‘Breaking New Ground’ | College Park charter school breaks ground on basement renovation project

The Main Street Academy celebrates the beginning of long-awaited STEM Lab expansion.

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — As many learning institutions are wrapping up yet another school year affected by the global pandemic, one local charter school celebrates a new beginning. 

The Main Street Academy (TMSA) held a ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday, May 12th to celebrate the commencement of its basement renovation project. 

Nearly two-dozen individuals comprised of TMSA staff, faculty, board members, and special guests attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

This milestone earmarks the start of a highly-anticipated project whose roots stretch back five years ago to when the K-8 Fulton County Schools (FCS) charter school took residence at 2861 Lakeshore Drive in College Park.

That location which sat empty for nearly twenty years had previously been an FCS high school when the now-defunct Lakeshore High School closed its doors for good back in 1988.

Vox Pop ATL spoke with Noel Mayeske, one of the founding members of The Main Street Academy, as well as, a proud parent of one its seventh-graders about the project.

“It's been a great journey for The Main Street Academy to go from having not much space at all,” shares Mayeske.

“It's very special for the teachers and the students to get the opportunity to really use that space that we moved into a long time ago but haven't fully utilized.”

The construction for the TMSA basement renovation which has already begin with the demo of the basement is under the purview of Triad ATL.

The Georgia-based contracting company has over a twenty-five-year track record in the metro Atlanta area and an extensive background within the education sector. 

“We're almost doubling the footprint of the school by renovating our basement, which has been here since it was in high school,” shares TMSA Governing Board President, Heather Wells. 

“We are going to be able to offer a whole plethora of science based-programs,” Wells adds referring to the projected STEM Lab construction. 

“That's not something you see in this area very often, so it's exciting.”

In a school year already fraught with the pandemic, distance learning, and technology access issues, TMSA ensured that its commitment to student enrichment did not begin and end with the renovation project. 

Vox Pop ATL also spoke with TMSA principal, Cheryl Parker about other strides accomplished this school year like the addition of the award-winning Promethean Boards to all 50 classrooms at TMSA.

“We have a large enough screen so that the students who are home, feel connected to the classroom, as well as the students who were face-to-face feel connected to their classmates who are at home,” shares Principal Parker.

The 10,000 sq. ft renovation will not only include a state-of-the-art STEM lab for its students but also additional classrooms, a student support area, and teacher workspace.

The projected completion for the renovation is September 2021.

For more information about The Main Street Academy, visit their website.

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