Those who attended the ceremonial groundbreaking on Wednesday, Oct. 2, for the new Whitehaven High STEM lab could be excused for feeling a sense of déjà vu.

After all, it’s the second such ceremony that’s been held this year, following what was thought to be the only necessary groundbreaking back in April.

But unexpected delays, including a funding dust-up with Memphis-Shelby County Schools, led to a months-long delay for a project that has already been years in the making.

Whitehaven High secures funds for STEM lab

“Eight years ago, a group of parents, educators, administrators and community leaders got together. They had a vision of building a STEM building to educate, elevate and graduate our students,” said Eddie Jones, a former Shelby County commissioner who has been heavily involved in the Whitehaven STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) lab.

Richard Myers, an attorney and one of the main drivers of the project, admitted that the previous delay “freaked us out,” but seemed to finally feel that the $9 million project was underway for good Wednesday afternoon.

Whitehaven High breaks ground on $9M STEM lab

“I’m extremely happy that we’re moving forward and that the community is getting what they’re entitled to,” said Myers, an attorney at the Glankler Brown firm who originally conceived of this project after spearheading a similar facility at White Station High. “(It’s) a sense of relief.”

Despite all those years of effort, the project almost fell apart earlier this year over troubles with a budget that had been affected by the pandemic, inflation and a new building code that required the addition of a $1 million storm shelter to the facility.

Former Interim MSCS Superintendent Toni Williams had agreed that the district would pay for that shelter, but the documentation regarding that was informal, consisting of emails and text exchanges.

MSCS school board to take up restoring Whitehaven High STEM funding

Current MSCS Superintendent Marie Feagins was unaware of the agreement and raised questions about the funding earlier this year, which led to delays and worries that the project would collapse.

However, Myers showed documentation that Williams had committed to the funding, which led Feagins to support it. In August, the MSCS board voted to provide that money as well as another $1.3 million that had been previously approved.

With that, organizers got the necessary construction permits that led to work beginning this week. It must have been reassuring for those gathered at Whitehaven High Wednesday to see that this time, actual work — not just officials in hard hats using gold shovels to turn dirt — was underway.

On Monday, Sept. 30, crews with Montgomery Martin Contractors used huge earthmovers to begin breaking up the asphalt parking lot behind the school. That’s where the two-story, 20,000-square-foot STEM building will be erected.

Although work is beginning about a month later than Myers had originally expected, he is still hopeful that the lab will be complete by the start of the fall 2025 semester. He acknowledged that any further delays could push the opening deeper into that period.

“The effort going forward is going to be tough and it’s going to be on me to make sure it’s done right,” he said. “An amazingly large amount of work has to be done.”

But that’s in the future. Wednesday was for those gathered at the school to bask in the warm day and dream of the promise such a building holds for not only Whitehaven High’s 1,600 students but also for others from different area schools.

Missing funds halt construction on Whitehaven STEM lab

One of those in attendance was Dr. Keadrea Wilson, a neonatologist and a 2007 graduate of Whitehaven High. Wilson spoke of how such a STEM lab could have benefitted her during her high school years, as she recounted the rigors of her first college chemistry class.

“The first chemistry class that I took in college, I scored a 41. That was an F. That was a very sobering experience for me. … I ended up passing that class with a C,” said Wilson, who graduated from Vanderbilt with a minor in chemistry before earning her medical degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “Let’s make this investment in our students today through this STEM laboratory.”