Morgan County School Board members and Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. break ground for the new Priceville High School Tuesday. Pictured, from left, are Paul Holmes, Carolyn Wallace, Billy Rhodes, Tom Earwood, Hopkins, Carolyn Wallace, Jeff McLemore, Jimmy Dobbs and Mike Tarpley. | Clif Knight

Students representing kindergarten through 12th grade classes in Priceville schools played a key role in a groundbreaking at the new Priceville High School construction site Tuesday afternoon.

They formed a line behind a ridge of red dirt with gold-colored shovels and joined school officials and representatives of GBW Architects and Volkert Inc. in turning the first spades of dirt to signal the start of the building’s construction.

“This is a great day for Morgan County Schools and it’s just a beginning,” said Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. “We have a number of other building projects in the making. They not only will provide benefits for our students for many years to come but also bring growth to our economy.”

“We have student leaders here today because we wanted them to be involved in what’s being done to give them a first class education,” he pointed out.

“We’re honored to be a part of this project,” said Volkert representative Leon Barcum. “We’ve never worked on a project that has had greater cooperation and support from the community.

“We appreciate the opportunity to be involved in a project like this,” said GBW representative John Godwin. “We look forward to seeing concrete trucks coming and going and steel girders going up in the near future.”

Speaking in the absence of Mayor Melvin Duran, Priceville Councilman Tommy Perry stated, “We’re tickled to death to have a new school being built in our community. We’re proud of our schools and thank you for all you do to provide a quality education for our children.”

Construction manager Kevin Gunnison said a pre-bid meeting would he held on Nov. 22 and plans are to let the project out for bids in mid-December.

The project completion date for the $24.7 million project is the summer of 2015.

Students who participated in the groundbreaking were: Judson Tew, kindergarten; Amberleigh Dean, first grade; Mackenzie Bogle, second grade; Alexah Cagle, third grade; Elijah Hopkins, fourth grade; Hugh Thomas Law, fifth grade; Addison Dillard, sixth grade; Peyton Scott, seventh grade; Rachel Veal, eighth grade; John Whitten, ninth grade; Ashleigh Payne, 10th grade; Jake Wood, 11th grade; and Ashley Harding, 12th grade.