Left-to-Right: Maniyah Brighhop, Destiny Ray, Principal Felicia Jones, Courtland Johnson & Andrea Morales Rojas
Video recorded and edited by LSHS Yearbook Students
Before the hallways fill with students and the classrooms come alive, a group of curious learners got a rare look at something most people never see — a school being born, beam by beam, wall by wall.
Walking across a muddy construction site in hard hats and safety vests, a select group of students recently joined Principal Jones alongside the general foreman and project manager of Parrish Construction for an up-close tour of the future state-of-the-art Lithia Springs High School currently under construction.
The visit was anything but a passive field trip. Students peppered the crew with questions as they walked through the framed-out bones of what will one day be classrooms, a conference rooms, a gymnasium, STEM labs, and common areas. The general foreman led the group through the site, explaining how retention walls are engineered to hold back soil and manage drainage — structures invisible once the building is complete, but absolutely critical to its stability and safety.
The project manager walked students through blueprints and site maps, revealing how the school's layout is deliberately designed — where natural light will pour into learning spaces, how traffic flow was planned for thousands of students each day, and why certain structural choices were made months before a single brick was laid.
For Principal Jones, the trip was about opening eyes to possibility. "Construction, engineering, architecture, and project management are all fields that shape the world around us every single day," she noted. "We want our students to see themselves in those roles." The tour gave students a tangible sense of the scale, coordination, and expertise required to bring a massive project like this to life — from soil studies and retention engineering to design aesthetics and schedule management.
The new school, with the academic building being completed in late 2027, represents a significant investment in the district's future. And for the students who laced up their boots for this site visit, it may represent something even more personal: the spark of a career path they had never considered before. Whether in civil engineering, architecture, construction management, or urban planning, the seeds planted on that muddy lot could grow into lifelong callings. Keep an eye out for future career-exploration opportunities organized through the school — because sometimes, the best classroom doesn't have four walls yet.