It’s hard to miss that the grass on the knoll has been missing; lying in its place is brown mulch that is surrounded by some unanswered questions from students.

CCHS President Mr. Steven Laaperi has many plans for what was formerly dubbed ‘the grassy knoll.’ “The intention is to make it sustainable. Every year, the grass gets damaged by 1700 pairs of footprints going across it several times a day,” he said. Mr. Laaperi mentioned that earlier in the year, there were a lot of dry, brown dead spots that would cost the school around $3000 to re-do in sod. “Then we also had to water it, and oftentimes the water would gather in the different corners and it would become very muddy.”

Because the school has already placed artificial turf on the lower field, perhaps they could do the same for the knoll. However, the mulch will be reused, contributing to CCHS’s goal of becoming a part of the green initiative and garnering a reputation as a “green school.” When Mr. Laaperi first arrived at CCHS in 2012, he asked students what kind of changes they would like to see. Students told him that they would like to have more seating available for them, so part of Mr. Laaperi’s plan for the knoll is to make that seating available. In the center of the knoll will sit a few brand new concrete benches resembling the ones in front of the CCHS library. These cement benches will have umbrella holes to offer shading for students.

Towards the upper half of the knoll close to the lampposts will be a memorial to commemorate CCHS military alumni and other VIPs entitled “For God and Country”. This new memorial will have custom bricks for purchase, which will bear the name of those whom the memorial will stand for. There will also be custom-made benches on the outside of the memorial facing the stadium.

This “turf-ing” of the knoll is also in response to a request by the state of California. “We have a severe drought going on. We don’t have to water the artificial turf. So we’re going to save a lot of water the way we’ve done this now. It will still look attractive. It will be functional for students and the school, and yet we’re going to be saving water and we’re going to be doing what the state has been asking us to do”. CCHS has even applied for a $2 per square foot rebate for all the turf-ing taking place on campus. The renovation will take place over holiday vacation and will be completed by the time students come back in January.