Thirty-eight high school students from La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls will connect with the school's roots this month when they visit the villa for which the school is named.

The trip to Florence, Italy is part of the school's first Fine Arts tour. Its 17-member select choir will perform in three formal concerts, which will include hula performances. The choir will also host an informal concert at the garden theater at Villa La Pietra.

DR. SEUSS FOCUS OF READING PROGRAM

Solomon Elementary School third-graders, 'Aiea High School students and city officials will take part tomorrow in a 9 a.m. event at Honolulu Hale tied to the National Education Association's "Read Across America" program. Hawai'i State Teachers Association officials will also be in attendance to discuss the annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for children to celebrate reading on or around Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Dr. Seuss, Theodor "Ted" Seuss Geisel, born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Mass., produced entertaining and instructive children's books over a span of five decades. He died in 1991 at the age of 87.

UH STUDENTS CAN STUDY IN FRANCE

University of Hawai'i system students are eligible for a new Kapi'olani Community College study-abroad program that will take students to France this summer, June 27 to July 28. Students will earn six to eight KCC credits in beginning or intermediate French. The deadline to register is March 15. Go to www.kcc.hawaii.edu/object/studyinfrance.html. The program's cost, about $4,000, doesn't include airfare or tuition.

HAWAIIAN TEENS GET COLLEGE AID

The Native Hawaiian Scholars Program has been awarded a three-year, $878,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to prepare 500 Native Hawaiian teens for college. Run by a local nonprofit, College Connections Hawai'i, NHSP provides academic counseling, financial aid guidance and cultural enrichment to Hawaiian students and their families.

Students may call College Connections at 737-8955 on O'ahu or (866) 233-0777 from the Neighbor Islands for more information. Applications may be downloaded from www.collegeconnections.org/NHSP.

SAINT LOUIS TO HOLD DRAMA GALA

Saint Louis School's sixth annual drama gala will be held Saturday at the Mamiya Theatre, with curtain call at 7:30 p.m. The gala kicks off the premiere of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," which will run Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, March 2, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. each night.

Alumnus Dean Pitchford, best known as the writer of "Footloose" and "Fame," will make a special appearance.

Gala tickets are $100 per person. Call 739-4862 for reservations.

HPU SPONSORING WRITING WORKSHOP

Novice and seasoned writers are invited to attend Hawai'i Pacific University's 10th annual Ko'olau Writing Workshop set for 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the university's Windward Hawai'i Loa campus.

Darrell Lum, one of the pioneering voices of Hawai'i's literature through use of Hawai'i Creole English — pidgin — and author of short fiction collections including "Sun" and "Pass On, No Pass Back," as well as short stories and drama, will be the featured speaker.

To reserve a seat, call 544-9340 or 544-1108, or send name, address and phone number to pwilson@hpu.edu.