DASHER — On Thursday, Georgia Christian School held a ground-breaking ceremony for the Jeffords Family High School Building. On hand to celebrate the occasion were GCS board members and administration, members of the Dasher City Council, current students and alumni stretching back to the 1950s.

The new building will be more than twice the size of the current high school building and will be placed next to the new middle school building where the Dasher Bible School girl’s dorm once stood, according to a press release from the school.

Dr. Brad Lawson, president of GCS, opened the ceremony by hearkening back to the history of the school, which was founded in 1914 and was originally called Dasher Bible School. He told of the irony of the placement of the building at the site of the girl’s dorm. Students had made the blocks on campus to build the dorms back in the 1940s.

“I am happy to say that even though no blocks are being made on campus anymore, this building is happening because of alumni and even current students giving of their means!” Lawson said.

In his remarks, GCS Chairman of the Board Austin Plyler credited the board’s long-standing commitment to building the new high school and their excitement over having it come to fruition. Plyler also thanked the GCS family (alumni, current students, parents, grandparents and friends of the school) for their continued support of the GCS mission of Christian education.

Dustin Jeffords, representing the Jeffords family, gave a few comments about his memories of the school and his families’ excitement over being a part of the building of the new high school. The Board of Directors and Jeffords were on hand to break ground together. Jeffords and his wife, Camille, his mother and father, Robert and Teresa Jeffords (both former faculty/staff), and his sister Kailynn Grow, along with their children, were also in attendance.

The 17,000-square-foot building was designed by architect Bruce Smith of Studio 8 and is being built by S.C. Barker Construction Company. The goal is to have the building completed in 310 days.