HAMMOND | Nearly 250 parents showed up Thursday night for an open house at Bishop Noll Institute, giving parents an opportunity to meet teachers and visit classrooms.

New Principal Colleen McCoy-Cejka said the school opened its doors Aug. 22 to 575 students in seventh through 12th grade, about the same number as the previous year. The largest class is the freshmen class with 130 students. The school has 11 new teachers, bringing the number of teachers and staff to 60.

McCoy-Cejka, who spends some mornings responding to parents and students and directing traffic to the 240 students who drive in, said she tends to blend in with the crowd.

McCoy-Cejka talked to parents and, along with other staff members, distributed schedules during the open house.

She pointed to the number of parents passing through the building Thursday, saying the school had a good crowd, in part because of the open house and also because parents had to pick up their football players who were preparing for Friday night's game against Andrean.

Sophomore Michael Wilson stopped by to see previous biology teacher Jann Bell-Wehr in her classroom before taking his aunt Pat Wilson around to visit his classes.

Wilson, of Gary, said he has been a student at Bishop Noll since he was in seventh grade. He said he's taking chemistry and physics, world history, geometry, theology, speech and English. Wilson said his favorite classes are chemistry and physics.

Isidro and Julie Cordova, of Hammond, have a sophomore Carmen, 15, who is a student at Bishop Noll. The couple has two younger children at St. John Bosco School in Hammond.

They said their children always have gone to Catholic schools except for Carmen's freshman year, when they sent her to Morton High School. They said they learned they preferred the Catholic school environment, and will look for other ways to tighten the budget in this difficult economy.

They get good feedback from her. She likes school. Her attitude is good and she looks forward to coming to school every day, the Cordovas said.