NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A public charter school in the Nashville area will be breaking ground on its very own facility later this month.

The Tennessee Nature Academy will put shovels to earth on Wednesday, July 30, to begin its next chapter.

According to Founder and Executive Director of TNA Jay Renfro, the new facility is the culmination of a four-year journey to bring an alternative educational model integrated in nature.

Renfro told News 2 the school has been incubating inside Cross Point Church in the Antioch/Cane Ridge area for the last two years, but the enrollment has grown to a point that necessitates their own building.

"The interest in the school has grown so much that, after next year, there's no way we could fit into that space," he said. "So, it's time for us to have our own home."

The school currently serves grades five through eight, with plans to serve all the way through grade 12 in the future. When the public charter school was first established, Renfro said they served about 100 students in fifth and sixth grade. The school ended the most recent school year 217 students, and Renfro anticipates they'll serve about 300 next school year.

"We add a grade each year," Renfro told News 2. "We anticipate having around 680 to 700 students when all is said and done."

Renfro said David McGowan with Regent Homes donated more than 20 acres to the school for the purpose of constructing their permanent campus, which Renfro called "an absolute game-changer."

The new campus will still be in the southeast Nashville area, just about eight miles away toward Nolensville.

What Renfro is most excited about, though, is the new property backs up to Cane Ridge Park, giving the school plenty of green space in line with its mission.

"We couldn't have picked a more perfect spot in a more perfect community," Renfro told News 2. "We're incredibly grateful to David McGowan of Regent Homes for the donation of 23 acres for our school. We are a young organization, and so to get a donation of that magnitude, it really was a game-changer. We didn't have to find land in Nashville or find a building in Nashville to convert to a school, so we're incredibly grateful for that generosity."

Keeping the school in the same general area of town also speaks to the integral mission of the school, according to Renfro.

"One of the cool things about Tennessee Nature Academy is it's diverse by design, meaning we're intentionally located in a diverse community, and we really want our student population to be both diverse and integrated," Renfro said. "We think where our school is located is a fascinating opportunity, because you don't see schools that are like this in the free public school realm. To have a free public charter school that offers these nature-based programs that you typically find in the homeschool environment or in the private school environment is really neat."

The $3.2 million capital campaign is nearly halfway completed, according to Renfro, and once the groundbreaking happens he told News 2 construction could take anywhere from eight months to one year.

"It's a daunting task, but one that we've been able to see some amazing foundations and partners step up for," Renfro said. "We anticipate the project lasting for this year."

One of the things Renfro is most excited for is having the space to install a school farm.

"We're literally putting roots down into a place, and thematically to our school, we're teaching kids how to grow food, how to take care of the land that we've been given," Renfro said. "That's going to be such an important part of our school."

Because the school has been operating out of a church outbuilding, establishing literal roots hasn't been feasible.

"You can't unroot trees and crops and take them there," Renfro said. "We'll be able to make this place our home and for that to be infused into the classroom is going to be an incredible opportunity and something we've been looking forward to since we started four years ago."

Ultimately, Renfro said the goal is to open the doors of the new permanent campus in time for the first day of school in 2026.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/middle-tn-neighborhood-news/tennessee-nature-academy-breaking-ground-on-new-facility-in-cane-ridge-area/