Page 5 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - June 23, 2021

Students Thriving In Catholic Schools’ System
FROM PAGE 4
It’s something that’s resonated with Vannatta since childhood. She attended St. John the Baptist School in Kalihi (which closed last year), and continued on at her alma mater, Sacred Hearts Acad- emy.
But, like Young and Vannatta reiterate, it’s not only about aca- demics and extracurriculars.
“The Hawai‘i Catholic school system fared incredibly well throughout this pandemic, when others struggled and experienced considerable learning loss,” ex- plains Young. “Many Hawai‘i Cath- olic schools conducted worthwhile service projects, virtual field trips and successful virtual fundraisers, providing students with enriching service learning opportunities.”
“That’s one of the perks,” she says of being able to work at a Catholic school. “I can practice
“I think everyone has the ability to do well, but doing well doesn’t necessarily mean getting an A in everything,” says Vannatta, who herself has a master’s degree in special education from Seattle University. “I want my students to be successful, and I challenge them. That’s what makes me a hard teacher. I want them to do well, to think and challenge them- selves, to have integrity.”
Augustine Educational Foundation gifted Maryknoll School $1,500 for faculty development. Pictured are (from left) 2020-21 Hawai‘i Catholic Schools Teacher of the Year Mary Jane Vannatta, Shana Tong, Father EJ Resinto and Dr. Llewellyn Young.
Each of the nearly 30 campuses was able to balance in-person in- struction (starting in August 2020) — taking care to adhere to strict safety guidelines — with online learning a difficult feat not many other private and public schools were able to ac- complish.
Smy faith out in the open, and I was really evangelizing like I’ m supposed to do.”
“I was not used to using technology like that.
tudents under Hawai‘i Catholic Schools’ purview continually score above the
By educating students to accept challenges, Vannatta and the rest of her Hawai‘i Catholic Schools colleagues give these young minds the tools to adapt to change in healthy, productive ways. Further-
So successful were these paro- chial schools in maintaining high academic standards and student achievement that overall, Hawai‘i Catholic Schools saw significant in- creases in enrollment late into the 2020-21 school year and into the 2021-22 term.
“I’m a dinosaur when it comes to that,” she adds with a laugh. “It was definitely a learning experience.”
national average in every single subject area, and 98% of its teens enroll in college after graduation. In addition, children can choose from an array of award-winning
“That was hard,” Vannatta admits.
See? Even in the midst of a pan- demic, the 2020-21 Hawai‘i Catholic Schools Teacher of the Year finds the silver lining and keeps on learning.
JUNE 23, 2021
HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK 5
subject areas. It ties into every- thing else, from community to school.”
sports and arts programs, allowing their passions outside of scholas- tics to thrive.
more, turning the state’s next gen- eration of community leaders into go-getters and problem-solvers, especially after the past 18 months, is quite reassuring.
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