Schools
Eye On Falcon Sports
Senior AJ Visconti gives a winter sports update and shares some thoughts on the closing of Fort Monmouth.
Hello, I'm AJ Visconti, a senior from Monmouth Regional High School. I am a captain for the Falcon football program and I play quarterback for the team. I also throw javelin for the track and field team at our school. I am president of the Class of 2011 and I am also a part of the Heroes and Cool Kids Club and a member of the Boy Scouts of America. I will be writing about different things going on at Monmouth Regional High School and in the community and I am excited to do so.
My father is in the United States Army, so I live on Fort Monmouth, right down the street from Monmouth Regional. I have lived there about 12 years and each year the number of people living on the fort has dwindled. With the base scheduled to close in September, the neighborhoods have become less full of families. Fort Monmouth used to have three sections of housing for families but over the years that has shrunk to about four or five streets.
The base closing will also affect civilian families who live in neighboring Eatontown and Tinton Falls. The potential loss of jobs for family members working at Fort Monmouth will force many to move once the base is closed. Ultimately, I believe that Monmouth Regional will lose a population of families that lived on the base that produced good, young adults -- some of them athletes -- that in the long run will hurt the school community.
Find out what's happening in Long Branch-Eatontownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
I will be giving some updates on the winter sports teams at Monmouth Regional. As of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, our boy's basketball team is 5-5 and 3-2 in the division. This team is loaded with talent and experience and looks to improve its record as the season moves on. The wrestling team is now 3-2 and is trying to earn more power points although it's still early in the season. They are led by senior captains Ryan Greenwood, who is 11-1, Marcus Johnson, Scott Satcher, and Nick Jordan. Another school note, Natasha Backman, my neighbor on fort who goes to Communications High School in Wall but plays field hockey for the Falcons, has verbally committed to Temple University and will be playing for the Owls next year.
