy Roosevelt did. In more recent times, Mr. Warren– who was the substitue principal at FWPA in that last half of the 2022-2023 school year has taken over the fireside chats. His chats often consist of stories containing life lessons for the 6th graders to take away at the end of each of them.
The fireside chats offer many things like life advice, getting used to FWPA, and encouraging them to stick things out. When asked what he hoped the 6th graders got out of the chats, Mr. Genzlinger said he hoped that they would adjust to FWPA well. He said that many 6th graders often come into FWPA feeling anxious, mainly because of the change from elementary school to the workload at FWPA, so he wants them to feel comfortable and be able to trust in their abilities. He wants them to find a sense of belonging at FWPA..
Ask any 7th or 8th grader and you understand how much of an impact the fireside chats have on them. Jennifer Bui who is a 7th grader at FWPA has a lot to say about how the chats helped her in 6th grade. Initially, she thought they would be boring but she ended up liking them a lot as the year went on. She says one of her favorite fireside chats was about a boy who kept on getting in trouble constantly so as punishment he had to continually fix a fence. He kept on misbehaving and didn’t realize that he would keep having to do this until he apologized to the people he hurt and fixed what he did wrong. She said the story taught the reader that you don’t realize how much of an effect your actions can have on people until you ask them how you hurt them.
Jennifer Bui shared the effect of fireside chats on her in 6th grade. She said, “As simple as these stories can be, they can be really helpful to one’s mind as it really helped me understand a lot, and some of the stories had messages in them that would be helpful later in FWPA”. She said even though the lessons may be simple or seem trivial they help to change the way you think. They gave her motivation and helped her be hopeful in bad situations throughout her 6th-grade year. She could feel Mr. Warren’s enthusiasm with everyone he would do which made her smile and like the chats even more.
This year they’ve changed a little bit; now 10th graders get to give a message to the 6th graders. The 10th graders picked are people the teachers think have improved a lot since 6th grade. Maria Fernadez was the first 10th grader to give a message this year. Her main message for the 6th graders was; “don’t listen to what others say no matter what they say and trust in what you believe and the people around you who are helping you”. This message works well for 6th graders because at their age, they are very young and impressionable, so the things that people tell them tend to have a big impact on their life as a whole.
Maria said she didn’t have much trouble preparing what she was going to say because Mr Warren told her the questions she would be asked. Overall she said the whole experience was very nice. She was a little worried about talking to them because she wanted to make sure to get everything right so they wouldn’t get the wrong message. Many of the 9th and 10th graders didn’t get to have the experience of doing fireside chats due to Covid. I asked her if she wished her grade had the opportunity to do them and she said, “Yes because we weren’t able to have a lot of opportunities due to covid it would’ve been fun to be able to have help to get used to FWPA and be able to build relationships with older kids by having them as mentors”.
“6th grade was a very memorable year even throughout all the piles of work. It’s that one year of middle school you learn to enjoy, yet you do your best in, and the fireside chats helped a lot with learning to love it here” -Jennifer Bui. Though the fireside chats at FWPA aren’t as grand as FDR’s they still have a profound impact on the 6th graders here and shape them as people in FWPA. They are so impactful in many areas of their lives and they are something that can continue to impact and shape the future generations of students here at FWPA.
