Choate Construction Visits Meeting Street Academy

Charleston, SC – Choate Construction of Charleston gives children at Meeting Street Academy a unique job-site experience and teaches what it means to be in the Construction Industry.

Meeting Street Academy (a brief history)

Almost a decade has passed since a small group of Charleston locals assessed a need for a specialized school to target those children that lacked the means for a private education. Those philanthropic individuals sat down with, recently retired, Mayor Joseph P. Riley and secured a site for the very first location of Meeting Street Academy.

Beginning their story on Charleston’s iconic King Street, forty-five preschool children between the ages of three and four were given the gift of attending a school regardless of geographic or socioeconomic status. This conformed to MSA’s founders beliefs that, “a child’s zip code should not determine his or her educational opportunities.” Inspired, the City of Charleston generously leased and donated land at 642 Meeting Street in 2009 to give rise to the future site of Meeting Street Academy- Charleston’s flagship school.

Several city and state leaders visited in years following. Current Governor, Nikki Haley, and U.S. Congressman, Tim Scott, were among the several that became encouraged and impressed with the elevated skill-level from the first class of students, especially in reading. This motioned forward for a partnership with MSA-Charleston to work with officials and open a second location in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This location would open its doors in 2012.

Choate Construction & Meeting Street Academy

After being chosen to build Meeting Street Academy’s Main Campus Addition, Choate Construction broke ground in 2015 on what would be known as Phase-II of construction in downtown Charleston.

With construction in full-swing and noticeable to the students learning just next-door, Choate’s Director of Operations in Charleston, Tim Heichelbech, saw a great opportunity. “Construction is such a exciting process to watch,” says Heichelbech, “to have the opportunity to share with these (Meeting Street) students careers in construction that can lead them to a bright future and have them see, up close, what goes into erecting these incredible structures…I couldn’t imagine a better way to share our passion.”

With hard hats to accommodate each student, Tim Heichelbech hosted 175 children of MSA on Thursday in front of their current job site at the corner of Meeting Street. It was there that he touched on the importance of teamwork between architects, builders, and engineers, as well as what building means for the city as well as its residents. He pointed out their OneLife logo, representing Choate’s new safety identity, to stress the importance of safety for all workers involved. Heichelbech said after visiting the bright-eyed students of MSA, “Perhaps the wide-eyes and grins were a result of being in a hard hat and in the dirt for the first time, but mine was from knowing I may have inspired a few souls to get into this line of work…and to engage in work to construct buildings as important as this one.”