The additions are handicapped accessible and cover 50,000 square feet, built on 10 acres of land owned by the church. Students and faculty are eager to try out the new facilities, Sister Bernard said. St. Michael's had been in its old location at 314 S. Lincoln Ave. The new school has several advantages over the old location, she said. The new school is spacious, colorful and bright with red, green, yellow and blue tiles dotting the hallways.
Colored pillars mark the classroom of each grade level.
Fund-raising for the new structure began in fall of 1993, said the Rev. David Bourek, who serves St. Michael's Church. Ground was broken in April 1996. St. Michael's and St. Cecilia's parishes, which make up Hastings Catholic Schools, were supportive, he said, as well as many people who are not members of those churches. A penny campaign, in which students brought coins to school, provided the money for landscaping. Church members will do the work on that project themselves.