Fields of Many Dreams Project Becoming a Reality

After years of fundraising, creative partnerships and campaigns to make the project a reality, the three public high schools in Waukesha are finally getting artificial turf fields. Final donations trickled in and last week the schools announced that they had received just enough funding to move forward with the project.

The Fields of Many Dreams project is a $1.5 million investment from the community, donors, SC Waukesha, and the school district. The synthetic turf project will be installed at all three high schools this summer.

The revamped athletic  fields can allow athletes to practice when grass fields would otherwise be wet and slippery, increase field usage, potential decrease athlete injury, and allow for additional revenue opportunities for the school district for rentals.

The project, which initially depended on donations from the community, had to raise enough funds to place the turf at all three high schools at the same time. After initial donations arrived, the fundraising slowed down until SC Waukesha, a local soccer club, partnered with the school district to provide $500,000 to the district in order to use the fields.

In exchange the school district is contributing $501,000 toward the project from its property sales fund. The money in the property sales fund comes from donated land that was given to the school district several decades ago. Parcels of property have since been sold, and the property sales fund had $1.4 million designated for non-routine projects in the district that are designed to enhance the school district, according to the March 2014 school board meeting minutes.