OUR SCHOOLS • MID-PACIFIC INSTITUTE
Campus has small-college atmosphere, diverse student body

Maria Franco, center, practices a routine at Mid-Pacific's dance studio. Mid-Pacific students take traditional courses, as well as courses related to technology, performing or visual arts, and religious education. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Officials at Mid-Pacific Institute a few years ago asked their technology gurus to let their imaginations run wild.

The result of that brainstorming? The experts wanted to build a technology center that's larger than most school gymnasiums.

Instead of scoffing, Mid-Pacific officials started an ambitious $12 million fund-raising campaign. And this semester, the campus broke ground on a gym-sized technology center. The Math Science and Technology Complex will include state-of-the-art classrooms, digital video studios, distance learning centers and a biotechnology center.

"It's going to be a 21st century library," said teacher and technology coordinator Mark Hines. "We have an expectation that all of our students will use technology across all of their classes."

The grades 6-12 private school requires that students take the traditional subjects, plus technology, performing or visual arts and religious education and perform community service in order to graduate.

High school principal Richard Schaffer said the school places heavy emphasis on core academic subjects and expects a lot from its students.

"We hold them to a higher standard in terms of academics and in terms of responsibility and following the rules," Schaffer said. "We've got to teach them to be self-reliant. We take care of each student. You can't hide, but that's in a positive way. Every student is well known and well taken care of."

Mid-Pacific offers 16 advanced placement classes, and officials said it is the only school in the state involved in the International Baccalaureate Program.

With wide-open spaces and a small-college feel, the campus also boasts a culturally diverse student body: About 10 percent of the college prep school's students come from foreign countries, including Austria, Taiwan, China and Britain. While most students come from O'ahu, there are also several Neighbor Island and Mainland students who live in the dormitories here.

The dorm life has remained a popular option at the school — just a generation ago, all of the students here were expected to live on campus.

"The campus has always been a small community," Schaffer said.

Nearly 60 percent of the campus participates in organized sports. With just more than 1,000 students, Mid-Pacific fields 85 different sports teams, offering everything from judo and wrestling to paddling.

Hines said the campus is small enough and offers enough activities that all students are able to find a niche.

• What are you most proud of? The Mid-Pacific School of the Arts, which is a "school within the school" and a member of the International Network of Performing and Visual Arts Schools. All students are required to take arts classes, such as ballet, hula or sculpture, as part of their core curriculum. Also, the International Baccalaureate Program, the hula program and the boarding program.

• Best-kept secret? The International Baccalaureate Program, a rigorous pre-university course of study for juniors and seniors.

• Everyone at school knows? Auntie Dottie Crowell, the admissions director and a graduate of the class of 1957.

• What we need: Although Mid-Pacific has several computer labs, school officials say they could use more computers. They also need more money for student scholarships and are nearing the end of a fund-raising campaign to build a mathematics science and technology complex.

• Special events: The alumni chicken sale, a gift basket sale and ho'olaule'a. The school is currently putting on a production of "The Fantasticks."

• Alumni: April 12-14 is Alumni Weekend and July 11-15 is the national reunion in Las Vegas. E-mail alumni@midpac.edu for information.