Posted on: Thursday, March 29, 2007
Community service key at Saint Michael's
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Fitness volunteer Kim Guthrie leads a cardio-kickboxing class for seventh-graders at Saint Michael's School in Waialua.
Photos by JEFF WIDENER | The Honolulu Advertiser
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AT A GLANCE
WHERE: 67-340 Haona St. PHONE: 637-7772 PRINCIPAL: Sister William Marie SCHOOL NICKNAME: Sharks SCHOOL COLORS: Blue and gold HISTORY: Saint Michael's School opened in 1944 when the Rev. Ernest Claus SS.CC. started a kindergarten in Damien Hall with 19 students. Seven months later, a first grade was added. Five years later, the school housed kindergarten through eighth-grade classes. COMPUTERS: About 60 ENROLLMENT: 254 students, with openings in all grades for new students
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Fourth-grade students crack the books at a computer class at Saint Michael's. Sister William Marie, the principal, says "Saint Michael's is continuing to build a school that offers a solid academics program."
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Saint Michael's, a small Catholic school on the North Shore of O'ahu with a long history in the area, is feeling its way amid a changing community.
Situated in Waialua, the school is part of a town in transition. Over the past decade the area has gone from a predominantly sugar-growing community to one with a diversified economy, causing shifts that ripple out into various sectors, including education.
The economic profile is important to the school because 60 percent of its students live in the Waialua area, said Sister William Marie, director of Saint Michael's School.
One constant amid changes, Sister William Marie said, is that the school has heart. School administrators and staff, along with parents, have worked to obtain grants to provide technology programs, organize an annual science fair and stress community service with students.
The curriculum required each grade to put in a minimum amount of time into helping the community at large, ranging from kindergartners pitching in for five hours during the school year to sixth- through eighth-graders completing 25 hours of community service. The sharing of time and talents with others, without payment, is meant to round the child by building self-esteem and satisfaction in giving of themselves.
"Saint Michael's is continuing to build a school that offers a solid academics program, a strong discipline program in partnership with parents, faculty and staff," said Sister William Marie.
What are you most proud of? "We are a wonderful school that focuses on being active Christians, effective communicators, problem-solvers, self-evaluators and responsible citizens," said Sister William Marie.
Best-kept secret: The school's weather camera is part of the Homeland Security Weather-net Network.
Everybody at our school knows: "Each other. We focus on being a family," Sister William Marie said. "At our school students know each other because we meet every morning at assembly; it fosters our 'ohana."
Our biggest challenge: "To continue to provide excellent education for the students on the North Shore," Sister William Marie said.
What we need: "To redo our computer and science lab and the playground blacktop," she said.
Special events: Mini Olympics, April 2; annual Halloween bulletin board contest, annual selection of the Turkey Prince and Princess; Walk to Bethlehem; a clothes drive organized by the student council. Programs for students on campus include: anthology, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Hula Club, Junior Police Officer/Drill Team, line dancing, liturgy, newspaper, service club, speech/drama, student council, yearbook and Catholic School League sports — volleyball, basketball and track — for students in grades 5 to 8.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.
