CHULA VISTA, Calif. — It's been years in the making and is now a reality.
On Thursday, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for Castle Park High School’s brand-new football stadium complex.
It was a mostly student-led effort for two years, then came community and district support.
High school students started pointing out problems on campus - demanding more for themselves and the next generation.
The current stadium was built in the early 1960s, so Friday night lights will soon be whole lot brighter. Castle Park, within the Sweetwater Union High School District, officially broke ground on a new stadium and football field.
The district secured $42 million dollars in bond money, for the Castle Park project that will also include other improvements on campus, like paint, bathroom upgrades and a new quad.
Other schools in the district, like Chula Vista, Southwest and Mar Vista will also be invested in.
One senior who's played for four years on the current field says it's also become a safety issue.
"It was horrible. People would get injured almost every game. I would always joke around with my teammates, that we knew which plays to run, because we knew which parts had potholes," Adrian Gomez said. "To be able to say that they're proud to go to Castle Park, they're proud of being a Castle Park athlete and scholar - it's going to give a lot of pride to the community," he added.
These students have passion and pride for sports and their school and in about a year and a half, will have a stadium to match.
Field hockey, soccer and lacrosse will also use this space and there are also plans to add beach volleyball courts.
"They play so hard, they work so hard, they are so proud of their school - and just to have the facilities to match their enthusiasm will be wonderful," Jacinto Perez said, who does a lot of the sports announcing at the games.
During this next year or so of construction, Castle Park practices and games will be held at other schools. They all say though, it'll be worth the wait.
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