Nisky Track Field in Progress

After half a year of construction, many students are wondering when the new track will be finished. While progress is running slow, we have many new exciting features planned for us.

All of us are wondering what’s taking forever with the construction so it’s easy to understand why people are impatient. Our track and field is very important to us and our community, as it’s being used for sports, PE classes, and for people who just want to take a walk. Last year—during the outdoor track season—the track had just started its construction, so members of the track team had to board buses to go to Schenectady High School everyday afterschool in order to use their track for practice. I was on the team last year and this was especially annoying for me, as we had to wait for a bus everyday that was usually late. The whole process was just very inconvenient for us.

The whole construction process of our track and stadium is all part of the capital project. Their goal is to enhance our athletic facilities and improve our playing conditions. In my opinion, these improvements are much needed, because the old track was filled with potholes, and lacked many features from other track fields in our area. At the time, I wondered when we would be getting an upgrade. The way I see it, a good track field is seen as a status symbol for many high schools. With a good track, we can host more home meets, our athletic abilities can be improved, and many other schools will see us from a positive perspective and may even look forward to having sports meets here. Even if you take away sports aside, a track field is a great place for us to host school events and provides a great place for students and people to hang out. The Niskayuna webpage even describes our track and stadium as, “the home of the Silver Warriors”. So if that’s the case, without a functioning track field, do we have no home?

Right now we have some information on what’s being planned for us. Those of you who check the Niskayuna website may have already seen this, but one new feature that’s being added to the track field is colored turf. Though this may seem like a simple addition, to me, the addition of new colors adds a lot to our track. These colors don’t just make our field look more aesthetically pleasing, but the addition of our school’s colors will help represent the Silver Warriors, our school, our town, and our community. It could help increase our school spirit, something our school tends to lack.

Though it is still unknown when the track will be fully finished and ready to be used again, I am very excited to see the new design and how our new field comes out. I know that these improvements will bring everyone as a school closer together. So even though construction is moving slowly, just know that when things finally finish, the results will not disappoint.

If you would like more information on the construction of our track, or more information on the capital project, you can learn more on the Niskayuna homepage.