Hmong American Peace Academy Celebrates Expansion

The Hmong American Peace Academy (HAPA) celebrated the construction progress of its new 99,000 square foot high school on its main campus at 4601 N. 84th Street in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Park neighborhood. Construction began this summer and is expected to be complete by August 2021. Travaux is serving as the owner’s representative for the project.

Joining Chris Her-Xiong, founder and executive director of HAPA, for the socially-distanced event were Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Alderwoman Nikiya Dodd, Milwaukee Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump, City of Milwaukee Housing Authority Executive Director Tony Pérez, HAPA Board Chair and Northwestern Mutual executive Jason Handal, among others.

“Today is about more than a building,” said Chris Her-Xiong, founder and executive director of the Hmong American Peace Academy. “Rather, it is about the promise we are making to our scholars, their families, and our broader community that a high quality education – especially one filled with abundant love, joyfulness, and high expectations – can transform lives and lead the way out of poverty and into a prosperous life of service. By taking the courageous step forward to build a high school designed to best support our scholars academic and extracurricular pursuits, we are underscoring our ambition to become one of the very best schools in Wisconsin.”