Football, marching band performances, the senior class picture, and graduation. What do all of these things have in common? Their location. Unfortunately, breaking many years of tradition, the VHS  upper field, or Thomas J. Sellitto field, will have to be changed this year.

On Wednesday, August 22 of this year, the football team was shocked when a player fell several feet into a sinkhole on the upper field. With further inspection, this hole turned out to be 15 feet deep. This caused the immediate closure of the upper field. The hole was immediately filled with gravel, capped with a steel plate, and covered in sod. There is believed to be an underground tunnel or room from when VHS housed a school for wayward boys. Due to this, the town officials’ fear that more sink holes may reappear.

Repairing the field is definitely out of the picture this year since the school budget does not have any room for additional costs. Mr. Farishian stated that the school decided to put money toward the development of the lower field, making improvements in order to allow the field to be used for the rest of the year.

The football team and marching band have already been forced to relocate games and competitions to the refurbished lower field. The senior class picture, which has never been held anywhere but the upper field bleachers, was moved to the lower field bleachers. This caused many upset students over the change in tradition.

Senior football captain Luke Sniatkowski however, sees the positive in the situation.

“It’s upsetting that for my last year of high school football I’m not able to play on our town’s
traditional field. But, at the same time, the lower field is basically the same thing. The town has done a great job with it.”

The town hopes to have all repairs completed as soon as possible, especially since the field is such a strong symbol for Verona.