Tangipahoa Parish is receiving national accolades for the success of one of the district’s largest magnet schools.
On Friday, Hammond High Magnet School was recognized with the highest merit award offered by the Magnet Schools of America, which has distinguished the school as a “Top Merit Award of Excellence” campus. It is a first for both the school and the district, which relaunched HHMS as a magnet and International Baccalaureate school at the start of the 2010-11 school year. At the time, the school was in decline, boasting an enrollment of only several hundred students. Today, HHMS is the second-largest high school in the parish, receiving hundreds of magnet transfer applications each year for students to participate in a wealth of programs offered at the school.
Michael Kyles, Jr., principal of HHMS, was a teacher at the campus when the school began its transformation more than a decade ago. He said this recognition is a powerful reminder that HHMS is on the move, making positive gains for students in our community and gaining national attention for the opportunities we are providing for students. Among those opportunities are the Northshore’s only IB high school diploma program and a sports medicine magnet program which draws students from across the parish to attend HHMS. The magnet specialty programs have been so well-received the campus has had to complete several additions, including a ProStart culinary kitchen and most recently a 14-classroom wing to accommodate the influx of students.
The “Top Magnet Schools of Excellence” award from Magnet Schools of America recognizes schools that were designated as National Certified Demonstration Schools in the fall of 2024 or schools that achieved the highest score threshold or ranked at the top of their reader group.” It is the highest merit award the organization offers to magnet schools across the country.
