WAILUKU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Maui’s oldest Catholic school is finding new ways to boost enrollment.
St. Anthony School in Wailuku has been around for nearly 200 years.
It is now launching its first-ever sports academy and expanding its Hawaiian Studies Program.
“I feel like I’m playing the role of a steward,” said Kumu Naomi “Sissy” Lake-Farm.
Lake-Farm’s said her kuleana is to help strengthen the school’s commitment to Olelo Hawaii and the Hawaiian culture by creating opportunities for students to engage in aina-based education through hands-on experiences.
“Not only infusing the importance of the program to the children, but we’re going to have a papa makua. So, it’s like a class for the parents. So, they’ll come once a week, we’ll kind of infuse and show them what’s happening at school so they can help foster it in the home,” she said.
The new programs are part of a greater push to attract more students to school that was established in 1848.
Like many religious schools across the country, enrollment is a struggle.
On Maui, the high cost of living and housing shortage exacerbated by the fires are added challenges for the 177-year-old school.
But school leaders are committed to overcoming those obstacles.
So, they are also launching an innovative sports academy.
“There’s so much talent here,” said sports academy coach Nikolina Musto.
The sports academy will be led by Musto, a born-and-raised Maui girl who became a professional soccer player, and two-time Olympian weightlifter Vernon Patao.
“If I was growing up, I would have been the first one signed up for something like this,” Musto said.
The sports academy is year-round training woven into the curriculum.
“They’ll come to school in the morning, they’ll do their classes from 8:00 a.m. till like around 12:30, till lunch,” Musto said. “Then after, the kids in the sports academy will come here to the gym, to the field, and they’ll do training, strength training, running, conditioning.”
Musto said that will allow students to play their club or high school sports after school, have dinner with their families, and a full night’s rest.
“A lot of families have their kids waking up at 5:00 in the morning to go train, weightlift, run,” she said. “Then go to school, and then after school, they have to go to their club sport, and then they have homework, and then they get exhausted.”
Musto said often times, students from Hawaii will move to other states to chase their athletic dreams.
“Families are separated ... we don’t want to see that,” she said. “I think it’s going to be really good to have something here.”
To learn more about the programs, click here.
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