PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN AKAMINE / ST. ANDREW'S PRIORY The single-sex environment at St. Andrew's Priory and a curriculum that includes discussions about belief actually encourage students to become outspoken, confident and intelligent young women who are well versed in areas from academics to athletics.

Students school’s best ad

Recruitment focuses on debunking
stereotypes about an Episcopal,
all-girls campus

Tour guide and St. Andrew's Priory senior Tiffany Tsark waits in front of Kennedy Hall on an early Sunday morning, wearing her uniform and ready to greet prospective parents and students at the Priory Open House.

Today she will show parents the campus and take them to meet faculty members. These tours also give parents and students the chance to speak with a priory student one-on-one and find out if the priory meets their expectations.

St. Andrew's Priory Each week, Hawaii's teenage reporters and photographers tell us about their high school. Name Ke Kukui Editor Callie Fisher Faculty adviser Gary Becker Address 224 Queen Emma Square, Honolulu 96813 Phone number 536-6102 Head of School Marilyn Matsunaga Principal Kathy Carstensen Nickname The Pride Colors Red and white

"When I am a representative for the school at Open House, many of the misconceptions are the worries of the parents. However, it's not really like that; it is so much better," says Tsark.

One of the main misconceptions is that being in an all-girls environment impedes social growth and makes it difficult to form relationships with the opposite sex. This is not true; the all-girls environment makes students more vocal and active in coed situations. Also, there is no lack of activities for students to interact with the opposite sex outside of school, and many students are able to make and maintain friendships with students outside of the priory.

Athletics are also prominent at the priory. The athletes here must fight against the idea that girls cannot be successful athletes and that small schools do not have competitive athletics.

Junior Aleia Monden was the state diving champion the last two years as a freshman and sophomore. Eighth-grader Mackenzie Miller recently completed the Maui Channel swim in less than five hours. Freshman bowler Suzana Signaigo finished the season ranked second in the ILH and ninth in the state. Two cross-country runners, Jennifer Tanaka and Shauna Zane, went to the state tournament this year. Most notably, last year's varsity basketball team went to the state Division II title game.

Another fear that parents might have is that only Episcopal students are admitted to the priory. Many students of other faiths attend the priory for its academics rather than its religious affiliation. But students are required to attend chapel once a week and take Christian studies courses.

Students are expected to have a nuanced understanding of religion, and part of the Christianity course required in sophomore year stresses the differences between religions. Priory faculty members do not force their opinions on students. Students find that they are accepted regardless of their beliefs.

Priory girls, like students at many private schools, are often thought to be rich. But in most priory families, both parents work, and many high-schoolers have part-time jobs. Many scholarships are available to students, including the Queen Emma Merit scholarship, which is given to students who excel in academics. Financial aid and scholarships from other institutions are also available.

Students attending all-girls schools are often painted as reserved, studious and naive. The priory might contain some of the most articulate, vocal and passionate young women in Hawaii. Students are not afraid to get their hands dirty or to voice their opinions.

Junior Lauren Akamine says: "Girls here are very headstrong. They aren't afraid to stand up for themselves and make their voices heard."

The priory teams up
with HTY for ‘Queen’

The two groups will produce
a play about Rell Sunn

This winter's drama production will definitely be one to remember. It will mark the second collaboration of the priory Drama Department with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. The first collaboration two years ago yielded "Whispers," the first play to be made from the collaboration of a school's drama department and HTY.

This past summer, HTY contacted the priory to do a second collaboration. HTY was planning a play about Rell Sunn called "The Queen of Makaha," and since it focused on a female hero, they were wondering if the priory wanted to do a play to complement theirs.

A deal was struck, and ever since the first few weeks of school, the students in Belle Armstrong's after-school drama class, Stephanie Osika's honors English 10 class and kumu Kaimana Kong's Hawaiian studies class have steadily worked on the production.

Hester Kaimin, a member of HTY's education department, has led students from all three classes through a process called "play building" to create their production. Students first work on basic acting exercises, such as creating frozen tableaux or short unscripted scenes in a limited amount of time. Over time they analyze their scenes and find ways to improve them with different acting techniques. Students from each of the classes involved will eventually perfect a single scene to be part of a three-scene production.

Tentative performance dates for this production are 2 and 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28, and 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, at Tenney Theatre. The early Friday performance will be exclusively for the upper-school students, but since all performances are free, you just might want to attend them all!

You Asked...

Minone Subasinghe
Senior
"The Seaside Senior class, because they're like my second family."

Mary Williams
Junior
"The fact that everybody knows everybody."

Erica Okimura
Sophomore
"The academic requirements that are a good challenge."

Tanja Lauprecht
Eighth grade
"I like the people here."

Kapua Neumann
Eighth grade
"I like the food."

Alana Pagba
Seventh grade
"The teachers, because they're cool."

Megan Lee
Second grade
"I like the educational and cool computers we get. It helps me learn better."

Genevive Brooks-Harris
First grade
"The classes are fun and all my teachers are great!"

Nicole Tsukiyama
First grade
"I like the classes, especially reading, spelling and math."