As the year ends, and we continue to contemplate the vibrant life and tragic death in 2010 of UVA lacrosse and field hockey star Yeardley Reynolds Love, and as we await further disturbing trial news come February, it’s uplifting to consider the new growth sprouting in her gentle name. This spring, Notre Dame Prep in Hampton will break ground on a $1.2 million turf field to honor Love’s memory. “The project pays homage to the 2006 graduate who excelled in lacrosse and field hockey and was a strong student, leader and volunteer,” writes Mary Gail Hare in The Baltimore Sun. Actual construction is scheduled to begin in the summer.

A gift of $165,000 from the Charles T. Bauer Foundation plus matching funds will pay for the $500,000+ field project. NDP has worked in collaboration with The One Love Foundation, an organization established by Yeardley Love’s family in her memory. The Bauer Foundation issued a challenge grant in 2010, which has helped secure funds for the field and an NDP scholarship after Love as well.

“This project honors both Yeardley’s love of sports and her connection to her alma mater, and it keeps her spirit alive at NDP forever,” says Sister Patricia McCarron, SSND, Ph.D., headmistress — quoted on the NDP website.

We encourage readers to visit the One Love Foundation website to donate — we also recommend reading the honest and affecting essay written by Yeardley Love in ninth grade, posted on the homepage.

An excerpt: “Since I was about nine years old, I have wanted to go to the University of Virginia for college and play Lacrosse there. After college, I hope to attend Virginia Law School for three years; and after that I wish to have a family and become a lawyer. If I had to wish for three things in my life, they would be to go to the University of Virginia for college, have a happy and healthy family when I grow up, and to always keep in touch and stay close with my family. So far my life has been filled with joy and happiness, and I hope to keep living my life that way.”