Archbishop Hannan High fulfilling its campus plans

“God is good all the time,” is Dominican Father Charles Latour’s mantra about what’s happening on Archbishop Hannan High School’s Covington campus as the school celebrates its 25th anniversary. “I think Hannan is a real good example of that.”

     Since a May 14 groundbreaking, the co-educational Catholic high school on the corner of Highways 1085 and 1077 has been abuzz in building projects to complete the final phase of its 2008 move to Covington after Hurricane Katrina decimated its original Meraux campus.
  

Under construction is a large, free-standing library with a computer lab and floor-to-ceiling windows, a 10-classroom building complete with a visual arts lab and ceramics studio and a new football and soccer field. (A creek had to be moved to accommodate the field.)
    Simultaneously, the administration building is being renovated to maximize space to include editing and control rooms and a studio for the school’s popular TV production course, and the new Heritage Hall to highlight the school’s history in images and stories, beginning with its founding in 1987 in Meraux to its relocations first to St. Joseph Abbey then to the current site. Tribute will be paid to Archbishop Philip Hannan after whom the school is named.
    Other updates: the former library will become a band and choir room; and the chapel will emerge as more usable for events such as Stations of the Cross and will be rededicated to the Blessed Mother, hearkening to the school’s chapel in Meraux.
    Father Latour said the architectural layout of the school sends a message to students, parents and visitors. Once completed, the school will resemble a college campus with a quad area in the middle for students to gather.
    “This has been a monumental project,” Father Latour, principal, said, necessary to meet the enrollment of 385 students and the projected needs of a future maximum enrollment of 550. “It really needed to get done for the school’s ongoing viability.”

    Space was at such a premium at Hannan, Father Latour added, that enrollment had to be frozen for eighth and ninth grades this year because every possible nook and cranny was being used.
    Father Latour, named principal in late 2010, said Hannan borrowed $5.25 million from the archdiocese for the expansion project.
    “Hannan owes a lot to the archbishop (Gregory Aymond) for his support, which has been unwavering, as well as the archdiocesan finance council,” Father Latour said. “I am grateful they believed in the school and our vision.”
Raising the bar
    These are exciting times for the school’s stakeholders – students, parents and alumni and the community, Father Latour said. Coupled with the new buildings and renovations is a more rigorous curriculum that Father Latour and assistant principal and academic dean Donalyn Hassenboehler instituted in 2010 to prepare students for college.
    Sixteen new courses (including Web design, intro to engineering and band returning for the first time since Katrina) and an Advanced Placement program have been added. Teacher training for a pre-AP program in math, science and English is ongoing to develop master teachers with academic rigor who will emphasize cross-curriculum education, focusing on unity throughout the curriculum. For example, in mathematics, students will have a focus on critical thinking.
    Hannan provides the environment and tools students need to meet high academic standards. Core classes are kept to a maximum of 25 students. The campus is integrated with wireless technology, and the majority of classrooms are equipped with SmartBoards, LCD projectors, printers and video access. Students are abreast of new technology with a 1-to-1 iPad program, but not at the expense of learning how to take notes the old-fashioned way, Father Latour said.
    While Archbishop Hannan is proud of its past, the school is willing to try new things. A new tradition – the addition of a victory bell in the quad – will be installed in the quad to be rung by a student after every team win.
    Father Latour thinks Archbishop Hannan High is an example of how sometimes life doesn’t go as planned, as happened when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the original campus. Surmounting challenges with a solid foundation and history can make a school or person stronger.
     “I’m proud of how far Hannan has come,” Father Latour said.
“We’ve been blessed, and it’s up to us to take theses blessings to offer our students the best possible Catholic formation.”
    Christine Bordelon can be reached at cbordelon@clarionherald.org.