Senior Athlete Of The Week: Joe Festa

Last season, Joe Festa was, as a junior, part of the Verona High School wrestling team that made it all the way to the quarterfinal round of the Region 4 wrestling tournament. All signs are that Festa, now the team captain, intends to do that much or more in his final year at VHS. At the Edison Classic, the first wrestling match of the season this past Saturday, he nailed a first place medal. For this reason–and more–Festa is this week’s Verona Sports Boosters Senior Athlete of the Week.

Festa, who also spent time as goalie for the VHS boys soccer team this fall, wrestles at 220 pounds on the mats. In his classrooms at VHS he wrestles with much more, regularly pinning top grades that land him on the school’s honor rolls.

Outside school, Festa continues a long family tradition of service to Verona through his participation as an auxiliary member of the Verona Fire Department. Auxiliary members, who can start as young as 16, train with the regular members and were on the streets with them during the many calls that accompanied the Halloween snowstorm. Festa was in the crews that responded to two of the more spectacular electrical fires, assisting his fellow firefighters with a variety of tasks.

During the 2011-2012 school year, the Verona Sports Boosters will be recognizing a different senior athlete at Verona High School every week. The Boosters support male and female athletes in all VHS sports through a variety of fundraisers and recognition events.