MUNSTER — It was everything it was supposed to be and maybe a little bit more. The Class 4A Munster Sectional 1 championship was a battle between only two teams in the Region that won 20 games during the regular season. It was as anticipated a game as the area has seen in years. The 3,500-plus in attendance got their money’s worth, as each team had a chance to win it in the final seconds and Hammond Central held off the Mustangs 54-53 on Monday. “This is a brotherhood,” Wolves senior Kenneth Grant said. “When you with your brothers, you fight through anything. That’s what we did together. We fought together as brothers and we came out as brothers. We stood on top.”

Read More Hammond Central Outlasts Munster in Sectional Championship for the Ages

HAMMOND — Hammond sixth graders got an inside look at dozens of careers Wednesday during Franklin Elementary School's College and Career Expo. Nearly 60 companies and community organizations, ranging from firefighters and medical professionals to the U.S. Army and Indiana University Northwest, came to the school to show students what it's like to follow their career paths. Many included demonstrations: Hammond police brought an unloaded gas grenade launcher that the SWAT team uses, and the Dunes Learning Center showed off the animal pelts and bones its staffers use to teach about nature. Up to 800 students from eight elementary schools across School City of Hammond came, including every sixth grader in the district. Kids from other grades at Franklin attended, too.

Read More Hammond Schools Start Teaching Students About Careers with College and Career Expo

HAMMOND — When staff from Enchanted Backpack drove their vans up to the front door of Franklin Elementary School on Thursday, they were welcomed by cheering students and teary-eyed faculty. The vans were filled with duffel bags of donated school supplies and goods. About $40,000 worth. The same amount was given Tuesday to Eggers Middle School and in January to Morton Elementary. Enchanted Backpack, a 501(c)3 organization based in Chicago, strives to support under-resourced elementary and middle schools in the Chicago area with donations of school supplies, athletics equipment, winter coats and other items.

Read More Enchanted Backpack Donates $120,000 In Supplies to Hammond Schools

The State Board of Education approved new graduation pathway programs for the School City of Hammond and the Excel Center Gary that officials hope will be mimicked in districts across the state. Hammond is launching a new four-year Junior ROTC program at Hammond Central and Hammond Morton high schools aimed at providing students with citizenship and leadership skills. “Right now there’s a vacuum for students considering the military,” Hammond Superintendent Scott Miller told the state board during its Wednesday meeting in Indianapolis. He called the new Military/JROTC Civic Leadership pathway a “robust” one that far exceeds guidelines.

Read More State Approves Unique Pathways for School City of Hammond

With 140 students representing every school in the district, the School City of Hammond's production of "The Lion King Jr." this weekend will be the largest in district history by number of students involved. "Every school we have in School City of Hammond is involved in this show," faculty co-director Aarynn Bernard said, explaining that the play is an all-district production. "All the way from a couple students we have that are pre-K to 12th grade." Bernard said the months-long process of putting the production together was "a labor of love."

Read More School City of Hammond's Production of 'The Lion King Jr.' Largest in District History

When Cindy Long of the U.S. Department of Agriculture asked what Christine Clarahan's school nutrition "wish list" was, Clarahan was ready. She jumped up and produced a small yellow legal pad from her purse. The first page was filled with Clarahan's thoughts on various nutrition policies and standards. "One of the reasons that I am so passionate about my job and everything that I do is that we know that a kid who is hungry cannot learn," Clarahan, director of the Department of Food and Nutrition for the School City of Hammond, said.

Read More USDA Discusses School Nutrition Policy During Visit to O'Bannon Elementary

It's been decades in the making and Thursday, one Indiana school has officially been named for the first African American teacher in Hammond: Ms. Annie Burns-Hicks. "To see so many people who are interested in education, it just blows my mind," Hicks said. In the fall of 1960, she was a young woman with a college degree who sued the school district for a fair shot at teaching. "It was worth it -- was worth everything," she said. Hicks was one of 13 children.

Read More Hammond School Named After 1st African American Teacher

At Irving Elementary School, students learn how to read and do math, along with principles of science and social studies, but unlike at most schools, they do it almost entirely in Spanish.

Read More Students at Irving Elementary Learn in Two Languages

Challenges both great and small have tested the resolve of the Region’s K-12 public education system, and schools have continued to rise to the occasion. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools were ordered closed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, we responded by taking our curriculum online in literally a week’s time. Throughout the pandemic, schools have continued to strive to meet the needs of all students, even when those needs extend beyond the classroom into areas such as health, nutrition, and equitable access to resources.

Read More GUEST COLUMNIST: Region schools will rise to challenges, but need support from community