NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A parent-led fundraising effort brought a new turf field to Shayne Elementary School in South Nashville, replacing a rocky patch of dirt that had worn down over years of heavy use.
The school held a ribbon-cutting Sunday, along with a ceremony honoring the community members and local leaders who helped make the project happen.
WATCH: South Nashville school gets new turf field
Shayne Elementary School gets new turf field after parent-led community fundraising effort to pay for it
The effort began about two years ago.
“Two years ago we asked our students, what did you want to see out there. And the overwhelming response was a turf field,” PTA Co-President Sarah Stephens said.
With a growing student body and more recess time in recent years, the existing grass field had deteriorated.
“The grass could not keep up,” Brenleigh Owanski, Shayne Elementary School’s principal, said.
What was left behind was far from ideal for students.
“It was, like, a bunch of rocks and so it was, like, hurting my feet and my shoes started tearing up,” student Sellers French said.
Parents said the rocky field caused bumps, scrapes, and even respiratory problems for some kids.
Public funding was not an option, so Stephens and Lee French led the charge to raise money from the community.
“To raise the money, our community really rallied around us. And I would say in the last year we came up with the money to be able to do it, there were a lot of steps before that, obviously,” Lee French said.
Local businesses, area restaurants and families of students pitched in to raise around $70,000 for the turf field.
For Sellers, the difference is already clear.
“Yeah, I run really fast on that, and not on the dusty old field,” Sellers said.
For the parents and community members who drove the effort, the new field represents something bigger than just a playground upgrade.
“It means so much; to me, this is the best part of being a community. Like this is what community is,” Lee French said.
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