Riverside High School Stadium To Be Named After Student

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The Loudoun County School Board voted Tuesday night to name Riverside High School's stadium facilities after Fitz Thomas, a student at the school who drowned in June at the age of 16, according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

Thomas, who had finished his junior year at Riverside High School in the Lansdowne area, was swimming at the confluence of Goose Creek and the Potomac River on the evening of June 4. As he crossed the water, Thomas was observed going underwater. Thomas's friends and a passerby eventually found Thomas in Goose Creek, but he could not be revived.

Riverside High School’s stadium will be named Fitz Alexander Campbell Thomas Stadium and the field will be named FACT Field. The school board voted unanimously on a resolution to name the facilities after Thomas, the Times-Mirror reported.

Several schools and school facilities are named in honor of past educators and staff members. This is believed to be the first facility in the county named in memory of a student, according to LoudounNow.

Fitz Thomas's mother, Michelle Thomas, is president of the Loudoun NAACP. A GoFundMe page has been created for the Thomas family.