In the dark, Jaykob Knazur drove to school. The principal of Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana, arrived at the intersection of Broadway and East 59th Avenue at five in the morning on Friday, unsure of what he was going to enter. The previous evening, he had heard enough to know it was bad. That was not as bad as what he discovered.
The Andrean campus appeared more like something from a weather service report than a school photo after the tornado that ripped through northwest Indiana on the evening of June 11. The building’s north side has significant roof damage. Windows have blown out. Almost all of the trees on campus have been severely damaged or completely uprooted. Broadway’s power lines were down, and the poles broke clean. The outfield fence on the baseball field, which was home to one of the most prestigious programs in Indiana high school history, was destroyed. Ground-level photos were unable to fully convey the scope of it, but aerial drone footage captured on Friday morning did.
“Heartbreaking,” Knazur remarked. “Devastating.” He didn’t need to go into further detail, so he didn’t.
In honor of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the first bishop of the Diocese of Gary, Andrean was established in 1959. Its reputation as a Catholic, college-preparatory school with serious athletics, a student-teacher ratio of about nine to one, and the kind of alumni loyalty that tends to show up in moments like this one has grown over the decades, far beyond its enrollment of about 400 students. Knazur reported that by Friday morning, he had already received inquiries about how they could assist from community members, former students, and institutional partners. Not every school receives a response like that. In this part of northwest Indiana, Andrean seems to hold a special place in people’s hearts, even decades after graduation.
On Friday, contractors showed up on campus to start clearing debris and boarding up the windows. Assessors were sent by the insurance company. After storms like this one, when the extent of damage keeps growing the longer people look, it’s still unclear how long repairs will take and what the total cost will be. Surprisingly, only one minor injury was reported in Merrillville despite over 200 buildings being reported damaged.
In the midst of it all, Knazur noticed something particular, which he shared with reporters. He discovered one area of the grounds that seemed to be unaltered after touring the entire campus and cataloging what the tornado had taken. On the north side of the structure, which sustained the most damage, the crucifix and the Grotto survived unharmed. Depending on who you ask, that may or may not be considered noteworthy. However, it was the information Knazur decided to share, and it struck a chord.
In the meantime, the school’s baseball team was getting ready for Saturday’s semistate semifinal match in LaPorte. With nine state titles in program history—tied for the most in Indiana—the 59ers finished with 28 wins and 3 losses. The team would practice off-site on Friday before playing, according to Knazur. “We’re doing what we need to do,” he declared. It’s difficult not to interpret that. A group of teenagers boarding a bus to compete despite the campus being in ruins and the community still evaluating the damage. Nothing is fixed by it. However, it’s also not nothing.
As of this writing, the campus is still closed, and community members are asked to avoid the area until safety assessments are finished. Through Andrean’s official website, anyone wishing to contribute financially can do so. By all accounts, the rebuilding process is only getting started.
