On the morning of Sept. 8, athletic director Scott Rivinius spent part of his morning preparing the football field for the soccer games that would occur later in the day, when he was surprised to see none other than a newly planted tree positioned on the grass near mid field.
Whoever pulled off this prank must have had a motive for it, however CHS does not know who performed the task of planting the tree, or when it was planted.
“I wasn’t happy that the field was damaged [and] I wasn’t sure why this was done,” Rivinius said.
Whoever planted the tree must have had a reason for it, whether they wanted to make a statement to a rival high school, or whether they wanted to perform a funny prank. Principal Joan Benz was also surprised when she heard the news from Rivinius that the tree was planted.
“The first thing that comes to mind is that some rival team would do it, or it was somebody in the community who was upset that CHS would be getting a turf field,” Benz said. “My two thoughts at the time were who would do this, and why?”
The school did not feel the need to investigate the matter because Rivinius was able to dig out the tree and its few roots without a problem.
“I dug it out that morning, got soil, and filled in the hole so the games could go on at our field that evening,” Rivinius said.
The investigation to find out who planted the tree continues, however the search for the planter is not very thorough due to insignificant damage to the field.
“There was no disturbance to the sporting events, or the school,” Benz said. “It looked like a baby sap thing. It was not something with many roots. It had just been planted.”
CHS students were shocked to hear this news, and wonder why someone would do this.
According to junior Jessi Maffeo, she thinks the planting of the tree was ridiculous. She also thinks that as long as it was be removed before the sporting events, then not much harm was done.
Other than Maffeo, many other students reacted surprisingly after hearing the news of the incident.
According to junior Andy Steele, he was surprised to hear that somebody put in the time and effort to plant a tree on our football field as a small, silly prank.
The search continues as CHS looks for the planter of the tree. This may have been a sign from a rival or a statement by someone in the community, but we will have to find out soon.
