Mira Projovic
9th Grade Global Studies
(219) 852-0500 Ext.117
My journey toward membership in the HAST revolution (more on that later) began in Chicago, where I was born, and continued in Dyer, where I grew up on a small farm with my three sisters and Serbian immigrant parents (I currently live in Munster with my husband Chris and 5 dogs: Louie, Deanie, Trixie, Annie & Squirt.
After high school, I attended college in Tallahassee, Florida, where my aspirations were to become an actress or film director. To pay the bills, I took a job at a local Applebee’s, and that’s where my life took the first of many turns. I spent the next 20 years working in the restaurant industry, where I held every job possible: host, busser, prep cook, dishwasher, waitress, bartender, manager, bouncer (yep), and finally, owner of Muse Cafe, an “inspiring eatery and espresso bar” in Lansing, Illinois.
In 2006 I sold my cafe, enrolled in Purdue Calumet to complete my degree, and found my way to HAST as a substitute teacher six months after they first opened their doors. On my first day, I realized HAST is like no other school that I had ever been involved with. I observed several groups of 7th graders who were working on their Rube Goldberg projects in the hallway. They were polite and asked if they could show me what they had so far; they were still tweaking it and needed feedback. I saw a group of adults and students huddled around a table in the cafeteria, where they were immersed in a traffic configuration project for the area around the new school that was being built in downtown Hammond. It was amazing and I was speechless. This was change…progress…the future of education. On my third day of subbing, the principal asked me if I would be interested in a more permanent position. My exact reply to him was, “If you’re asking me to join the revolution, I’m giving a resounding YES!”
15 years later, we’re still changing, still progressing and I’m so proud to be a part of it!