Dear Members of the School Board,

My name is David Juhnke, I graduated from Hawley High School in 2007. I have recently been informed of a potential to cut the wrestling program. In light of this information I urge you to reconsider this option for a budget cut.

My experience through high school athletics is as follows. In my junior year at Hawley I joined the football program with my size as my only physical asset, in every sense I was a poor athlete; the football coaches, I’m sure, can attest to this. During football, however, I began to change my physique and came to love the sport. Through the football season I expressed my desire to earn a starting spot my senior year to a friend Brady Bjornson, who immediately urged me to join the wrestling program to prepare for my senior football season. Though skeptical I joined wrestling. In wrestling I immediately learned why it would help me so much in football; wrestlers are some of the most physically fit athletes in high schools today. Through my junior wrestling season I wrestled only JV earning about a 500 season. Though my winning record wasn’t great, there were aspects of the season I was proud of; I had become quite an athlete, lost weight, built muscle, and had accomplished quite a few things I wasn’t sure I was able to; but most importantly, for the first time in several years I had a great outlook on life and a good opinion of myself. I finished my junior year with the musical and track. Starting my senior year I was in good shape due to my previous year of wrestling and the wrestling workouts I did over the summer, I went on in football to earn several awards through the school, and even defensive player of the week for the conference after our BGMR game. After the football season I went straight into my senior wrestling season, in my senior wrestling season I continued to succeed, earning a record of better than 500, and along with Nick Paur became one of the first two wrestlers from Hawley High School to ever go to state. For this I credit Coaches Kyle Reiner and Todd Olson and their determination.

Now I attend South Dakota School of Mines and Technology as a sophomore for Mechanical Engineering. Here at school I continue to play football and wish the school had a wrestling program. Here at college I attribute my success both in the classroom and on the football field to the skills and determination I learned while in football and wrestling in high school. Though I am not the only football player here at my school to have a wrestling background, most of the linemen and many of the other players have wrestling backgrounds.

Finally I ask you to continue our athletic programs, and especially wrestling at all costs. It scares me to think about my future if I had not made the fateful decisions to join football and wrestling, and I hope you continue to allow future students at Hawley High to make those decisions too.

Sincerely, David Juhnke

P.S. This past year over my Christmas break I came back and with Coach Desmond’s Radunz’s permission participated in wrestling practice. During the practices I can only hope I was able to help the wrestlers I worked with. I will note Coach Desmond was in my opinion a great coach and would have loved to wrestle for him myself.