Franciscan Alliance donates land to Hammond Academy
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Hammond Academy of Science and Technology (HAST) has received a land grant from Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance. Dr. Sean Egan, the outgoing principal at HAST, helped secure the land plot.
Franciscan Alliance senior leadership transferred the deed to the property to the school. The addition of the Franciscan property, when added to other nearby parcels already owned by HAST, will allow for potential growth both physically and metaphorically for the school.
Egan mentioned many potential uses for the new land acquisitions, including new sports facilities or fields, academic facilities, theater space or technical career vocational education.
Egan, who retired at the end of the last academic year, told Inside INdiana Business the school is entering a new era.
“This was the first wave of the next big hope of expansion,” he said. “I did my best to set the school up, you know, get it up and running. It is only 13 years old. I’ve been there for 13 years, so now we’re academically strong, we’ve got staffing and we’re financially strong.”
The donated parcel of land is a parking lot on the north side of Clinton Street between Hohman Avenue and State Line Road. Along with the Franciscan plot, HAST has acquired six parcels directly in front of the campus that connect the school to the Franciscan campus.
HAST is a project-based school, meaning its students are encouraged to work on projects that have real-world implications. Egan mentioned a few projects that the students worked on including planning of traffic patterns around the school, designing of HAST’s science labs, the school’s landscaping and a pitch for an outdoor learning pavilion.
“Early in the conversation, we involve students, like seventh-grade students taking an engineering class. We showed them property, we gave them a few parameters, and they started designing possible uses for these spaces” said Egan.
Egan is transitioning to a role as the director of the teacher education program at Calumet College in an attempt to create more teachers so schools like Hammond Academy can expand and thrive.
HAST serves 550 students grades sixth through 12th.
“Our students are going to be driving what we do with this. I think that the board is committed to making sure that the whole community, students, staff and parents but mainly students are a part of this design process,” said Egan.
Egan said it is too early to determine exactly what the property will be used for, but he anticipates the students will be a vital participant in the process.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that Franciscan transferred the deed of the property to Egan.