To a lot of people, Fords Middle School is just a regular school in Woodbridge Township that no one has ever heard of. They might not even know how FMS came to be in the first place. To others, Fords Middle School is where they learned everything there is to know; they all loved Fords Middle School. There is a lot of stuff that we know about FMS, but the one thing that is most important about this school is something we don’t know: the history of Fords Middle School.
In the beginning
Back in the day, Woodbridge Township began becoming very famous and soon word got out saying that this was truly the best town around. It had a great DPW (Department of Public Works) system, a great economic system, a great transportation system and much, much, more. But one thing that was really important that made this town the best was the education system. It provided each and every child living in Woodbridge Township a chance to learn and be educated.
Now let’s talk about the founding of FMS and everything about it. Fords was a very not-so popular community in Woodbridge Township. Although people lived in Fords, it didn’t show as much popularity as all the other communities. In 1958, a contract was approved for a new junior high school in the Fords area. Now the school would be located in the New Fords area, which was a zone in Fords in which the housing development increased in Woodbridge. They began building the outer parts of the school, which definitely took a long time. Now, the reason why FMS was built was because Fords had a large amount of young adolescent children in the area at that time.
The money situation and the Woodbridge School plan (1960)
By 1960, Fords Middle was already midway through production. Woodbridge Township, as well as the Board of Education, invested in an eight million dollar school program for nine different schools that were being built or were about to be built. Fords, being halfway through production, gained money from this program to continue its construction. Toward the end of 1958, Fords began making the insides of the school until about August of 1960. At this time, lockers, chairs, a flagpole, working lights, PA systems and bells were all added using the money from the program. One problem that not just Fords but all of Woodbridge was facing was that fact that there were no free public junior high schools. In January of 1960, Fords Middle School opened its doors as Fords Junior High School. This was also around the time when free public junior high schools had hit Woodbridge Township as well, including Colonia and Iselin Junior High School.
Why the school district invested eight million dollars on schools (1960)
Woodbridge Township, as well as the school district, invested over eight million dollars for a school program, but why did they do it? Well once the 1960s hit, Woodbridge had a growing population of 77,683 residents. When this happened, it also was the Boomers era and most boomer loomers were adolescent teens who didn’t have any education near them whatsoever. As a result, the town decided to create a program to make more schools in each community, most of them being junior high schools and elementary schools. Over nine different schools were funded to either start production or to continue production with more money.
This is your principal speaking! GO FALCONS!
It was the first few years of the new school in session and it couldn’t be better in any way possible. Now setting that first part aside, ever wondered when the falcon was possibly introduced as our emblem? Well today, the falcon is a big part of our school’s reputation and spirit. But when did it introduce our emblem that would last to this day? The falcon was introduced, along with the school colors of blue and white, with the first class of Fords Junior High School in 1960.
The 80’s and beyond
In the 1980s, schools in the U.S. started changing a lot. Junior highs such as Fords, when it opened, served only grades 7th, 8th and 9th. But in the 80’s, those schools were transferred into middle schools which we have today, in which ninth grade was moved into high school and sixth grade was added. Also in the 1980’s, Fords Junior High School renamed itself as Fords Middle School or FMS. By 1991, Fords officially became a full on middle school, where sixth graders entered and eight graders left. After this, other junior high schools in Woodbridge Township decided to do the same thing as well.
Reaching the millennium
Finally, we hit the 2000’s. Fords Middle School was still the same, or was it? In 2005, a young student named Elias Stevens was a middle school boy fighting cancer. His dream was to play basketball, but unfortunately, he wasn’t so lucky. His family couldn’t pay for all the medical treatment expenses, so Fords Middle School created an event that still occurs to this day called the Blue and White Challenge. Even though Stevens’ family received enough money to pay, he had passed away. Today, the event is also known as the Elias Stevens Memorial Basketball event or just simply the Blue and White challenge, which still sparks today in the FMS community.
Fast forward two years later and Fords gets a huge update to its campus. In 2007, the Woodbridge Township School District created an idea to add an extra hallway to the FMS campus. Once it was decided, FMS opened its new wing of the school, which is just called the “new wing” even though it’s almost 20 years already. Years later, the Fords Middle School library closes and is rebranded into a Media Center instead, and in 2022, Fords Middle makes its way onto the internet by launching their very first YouTube channel specialized for school morning announcements.
What about today?
Today, right now, Fords Middle is still the same. Although during the past summer, it made a huge rebrand by changing its parking lot and front entrance road on Fanning St and Hearthstone Ave, since it was getting old and messed up a little (kudos to Ms. Murphy on that)! But other than that, FMS is the same and will probably always be the same. That’s not bad though, it just means that FMS has character, unlike some other schools.
In 2021, Fords Middle brought back a program called PBSIS, Positive Behavior Support in Schools. This program is to ensure that FMS thrives on good behavior. Simply put, it’s a point reward system for students that show positive behavior in school and get items from the PBSIS school store with Falcon Feathers.
The conclusion of this great history that was told
Fords Middle School will always be in a place in everyone’s heart, even mine. Every single person who has either gone to the Junior High or the Middle School will always remember the first time they put their feet in that building and all of the days until they stepped out and became adults in high school. Everyone who has gone or who is still going to school here will always love FMS the way it is. In conclusion, Fords Middle School is and will always be a great place to live and learn!
*This article was published 66 years after FMS opened its doors!
