Administrators, board members and School Improvement Council members gathered Thursday in Chapin to break ground at the site of Lexington-Richland School District Five’s new middle school campus. While they dug into the earth with ceremonial shovels, construction crews continued to clear and level land for the new home of local students.

“We are excited about the minds that will be shaped here,” said Mark Bounds, district chief information officer.

The yet-to-be-named school is the last one scheduled to be built with proceeds from the 2008 bond referendum and will be next to Spring Hill High School and Center for Advanced Technical Studies on Broad River Road.

“This wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community,” said Superintendent Stephen Hefner. “It’s a great milestone in District Five history.”

The school will serve seventh and eighth grade on campus next door to Spring Hill High. (photo by Rachel Ham)

The campus will house only seventh-graders and eighth-graders and will alleviate overcrowding at Chapin Elementary, Lake Murray Elementary and Chapin Middle schools. Board Chairman Beth Watson said the new school was planned so the district can continue providing quality education.

“We understand smaller class sizes are a major key,” she said.

Representatives from Quackenbush Architects, including Doug Quackenbush, Marc Warren, Kyle Fant and Kate Lanni, were also on site Thursday to see how their vision is progressing. Quackenbush said the team began working on the school’s design in early 2013 and collaborated with the district for about a year.

Construction is scheduled to wrap up in time for the school to welcome students in the fall of 2015.

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