Saint Anthony Junior Senior High School

The month of August has flown by with a flurry of new uniforms, schedules, students and excitement. There is a wonderful sense of optimism amongst faculty and students that this will be a great year of wonder and growth. Our teachers have begun the new term with engaging lessons; many tackling new coursework and responsibilities with enthusiasm and creativity. Our school policies have been simplified for clarity and equitable enforcement.

The St. Anthony Junior Senior High School Board, under the leadership of Lindy Sutherland, met on August 17, 2004 and received a complete written and oral report on enrollment, personnel, budget, operations and facilities. They were extremely impressed by the progress the school has made in all of these areas and they have determined that quarterly meetings are more appropriate for our school. Therefore, their next meeting will be held at 4:30pm on Tuesday, November 16, 2004.

I will be meeting with Fr. Timothy Kenny, Director of Education for the Marianists in mid-September. He’ll discuss the terms of the discernment period so we may learn the conditions under which we are to operate. Dr. Carmen Himenes will also visit St. Anthony’s on September 21, 2004 for an in-depth evaluation of our school. She has been so supportive of our efforts to initiate responsible changes to improve the educational processes here; it will be a pleasure to show her how far we’ve progressed.

I also attended a meeting of the Maui Catholic Schools Board under the leadership of their new Board President, Mrs. Cynthia Wong and Maui Representative to the Diocesan Board, Mr. Kurt Wright. Mr. Wright sent the following for background information: Maui Catholic School Board Charter, Organizational Structure for Catholic Schools, The Future of Maui Catholic Grade Schools (the Cardoza Report) and the 1999 MCS Marketing Plan. This Board is seeking to increase parental participation so if any of you are interested in advisory governance at the district level, please contact me for information. Revitalization and refocus seems to be the order of the day!

Mr. Alvin Soares is actively working with community and school members to complete the construction of the SAS Veterans Memorial. The design is finished and the special display case is being built. We are currently planning to list all St. Anthony students who served in any branch of the U.S. military; using brass name plates to identify each veteran. Mr. Soares also suggested maintaining an Honor to each person (we currently have 65 names) to coincide with the name in the case. Contact Judy Yamanoue with any suggestions or offers of assistance.

We had a beautiful Commissioning service in the Church Center on September 2, 2004. The ceremony was coordinated by our LIFE students; Sasha Barcheski, Aaron Burgart, Christiane Cardoza, Kristen Gazmen, Jessica Pacubas, Catherine Taylor, Jill Uehara, Sarah Uehara, Mrs. Pomai Pruett (Moderator) and Mr. Ernie Mendoza; officiated by Fr. Ray Malley. All staff members and our student government leaders; President-James Wright, Treasurer-Gerard Cambra, Secretary-Jolynn Sakugawa received a certificate marking the occasion. It was a beautiful reminder to us all of our diocesan educational duty to our students.

Work on our facilities is ongoing and exciting. We continue to be the beneficiaries of monetary and in-kind donations from alumni and different companies. We will present a list identifying our guardian angels soon. Speaking of Guardian Angels, Tony Pruett is our September Angel. He silkscreened 50 banners and 10 curtains with the Marianist emblem for use in our classrooms and offices. Mahalo Nui Loa, Tony!

Please contact us should you have concerns or recommendations for our consideration.