In the closets of many RHS alumni is a Turf By ’12 tee shirt waiting to be worn in 2012 in the presence of a new turf football field. However, it’s 2012 and there isn’t turf on the football field.

“Obviously it is not realistic for getting turf in place by 2012, which was our original goal, because we’re already here. We don’t have any plans to start installation any time soon because the funds aren’t available,” Activities Director Cathy Shoup said. “We’ve come to a standstill.”

Turf By ’12 was not the brain child of school officers, but rather, past students of RHS.

“We have a group of individuals who are alumni, people within the community, that wanted to come together for the fundraising effort for the Turf By ’12,” Shoup said. “Kelly Hinshaw was the liaison for the school. I sat on as a liaison for the school as well. The school is somewhat involved, but really the Turf by ’12 committee is the alumni group.”

Getting together the funds for the turf means the alumni must sell many tee shirts at sporting events.

“Installing turf is expensive. If we were just to do the football field, without any other renovations to the practice football field, you’re looking at between $600,000 and $700,000,” Shoup said.

Turf By ’12 was not just about raising money to turf the football field, but also for other things.

“The original goal was to raise closer to one million to do other renovations to the stadium and also to turf the practice football field,” Shoup said.

Besides the turf being used by the football team and marching band, a turfed football field could benefit everyone.

“If we had turf on our football field, classes could also take place there. Currently we don’t allow our classes to get on the field, especially when it’s wet or anything like that,” Shoup said. “It would also provide for another avenue academically for us; our classes in our school like the P.E. classes and things like that could take advantage of [the turf].”

Selling tee shirts and accepting donations at football games is one way of raising funds for Turf By ’12. Other school districts have explored different routes of bringing turf to their schools’ fields.

“Other districts have used sponsors that get involved or sometimes the schools go through a bond issue or use school money which is not something we are looking into,” Shoup said.  “There are lots of other avenues that other districts have looked at which is probably why, when we’re looking at Turf By ’12 were at a little bit of a standstill but still with a future goal in mind for providing turf for the field.”

It may be 2012 already, so the original goal the alumni had, has been passed. But there is still hope for turf in our future.

“Turf by ’12 has died off a little bit because it didn’t take off like the group [of alumni] thought it would,” Shoup said. “But in the future I think that we will get there.”