Officials have yet to announce an official date for moving in, but they can say things are moving smoothly in the construction of the new Athens Bible School and graduation will be held in an air-conditioned gymnasium.

With more than triple the acreage and an additional 10,000 square feet, the $11-million campus has quite a few upgrades over the school’s current building. The increase in size alone will allow the school to accommodate double its current enrollment.

Each classroom will come with SmartBoard capabilities, allowing for more state-of-the-art lessons. The chapel where students meet each morning seats 428 — an increase of more than 100 seats — with a stage, sloped floor and the opportunity to be rented for events if needed.

“This is a dawning of a new day for us,” said Randall Adams, president and principal of Athens Bible.

In honor of the days that came before, the school has arranged for displays outside the chapel and a mural in the front lobby. At the chapel, a freedom shrine will be set next to a display of the school’s founders and President Dwight Eisenhower memorabilia donated by the Eisenhower family.

In the lobby, a mural painted by artist alumni spans one wall. On the left is an image of a farmhouse, made to resemble the original farmhouse used as a schoolhouse in 1943. Administrative assistant Gayle Hagewood explained the front porch was closed off for chapel service, and bedrooms were turned into classrooms for grades nine through 12.

On the right side of the mural is an image of the current school, which accepts pre-K through 12th grade and even allows students to earn an associate’s degree before high school graduation. Adams said they have eight students set to earn the degree this year.

“We’re trying to tie the old with the new,” Hagewood said, crediting alumni Micah Clem and Shea Lambert with leading the mural project.

The center of the mural, one of the first things people will see upon entering the building, is a Bible, meant to represent the focus of the school. Hagewood said the Bible will be opened to a verse from Proverbs, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Hagewood, Adams and ABS board chairman Lynn Persell said the support from alumni and the community as a whole has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Different people have all rallied together to get little details done that we have to do ourselves, and I think we’re in good shape,” Persell said. “… They’ve all come together with a common goal to make a push into the community that we want this school to do well.”

Persell has worked with builders and designers throughout the process. He said stonework and electrical were two of the biggest things left, and at the current pace, he expected the school to be ready for occupancy in March.

However, officials emphasized their focus is on moving into a campus that’s ready for students, not moving in by a certain date, and either way, graduation will be held in a gym that has air conditioning.