Another sign of robust Catholic growth on New Orleans Northshore

Growth at Archbishop Hannan High School more than just enrollment figures

Published: Friday, May 11, 2012

By Jim Derry, The Times-PicayuneSixty miles away from its original location in Meraux and four years removed from the christening of a brand new campus, the revival of Archbishop Hannan High School is clearly evident.

 David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Construction for new classrooms is underway at Archbishop Hannan High School west of Covington Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Growth at Archbishop Hannan High School gallery (6 photos)

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About a half-mile north of Interstate 12, in lush southwestern St. Tammany Parish, construction workers continue putting up a new classroom building and library to help with an ever-growing enrollment. The clearing of land for a new 1,200-seat football stadium also has begun. Inside, students are bustling, ready to put the finishing touches on another school year.
There is no debate the past six-plus years have been a struggle for the Hannan community since Hurricane Katrina wiped out the only Catholic high school in St. Bernard Parish in 2005.
Previously, with an co-ed enrollment before the storm of about 550 students, Hannan High was characterized by a close-knit student body and extended family. Then the storm swamped St. Bernard Parish and scattered its residents throughout the New Orleans area and beyond.
Enrollment dropped to under 200 in 2006, as classes took place in temporary buildings at St. Joseph Abbey in Covington.
John Cavell replaced the only principal the school had ever known in John Serio in 2008. Cavell's job was simple -- to get Hannan going in its brand new $18 million facility on a 20-acre site. At the end of the 2009-10 school year, with enrollment at 269, Cavell stepped down and left for another job in Florida.
The Rev. Charles Latour then became Hannan's first non-lay principal in May 2010, and growth has been impressive. Projected enrollment for the start of the 2012-13 school year is at 389, and next year's graduating class will be the first to spend all five years at the Goodbee campus.
As the school has caught the wave of post-Katrina growth in the Covington-Madisonville corridor, school officials are targeting a population of 550 students within three to four years, leading them to plan the current expansion.
With a $5.25 million loan from the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Hannan is adding a building that will house 10 classrooms, an arts center and a ceramic studio. Kent Construction of Mandeville also will build a state-of-the-art library that will be so much more than the one they have now, which is about the size of a regular classroom.
With "many donated services," Latour said, there is hope the football field will be ready by the fall. The lighting will come from the old stadium on the Meraux campus if school officials can find someone to transport it.
The archdiocese is all for the expansion of Hannan and feels confident it has the right person leading the charge. Latour served as vocations director at the Southern Dominican Province in Metairie from 2006-10 and previously worked as an assistant principal at a Catholic high school in Plano, Texas, and dean of students at the University of Dallas.
"Father Charlie's role is to use his dynamic, charismatic personality to let people know of all the wonderful things happening at Hannan," said the archdiocese's superintendent of schools, Jan Daniel Lancaster. "He has embraced the history of Hannan... The alums know how important they are, and he does everything he can to foster that relationship."
It didn't take long for Latour to realize Hannan was the right place for him. Since, he has strived to make sure "every student that walks through these doors" is prepared to enter college when they leave.
Over the past two years the school as overhauled its curriculum and its staff. In athletics, the Hawks have kept with their winning traditions in spring sports: the softball team won its second consecutive Class 1A title, while the baseball team was undefeated in District 7-1A and made the playoffs.
Those were all traditions set by the school during its first 18 years in Meraux, and despite a detour through some tough times, Latour says Hannan is just about back to where it wants to be.
"Our alma mater says, 'our roots run deep,' " he said. "Well, our roots run from here to St. Bernard."


>>>Archbishop Hannan High is named for beloved New Orleans Archbishop Philip M Hannan who died last year after a long faithful life of service.  You can find numerous posts on this blog about Archbishop Hannan.

And congratulations to Hannan High on it's awesome growth and rebirth on the Northshore!