West Columbia, S.C. – Contract Construction joined Gray Collegiate Academy on Friday, Jan. 21 for a groundbreaking ceremony on the school’s new facilities additions.
The expansion project on the school’s West Columbia campus will include a 30,000 sq.-ft. gym, an athletic complex including a football/soccer stadium, softball/baseball fields, a cafeteria and a 9,000 sq.-ft. academic wing featuring six new classrooms. The classrooms and cafeteria are scheduled for completion by Aug. 1, while the athletic facilities will be ready for use in the fall.
“Our students have been waiting for this for so long,” said Dr. Brian Newsome, principal of the school. “Giving them these facilities shows them that we’re committed financially to providing these facilities to them so they can be successful academically and athletically.”
The ceremony was attended by members of the Gray Collegiate Academy board and planning committee, past and current staff members, student-athletes and other area dignitaries. Team members with Contract Construction also attended, including president Greg Hughes.
“We’re very excited to be part of growing Gray Collegiate Academy,” Hughes said. “They’ve already had a competitive advantage without facilities. Now for us to be able to provide a new competitive gymnasium, a new football facility, home and visitor grandstands, baseball (and) softball facilities; it’s really going to give them a home field advantage that they’ve never experienced and never really seemed to need up to this point. It’s amazing. We think this will take them to another level.”