One might think that Fredericksburg High School is just like any other small-town school out there, but every school has its own traditions and traits that make the school different from all others. Just like the Earth has the Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu, FHS has its own Seven Wonders of the School.

• Mr. Gonzalez

The man, the myth, the legend, Joey G. No other school gets to have their halls graced with the presence of the greatest principal in high school history. He walks the halls during passing periods to see his students and give them high fives and tell kids to “walk and talk.” On those special occasions, we get to see Gonzalez walking in his Stan Smith sneakers and his head painted for football games.

• The Band Hall

There is no other building that is as scary to go into at FHS, dare I say in the whole of Fredericksburg. The band is in their own little world, and if you cannot play an instrument, twirl a flag, or sing, chances are that you have never been in the mighty band hall. And if you have, you surely never want to go back in again due to the traumatizing singling out you experienced by being called a SNIB by everyone in the band hall. 

• Off-Campus Lunch

The long-awaited day of being able to go off campus for lunch. It is something that we all wait for from the first day of freshman year. The pure joy of leaving for an hour and the freedom to just go anywhere you want is a real game-changer. If the fact that off-campus lunch is only for upperclassmen, off-campus lunch is even more exclusive than you might think. It came to my surprise that FHS is the only school in a 50-mile radius that still actually has off-campus lunch.

• The Dungeon 

One thing I can assure you is that no other school has a dungeon. Most students would assume the bottom floor of the main building is the dungeon, but that is not 100 percent true. It is true that the 100 floor has its problems and resembles a real dungeon (i.e. classrooms had no windows, the rooms would flood, there was mold, and the classrooms had to be abandoned), but the real dungeon lies behind a locked, closet door on the bottom floor that spans the whole length of the hallway. And what makes that closet a ‘dungeon’? The massive pile of dirt. I kid you not, there is a pile of packed dirt and mud about eight feet tall and spans the whole length of the building in a back closet somewhere on campus.

• Drumline

Just like the band hall, the drumline is the untouchable heartbeat of FHS. Drumline is the part of the pep rally everyone waits for, and they are the reason why sports’ send-offs are so much fun. They are the hype gods of the school and make every school event worth going to just to see drumline. I think I speak for most of the school when I say, “I wish I was in drumline.”

• The Billie

The mascot of the Billie Goat is one of the most unique and creative mascots in Texas without being a dumb mascot. But before the goat, there were the Hill Billies. FHS used to be represented by a middle-aged man with a muffin top and a blade of wheat in his mouth in overalls. Somewhere along the line, the school slowly turned the hill billy into what he farms: the goat. FHS went as far as to get a real, living goat mascot when the school made the switch. The Billie goat’s name is Alter Stolz, and he is buried with a marker next to the weight room on the hill looking over the football field. 

• Water Spilling Out Of Electrical Sockets 

This just might be the rarest sight to see on campus. You have to be in the right place at the right time. The days when it is absolutely pouring, and you run into the gym for a class or to get out of the rain, you just might be lucky enough to see water spilling out of the electrical sockets and creating a mini-flood. You would expect this to cause some sparks or a short, but it turns out that the sockets must be so shot or just broken to begin with that the waterfall of FHS can make its appearance.