OUR SCHOOLS • ST. MARK LUTHERAN SCHOOL
'Family-type' approach breeds success
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — Officials at St. Mark Lutheran School will tell you that its Christ-based education isn't for everybody.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We're not going to jam it down your throat, but it's going to be in everything we do, say and teach," said Lynne Uffman, school principal. "If that's not what you're looking for, then this is probably not your school."
Students at St. Mark Lutheran School take a break between classes. The school has 197 students.
But the students in the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade private school score higher than average on the SATs, Uffman said. The 22-to-1 student-teacher ratio guarantees individual attention and a solid education, she said.
"Our eighth-grade students throughout the years have been admitted, pretty much, to the private high school of their choice," Uffman said.
The school, accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the National Lutheran Schools, has one section of each grade level, except seventh grade, which has two sections.
Plans call for adding a second eighth-grade section.
The recent addition of a $2 million building with four classrooms and a full-sized basketball court has made the limited expansion possible.
Students bring their lunches and twice a week are allowed to order pizza or Subway sandwiches.
The campus also has outside basketball courts, a large lawn and a playground for younger children.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
St. Mark, with an enrollment of 197 students, considers itself a family-type school and, among other things, encourages seventh- and eighth-graders to select a "buddy" in kindergarten and first grade and accompany them to chapel services.
Principal Lynne Uffman leads the school choir during rehearsals for the Christmas program. She has been principal for three years.
The school sponsors several sports leagues in volleyball and basketball for students in fifth to eighth grade, and the teams compete with other Lutheran and Christian schools, often taking championships, Uffman said.
Once a year the six Lutheran schools in Hawai'i combine their bands and choirs to perform for the National Lutheran School Week in March. With only one rehearsal, students are able to pull together an inspiring concert that includes 'ukulele groups and a bell choir, she said.
• What are you most proud of? The dedication of teachers and staff, who "go beyond what's required," Uffman said.
• Best-kept secret: The size of the campus. People don't realize how big the school is, with seven buildings, including the new $2 million, 14,500-square-foot structure.
• Everybody at our school knows: Joann Gundermann, the kindergarten teacher who has been at the school for 36 years. Each year Gundermann visits the homes of her students to get to know the families better.
• Our biggest challenge: Finances. The school is tuition-driven, with little fund-raising and donations.
• What we need: To be able to raise teachers' salaries and purchase new desks for the old classrooms.
• Projects: Each month the children dedicate their chapel collection to an organization such as the Lokahi Tree, Make A Wish Foundation or the Heifer Project, in which farm animals are purchased and given to a needy Third World family as a means of self-sufficiency.
• Special events: Two annual Christmas concerts, a spring concert featuring the fourth- to eighth-grade choir and band. The younger choir, consisting of students in kindergarten through third grade, also does a Bible story in song.
To get your school profiled, contact education editor Dan Woods at 525-5441 or dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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| At a glance
• Where: 45-725 Kamehameha Highway, Kane'ohe • Phone: 247-5589 • Web address: www.smls-hawaii.org • Principal: Lynne Uffman, three years. • School nickname: Warriors • School colors: Red and white • Enrollment: 197 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. • History: The school is about 50 years old. It began with only a kindergarten class. • Special programs or classes: Choir and band that give three major performances a year. Volleyball and basketball sports league in fifth through eighth grade, girls and boys. They play other Lutheran and Christian schools. • Computers: 28 PCs in a computer lab and at least one computer in every classroom. |
