ELIZABETHTOWN — The Emereau Foundation is gearing up for the official groundbreaking ceremony for its first school building.

On Tuesday, March 21, the Foundation will hold a ceremony to celebrate the construction of Emereau: Bladen. Located on 26 acres adjacent to both Airport Road and U.S. 87 in Elizabethtown, the building will house kindergartners through sixth-graders upon its opening.

The date for the groundbreaking ceremony is a reschedule from an earlier date. Originally set for March 14, the celebration had to be postponed because of high winds.

“Very high winds in the area meant the construction team was unable to bring cranes out for the roof,” said Emereau Foundation Executive Director Kate Alice Dunaway. “The Monday we were supposed to have it was the first day they could get cranes out there, and they didn’t want anyone on sight with that equipment.”

Now that winds have subsided, the roof is almost finished, and Dunaway said things will move along even more quickly from here on out because work can be completed in inclement weather.

“It’s really amazing,” she said of seeing the building going up. “Now that the roof is on, you can see the whole shape of the building and where they windows are going to be. The construction team is really doing a great job getting everything off the ground.”

While the walls are going up on the property, enrollment is rising as well. Dunaway said the school has approximately 200 applications so far, and acceptance letters have gone out to all of them.

“Of course, we’d really like to be at 308 (the target number for the first day of school), but we feel really good to be this far along, with it being a new opportunity. People are really stepping out to believe we’ll have everything ready, and we’re right on target for where we want to be,” Dunaway commented.

Now that the initial application deadline has passed, new students will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information on Emereau, visit them on Facebook, at their website emereau.org, or at their office in downtown Elizabethtown. They may also be reached by calling 910-247-6595.

The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. on March 21.

Chrysta Carroll can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.

By Chrysta Carroll

ccarroll@civitasmedia.com