In the widely popular class, seniors who sign up spend a semester going over to the local bowling alley, now called Chippers, and playing in a class league.

The current bowling teacher is none other than Broomfield’s own Tom Burgesser.

Burgesser started working at Broomfield in 1999, and took over the class that had started just the year prior. Once Burgesser became the bowling teacher, the popularity of the class skyrocketed.

“When I got here, there was just one bowling class,” Burgesser said, “and once I got here, I built it up to where I got five or six classes every semester.”

It is no surprise that, once a student-favorite teacher started teaching a fun interactive class, the class gained traction quickly.

“[Bowling] gained popularity very, very quickly. I think part of the reason for that is I also added other elements. [In addition to] the bowling, I added archery, frisbee golf, and all of that good stuff,” said Burgesser.

Many popular classes in high school are liked because they are “easy” or “less work.” Those things may be true about bowling compared to a class like math, but Burgesser sees plenty of benefits for students to take bowling.

He said, “[Bowling] gets kids out of the typical school settings. They are able to just be kids for an hour.”

A break in the day for an interactive class can be great for the students, and it is also a great time for the teacher.

When it comes to his favorite part about teaching bowling, Burgesser said, “It’s fun watching kids get better and better and communicate and just have fun. Getting to know the kids on a different level and connecting with them outside of school is fun for me.”

Having taught bowling for over 20 years, Burgesser has accumulated great memories spending time with students at the bowling alley.

His favorite moments from bowling thus far in his career have been the Students vs. Seniors matches. “I always love when we bowl against the senior citizen league. Before Covid, we would go over on Mondays to bowl against the seniors. Each time, a student would go hug and grandma or shake a grandpa’s hand, which was cool to see. And, the best part was watching the senior citizens beat the students year after year. Hopefully we can get that going again soon.”

There is no doubt that Mr. Burgesser has built something special at Broomfield with his bowling class, and that’s reflected by the amount of seniors that elect to take it.

Burgesser’s fun personality combined with a class that gives students a fun break from the tedious nature of school has provided so many kids with so many great memories, and it will continue to as long as Burgie is an Eagle.