MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Georgia Military College Preparatory School just keeps on growing. 

Last year, the school began accepting fourth- and fifth-grade students, and not long after GMC officials announced that the prep school would expand further in the 2019-20 term adding third grade into the mix. Naturally, more space was needed to house all these new students, so GMC got the ball rolling on some very big construction projects. A price tag upward of $18 million has provided the local military prep school with more than 40,000 square feet to accommodate its growing enrollment. 

Construction crews are finishing up work on the prep school’s new Wayne Street annex building, which officials say will be ready for the first day of school Friday, while renovations on Jenkins Hall will continue into the school term. Once that work is finished, students and teachers will move from their temporary homes inside the annex building over into Jenkins. GMC expects the work on Jenkins to be completed by the first of October. 

“We did not have the room to house all this expansion, so we are thrilled to have this new building — the preparatory school annex,” said GMC Prep Principal Col. Pam Grant. “It is going to actually be — in the final stages — a building that enhances the GMC experience.”

Media members were granted an advance tour of the new annex Thursday morning led by GMC Vice President of Engineering Jeff Gray who outlined exactly how the 24,000 square foot building will serve the school’s students and staff.

Security was kept in mind when GMC developed the new annex. A communications system allows the building’s administrative assistant to talk to anyone at the front door once it is locked. That person will be able to remotely unlock the door, allowing latecomers and parents access during the school day. A keycard system has also been installed so school employees can get into the building. 

A couple of years ago, GMC Prep expanded its already robust fine arts department by adding a full-time visual arts instructor. Since that time Maj. Paige Barlow has been bounced to a couple of different spaces around campus, but she and her visual arts classes now have their permanent classroom on the ground floor of the prep school annex. Accounting for more than 1,400 square feet of the building, the visual arts studio even has space for an 850-pound kiln for pottery projects and multiple computers students can use for graphic design work.

A little bit of history has also been incorporated into the annex. Gray told media members that in 1920, a local organization planted 10 oak trees on the GMC campus to honor the 10 soldiers from Baldwin County killed in World War I. One of those trees stood where they were building the annex, so it was removed before a piece of it was kept to honor that soldier’s sacrifice. 

“When we cut it down, we saved a big base log out of it, and this counter is made out of one of the planks from that log,” Gray said in talking about the annex’s counter at the front desk.

Probably the biggest “wow factor” inside the prep school annex is its combined cafeteria and auditorium. Figuring out a way to feed kids lunch each day was getting increasingly difficult as the school readied its plans for expansion, so a new cafeteria was developed as part of the annex. The room will seat just under 300 at lunchtime and about 550 when it is converted into an auditorium for school performances. Grades 3-9 will eat lunch in the new cafeteria each day while 10-12 will continue dining in the same space as the college students. The annex cafeteria also features an outdoor patio space where some cadets will be allowed to eat on nicer weather days.

Once the move to Jenkins is made the temporary classrooms will be converted for their intended uses — two computer labs, a reading room, and a testing room. 

“Academics and character are our two main focuses, and this [building] will only enhance the academic experience our students will have here,” Grant said.

GMC Prep will hold a ribbon-cutting for the new annex Aug. 1 at 9 a.m. and will welcome families for open house later that day from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Cadets report for their first day of school the morning of Friday, Aug. 2.