Dreams do come true.
Ask the students, faculty, and alumni of Sacramento’s Hiram Johnson High School.
Fourteen months ago, ABC10 toured the neglected sports facilities at McClatchy High School in Sacramento. Their football practice field had so many holes, it was “un-practiciable." The track surrounding the field resembled a dirt country road.
Shortly after our visit to McClatchy, and with a major boost from the schools fundraising arm "Restore the Roarm," ABC10 received a call from the school district announcing that through Bond Measure Q, money was available to upgrade the fields.
What McClatchy has today is stunning. The school now has a synthetic turf football field, designed and lined for soccer and track and field.
It's state-of-the-art and, most importantly, should prevent less twisted knees from potholes. There's a new sense of pride for a school that felt overlooked.
Seeing what McClatchy was getting after our story, students at Hiram Johnson posted signs on their fence asking us to come to their school.
"We put our hands up and said how about us? We should have field too," quarterback Rahjae Johnson said.
Rahjae your efforts paid off. There is good news for your school. It's a new day for Hiram Johnson.
Demolition work has begun and the old gopher-holed and weed-infested football and track field is being cleared away to include a new $5.8 million synthetic turf football and soccer field and an all-weather track. There will also be new fencing and landscape.
The School district plans on the football field being ready by Nov. 1, 2018. This is a blast of sunshine for a school where 80 percent of the students qualify for lunch assistance. More than anything, it shows the young people in this neighborhood that dreams do come true.