Second graders performed a hula during the Sept. 12 assembly and pep rally. (Courtesy Sacred Hearts Academy)
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Sacred Hearts Academy marked 115 years of providing Catholic education this month with a weeklong celebration highlighted by an assembly and pep rally on Sept. 12.
The all-girls college preparatory school was founded by 11 Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary sisters, who in September 1909 opened a campus with 53 female students in Kaimuki. The Academy now educates students as young as 3 years old through 12th grade.
Founders’ Week events included games, a Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony, the blessing of alumnae faculty and staff, and a school spirit day.
On Sept. 12, the school gathered in the Academy’s gym for an energetic ceremony that featured performances, reflections by current and former students, fellowship and a blessing of individual classes by the Academy’s chaplain, Sacred Hearts Father Jeremy Sabugo.
The assembly began with an oli, or chant, by graduate and Academy faculty member Crystale Cayaban, a prayer by Father Sabugo and remarks from President Brandy Ann Sato — herself a graduate of the Academy.
Student performances included the Academy’s cheerleaders, band and second-grade hula class. Reflections came from alumnae whose daughters now attend the Academy as well as from alumnae who themselves are Sacred Hearts sisters: Sister Katherine Francis Miller, Sister Regina Mary Jenkins and Sister Rose Henry Reeves.
Fellowship followed the class blessings by Father Sabugo.
School officials and Sacred Hearts sisters gathered on campus with bells originally installed in the Academy’s bell tower in 1932; taken down in 1995, they’ve been refurbished and will be placed on display. From left: Cynthia McIntyre, lower school principal; Sacred Hearts Sister Katherine Francis Miller; Sacred Hearts Sister Rose Henry Reeves; Sacred Hearts Sister Vandana Narayan; Sacred Hearts Father Jeremy Sabugo; Sacred Hearts Sister Anne Clare DeCosta; Sacred Hearts Sister Regina Mary Jenkins; Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Josephine Araki; Brandy Ann Sato, president; and Cleo Eubanks, upper school principal. (Courtesy Sacred Hearts Academy)