Eleventh grader Christina Fischborn stood on her school’s athletic field Wednesday morning and recalled a time she was playing soccer after a hard rain.
“I went to go save one of the balls, and I fell. When I stood up, all my clothes were just soaking wet. Because the field is kind of at an angle, so the water just doesn’t have anywhere to escape,” said Fischborn, who plays soccer and lacrosse, pointing to where puddles remained from Monday night’s rain.
A handful of her classmates at Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, each with a similar story, stood alongside her and celebrated that soon the field will get a $5 million makeover. The project was announced in May as part of the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation’s BlueCross Healthy Place initiatives.
Wednesday’s groundbreaking marked the beginning of the construction phase for a number of facilities and amenities on the 4-acre site between Hawthorne Street and South Orchard Knob Avenue, including:
– A pavilion for community gatherings.