Wilson Preparatory Academy recently broke ground on a new wing that will nearly double the size of its existing building.

According to Daryl Woodard, founder and executive director of Wilson Prep, the new wing will add 25,000-28,000 square feet to the already 30,000 square-foot building.

He said the wing will house high school-age children as the school continues to grow.

In 2014, Wilson Prep was approved by the State Board of Education as a K-12 charter school. It were initially approved to begin as a K-8 school and add a grade level each year. This year, the school will house kindergarten through 10th-grade students.

Woodard said the growing demand makes this kind of addition necessary.

“Because of our waiting list, because of the demand, because of the success we’ve had academically, we are really looking forward to having more success with additional space and additional teachers,” said Woodard.

The addition, which the school is calling Phase 2, will have not only additional classroom space, but a regulation-size high school gym. He said once the school is operating as K-12 institution, ninth through 12th-graders will have class in the new wing.

Bouma Construction, which will be building the addition, constructed the initial building on a 90-day timeline once the foundation was laid.

Woodard said he is planning for the same fast turnaround as last time.

“We were very excited when we moved into this building, and when parents were applying to this school, this was nothing but a field,” said Woodard. “The faith and confidence that they had in us was really tremendous. We hope they have the same confidence in us this time.”

He said the most important thing is the addition will allow the school to educate more students.

When the school was founded in 2014, 900 applications were recieved for 360 spots.

“Educate, motivate, graduate — that’s our motto,” said Woodard. “Just to have kids come through is not our thing. We want to [have] a personalized education for each one of the kids, or what we call scholars. Here at Wilson Prep, we don’t want to be like a warehouse. We want them to feel like they are loved, they are appreciated and the parents feel confident that their kids are going to have a quality education.”

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