Jackson Academy Breaks Ground on Middle School Expansion
December 13, 2022 /
Middle School/All News
Members of the Jackson Academy Board of Trustees, administrators, and capital campaign chairs were on campus today for the official groundbreaking of the new Middle School expansion. Second grader Ford Clark, (center) and his class joined the dignitaries for the groundbreaking photo. Ford was serving as honorary Head of School for the Day with JA’s Head of School Palmer Kennedy.
This morning Jackson Academy trustees, faculty, staff, and students gathered for a celebration. The groundbreaking for expanding the Middle School is part of JA’s multi-phase facilities master plan that launched in August 2022 with infrastructure improvements. The infrastructure phase, which included reworking on-campus parking and all underground utilities, was completed in November. The next phase, which includes adding six new classrooms for Middle School grades, will begin immediately.
Fourth through twelfth grades gathered with Jackson Academy trustees, administrators, and faculty to celebrate the Middle School expansion groundbreaking Tuesday morning. (Drone photo by JA student Samuel Long)
Preschool through first-grade students were the first to visit the site for the groundbreaking of Jackson Academy’s Middle School expansion this morning, all decked out in hard hats and safety vests.
Students concentrated and cheered, gestured and jumped, teamed up and tested themselves individually as they implemented the lessons learned in Jackson Academy’s STEM classes. The second STEM in the Gym science extravaganza energized fifth graders with science, technology, engineering, and math challenges. Rotating through four stations, they put into action the knowledge and skills learned during their Lower School STEM education.
Jackson Academy senior Brooke Dennis has been named a Gates Scholar and member of The Gates Scholarship Class of 2025. She is one of 750 students from a nationwide pool of 48,000 applicants to receive the honor this year. In the award notification, the Gates Foundation noted: "You now belong to an elite group of young leaders—all of whom represent the very pinnacle of academic achievement, service, and commitment."
This morning, kindergartners and their senior Alpha and Omega buddies gathered for the seniors' final chapel program. Before the service, the Alpha and Omega pairs paraded hand in hand in front of Preschool and Lower School students and senior parents, who were cheering as seniors took another step toward graduation. During chapel, while their omegas watched from the auditorium seats, the alphas sang “Graduation” by Vitamin C to their senior buddies, celebrating the lasting impact of friendship.
