THOMASVILLE- School and city officials gathered Thursday afternoon to celebrate the long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony of the new Thomasville City Schools 6-12 Campus.

Thomasville High School Principal Bryson Daniels welcomed the crowd, thanking everyone for coming out and being a part of the “brink of history.”

“This is such a great opportunity, thank you to the board members, the district leaders, the community and those who help us push the needle forward for every one of our children,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about our babies, so once again thank you.”

Director of Student Services Dr. Tina McBride followed Daniels’ speech, thanking some of the special guests in attendance, including Board of Education members, City Councilman Scott Chastain, Thomasville Police Department officers, architects from Altman + Barrett, Parrish Construction Group and Representative Darlene Taylor.

With a thunderous round of applause for all those who made it possible, McBride turned it over to one of the many stakeholders in the project, Thomasville City BOE Chair Kejar Butler.

“As we break ground on our new 6-12 campus, we know that we are not just building a school,” she said. “We are building a future; a future filled with brighter tomorrows for our students, faculty, staff and entire Thomasville community.”

Butler thanked everyone who had made the day possible through their vision and commitment to the project.

“Dr. Rayfield, thank you for coming in and picking up the work and guiding us and leading us to this day,” Butler said. “We are greatly appreciative of your work and efforts.”

Rayfield thanked Butler for her kind words, before encouraging Chastain to share some additional remarks on behalf of the City of Thomasville.

While honored to be at the groundbreaking on behalf of the city, Chastain had a personal connection to Thomasville High School.

“I am a byproduct of this school,” he said. “Not only by going to middle school in this building, but my parents also met each other in the halls of this building, and probably many of yours did too. I may not have existed without the buildings of this school system.”

Chastain went on to say what takes place in the halls at Thomasville City Schools extends far beyond just education.

“As goes our education, so goes our community,” he explained. “I’m a big proponent of the physical impacts our buildings have on the quality of education and quality of life. From what I’ve seen, the building we are about to build here will improve the lives of our kids, which will improve the lives in our community.”

Students and kids played a huge role in the development of the 6-12 campus. In attendance on Thursday was Azelea Bowdry, who is a member of the Georgia School Boards Association Student Advisory Group. Bowdry spoke on what this new campus will mean for years to come.

“With the upcoming transition to the new, unified school, graduating students will have the opportunity to build meaningful connections they may not have had on separate campuses,” she explained. “This consolidation will unite us under one roof, fostering a stronger sense of unity.”

Bowdry went on to say that while she won’t be in Thomasville to witness the completion of the new campus, she is confident that inside the four walls of the school, students will form bonds and lasting relationships, skills and abilities that will create a better tomorrow.

Lead architect at Altman + Barrett, Leah Jones gave insight on what the inside of the four walls will look like.

Jones said the project has been years in the making and she was thrilled to finally look out in the crowd and see the students it would directly impact.

“This project is a physical representation of the past, present and future of the Thomasville City School System,” she said. “It is not often that a school system gets the opportunity to weave an almost 100-year-old building, into a new 21st-century design, but it is such a meaningful linking of all the students who have come before and all the students who will be here in the future.”

Jones said she hopes this will create a connection between the students and the community and foster the continued growth of the school system.

Chief Operating Officer of Parrish Construction Group, Charlie Griffis could not have agreed more.

“All we want to do here is a fantastic job for this community,” he said. “It’s a challenge to our team. They get to see the community and y’all rally around the students and the excitement, and we are going to translate that into great craftsmanship and dedication.”

Rayfield concluded the ceremony with a few quotes that he has kept in mind during the 53-million-dollar project.

“When there is no vision, the people will perish,” Rayfield recited. “This project is certainly visionary and is something the City of Thomasville, County of Thomas and the state of Georgia should be proud of.”

The visionary project is expected to take 24 months and will include a new field house and campus.

Upon the conclusion of Rayfield’s remarks, he invited the BOE, Taylor, architects and construction company to help him break ground.