Our Schools
Principal says La Pietra girls school not just for rich kids
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
Marissa Neff • La Pietra
Tucked away at the foot of Diamond Head is La Pietra-Hawaii School for Girls, a small school with a well-tended campus that is often thought of as a place for wealthy girls. The stereotype isn't accurate: Nearly half the students are on financial aid, creating a diversified economic student population, said Nancy White, head of La Pietra.
Junior Stephanie Starr, sophomore Reina Soeda and junior Jennifer Tokunaga are among the 225 students who attend La Pietra-Hawaii School for Girls near Diamond Head.
"We're dedicated to having a diverse learning environment," White said. "The school's location lends itself to the misunderstanding that we're an exclusive school. We have girls from all over the island."
- What are you most proud of? "One of the most striking things about our school is we're able to stay a small, nurturing school with a 1-to-11 (teacher-student) ratio," White said. "We can be small and still have it all. Still nurturing and not anonymous." The school offers classes in advanced placement, foreign language, fine arts, technology and a core college prep curriculum. And the school also encourages students to join in athletics, White said; if the sport isn't offered at the school, the athletic director will find a place on another school's team.
- Best-kept secret: "We're proud of the economic and cultural diversity of our school," White said. "It's the financial aid program that provides the economic diversity."
- Everybody at La Pietra knows: "Everyone here knows that the girls are important and that girls can do anything they want to," White said. "They can aspire to any kind of goal. That's what we teach them. We remove the gender walls."
- Our biggest challenge: "We've been one of the forefront schools for technology, but with the speed of change in technology, and the resources you need to keep up, it's a challenge to stay on top."
- What we need: Finding the money to keep up with technological changes is the school's greatest need, and talking about that is impolite, White said.
- Projects: Genes – Girls Education in Networking Engineering and Systems – is a summer-school project. Students learn how to build a network of computers, troubleshoot and repair. Every eighth-grader goes to the Big Island and studies volcanoes. Each girl creates her own Web site, using virtual reality, animation and sound – a science project that integrates art and technology, White said.
- Special events: Each year the school's major fund raiser is called HOOPLA, a silent auction. The March event raises money to pay for the school's financial aid program. In the fall, the school has a Children's Fair, put on by faculty, students and parents for the community. On the first day of the two-day fair, La Pietra students pair up with students with disabilities who attend other schools. Another event is the Star Party, jointly put on by the Astronomical Society, which brings telescopes for families to look at the stars and planets.
| • | At a glance
VITALS: 2933 Poni Moi Road, Honolulu; 922-2744. Web address: www. lapietra.edu Principal: Nancy White, head of schools. This is White's sixth year as head of La Pietra. School nickname: None School colors: Royal blue and powder blue Enrollment: 225 students SATs: Last year's 43 graduates were accepted to 64 colleges, White said. Of those students, 10 went to the University of Hawai'i and 32 went to colleges on the Mainland. One student is traveling, White said. The school doesn't release the most recent Stanford Achievement Test scores. History: La Pietra opened in 1964 and moved to its present location at the slopes of Diamond Head in 1969. It was started by a group of parents, particularly Lorraine Day Cooke and Barbara Cox Anthony, who wanted a secular education for girls with an emphasis on college preparatory programs. Special features: A nonsecular girls school that seeks to educate the whole person, with an emphasis on arts and technology. Special programs or classes: Full-range curriculum, including an interscholastic sports program. The technology program provides a computer for nearly every student. The school brings in authors, musicians and artists. Computers: 200 computers. The school is hard-wired and wireless, so students can operate computers all over campus. The school's goal is to have a laptop computer for every student to use. |
To get your school profiled, contact education editor Dan Woods by phone at 525-5441 or by e-mail, dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.
