The FOL Story

Just Because We Wanted To...

In conjuction with founding Fields of Learning in 2004, Bruce Ferguson made a commitment to visit every one of the approximately 725 high schools in the State of Ohio that play football and take a photo of the school and its football field. Frequently accompanied by other FOL Team members, it took many road trips and 11 years to complete the mission. The final stopping point was Manchester High School in Adams County on the Ohio River in February, 2015. As new schools are built or existing ones take up football, we visit each of them every year so that we can continue to proclaim that we have visited every high school in Ohio that plays football. When asked why, the answer is "Just because we wanted to...".

Our Inspiration

One day, out of thin air--or wherever such inspiration comes from--the idea of awarding financial prizes to high school students who wrote about something they learned as a result of high school football simply came to Bruce Ferguson. It wasn't hard to convince the other three founders to enter into something that would be fun and rewarding for them to undertake together as a family, and in 2004 Fields of Learning was born.

Our Goal

To award scholarships for several students each year, boosting confidence and offsetting a small portion of the cost of post-secondary education.

Our Vision

To help preserve the ancient, but important, skills of introspection and reflection in young adults.  By communicating through carefully chosen written words about a highly resonant experience, high school students will cultivate a balance between the speed and interactivity of today's electronic communication platforms and deeper forms of expression.

We'll bet you never saw a map like this before...

Here is a map of Ohio with each of the high schools that play football marked by a sticky with the name of the school. They are color coded by Division I-VII, and "not OHSAA", hence not having a division designated. Schools are reclassified by Division every so often, requiring a major update of the map!