MIDWAY — It was more than just some new paint here and a few new light bulbs there at Midway Middle School.

School and Liberty County School System officials eagerly showed off the extensive renovations at the school, just before the schools went on their holiday break.

There wasn’t much inside the school that was not renovated or redone, said Principal Rebecca Mock.

“Pretty much everything was renovated,” she said. “It is awesome to see the transformation from where it was to where it is now. They did a phenomenal job. They captured the essence of what I was looking for.”

The $4.7 million project began last school year. Cogdell and Mendrala Architects drew up the plans, and Dabbs Williams Construction put them into motion. There is new flooring, new paint, new lighting fixtures and new wall and floor graphics.

“If you look around, everything you see has been renovated,” Mock said.

The improvements include such touches as touchless faucets in the bathrooms and touchless water fountains.

Also redone or replaced were all wooden casework and classroom doors. Contractors put in 1,830 new light fixtures with energy-saving lights. With the new lights, the school system will get an energy rebate of nearly $32,000.

Proceeds from the educational special purpose local option sales tax were used for the work at the school. School leaders and school system officials again espoused the benefits of the ESPLOST and its continued renewal by voters.

“We always talk about the support of our community. It is unmatched,” said Verdell Jones, chair of the school board. “The people in our community care about our schools and our students. We can’t thank you enough for giving our children a place of excellence. We want to expose to them in greatness in every way. The place looks amazing.”

“It’s because of your support of things like ESPLOST that we are able to make things like this happen for the children of Liberty County,” said Dr. Zheadric Barbra, school system deputy superintendent. “You can tell a lot about a community from what it does for its children. I think this is indicative of what we believe.”

The school, which has been open for more than 20 years, has an enrollment of 785. After the ribbon cutting for the improvements, visitors and school officials went on tours to see the upgrades throughout the building.

“We are thrilled for you to see the newly-renovated MMS, where we say, ‘It is mission possible,’” Mock declared.