With the new bond money Troy High School has received, the board of the school has many projects to come such as new softball and baseball fields and, interesting enough, a new fence. Troy High School students took notice of the metal fence as soon as the the new school year began. 

The fence was put in over the summer, and it has been clarified no students nor sports coaches were aware of this quick add-in to the field. Out of 2,098 students total, a great deal of the students oppose the fence. The captains of the cross-country team were particularly unhappy. “It affected cross-country practice every day.” Captain Allison Giroux states. “It also affected our course during our races because we now have to go further around it.”

Mike Messina, who was uninformed of this addition states,  “I don’t know what purpose it serves.” Messina also adds he was “frustrated” about the fence because, “we [the coaches and athletes] were not consulted at all.” 

When asked about the fence and why it was added to the courtyard, Principal Remo Roncone said,“Our hope was to have a more designated area to set some clear boundaries at lunch. Last year we tried with the barrels. Unfortunately, that didn’t really keep a definitive line and kids would wander sometimes.” Some students, according to Roncone, would wanderaround the outside of the school and even in the wooded area behind that leads to a neighborhood, an area that is off-limits for students to venture into. 

Although the fence was put in for security reasons, the cross country captain’s feelings towards the fence aren’t necessarily positive. Captain Irene Oh comments, “It’s not that big of a distraction but was definitely better before. Every time we do stretches the fence is always in the way.” The cross country captains agree together that the fence is “awkward.”

“We have over 100 kids,” Oh adds that when they sometimes practice inside the fence, it can get hard.

“Generally I would say nobody really likes the fence, mostly because it’s hard to do anything because it’s such a limited space.” This indicates that the new fence is an “obstacle” for the cross country runners. Although the fence was put in for security reasons, the athletes are very opposed to the idea of this new metal obstacle.