CENTENARY — It started with a billboard placed by Gallia Academy High School parent Wade Leslie noting how many counties surrounding Gallia had new schools.

The counties with schools were identified with red dots. There were none in Gallia County at the time. And thus was born a campaign, “Red Dot for Kids,” which resulted — several years after the billboard first went up — in the dedication of the new Gallia Academy High School on Centenary Road on Sunday.

“I’m so proud and happy I’m about to burst,” Gallipolis City Schools Superintendent Jack Payton said as he opened the dedication ceremony in the gymnasium of the new GAHS, at one point filled to near-capacity and with the overflow looking on from the observation walks ringing three sides of the gym.

A 7.2-mill bond issue raised the local match when the Ohio School Facilities Commission committed to 64 percent funding for a construction program in the city schools. During the ceremony, much praise was heard for all who participated in the bond issue’s passage, both living and deceased.

The bond issue was approved Nov. 8, 2005, which Board of Education member Ryan Smith called a “defining moment” for the city schools as well as the Gallia County Local Schools, which was also successful in passing a bond issue to build new high schools.

Smith was a co-chair of the Red Dot campaign.

Other board members spoke and addressed aspects of the project. Board President J.R. Sauer discussed the decision-making process and hailed the patience of the staff during the planning and construction phases of the school.

“I am proud of the teachers and staff,” he said. “You’ve worked under harsh conditions for a long time. This is for you.”

Board Vice President Bob Cornwell handled recognitions, Lynn Angell cited the project for employing local laborers, and Dr. Timothy Kyger commented on the heritage of excellence GAHS has maintained since its original founding as a private school.

“This building dedication is a great time to reflect on our goals and rededicate ourselves to the tradition of excellence,” he said.

Former board member Dannie Greene, now serving on the State Board of Education, singled out Payton for his dedication to seeing the project completed.

“There’s not a man or woman in this building who has put more into this project than Mr. Payton,” Greene said.

“An incredible gift has been given to us,” said Amy Noe, president of the GAHS Student Council, who added that the school’s opening proves “dreams do come true.”

As the ceremony continued, hundreds of people toured the building, checking out such features as the media center, the new theater facility, the cafetorium and the front entrance, which contains the original signage work over the section of the old GAHS opened in 1917.

Students will start classes in the new building on Aug. 24.

Other speakers included former board member David Walker; Fred Deel, director of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, bringing congratulations from Gov. Ted Strickland; Brent Eastman of Ohio Valley Supermarkets; Principal Bruce Wilson; architect Mike Dingeldein of SHP Leading Design; Phil Johnson of BBL/Shae Construction Services; and Stacey Thomas of the OSFC.

Brent Saunders, president and chief executive officer of Holzer Consolidated Health Systems, and Dr. Wayne Munro, president of Holzer Clinic, each presented their organizations’ annual installment on the $500,000 pledge toward the construction of new science labs and for the theater.

State Sen. John Carey presented a state flag to the school, and State Rep. Clyde Evans gave Payton a citation from the Ohio House of Representatives. Invocation was by Larry Haley, a member of the faculty at Gallia Academy Middle School, which the old GAHS on Fourth Avenue becomes in the new school year.

Musical selections were offered by the GAHS Marching Band under the leadership of its new director, Andy Sigman, and the GAHS Madrigals and Marilyn Wills.

Groundbreaking for the new GAHS was held in 2006, with construction starting the following year. Work on the building was mostly completed by this summer.

The bond issue is also paying for two new buildings — a replacement for Green Elementary across the road from the high school, and a Rio Grande Elementary. Significant renovations to Washington Elementary are also beginning.