St. Francis School Welcomes Boys to Freshman Class

KHON2 NEWS
Reported by: Manolo Morales
Email: mmorales@khon2.com

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Saint Francis High School in Manoa started the school year Tuesday, and it was unlike any other day in its 85 year history.

The catholic school is now co-ed.

One thing that will never be the same at Saint Francis is the first day’s school assembly. The rally involving hula hoops is now equal opportunity. With 17 boys and 65 girls in the freshman class, and still all girls for the higher grades, girls still rule. But the boys aren’t complaining.

St. Francis actually started letting boys in as sixth graders three years ago. But this is the first time that the high school is co-ed. One immediate effect is that enrollment has gone up. Everyone is aware that things will be different, so teachers have been preparing for the changes.

“We’ve done all kinds of workshops and things with them, how boys learn, and worked with them and tried to help them to understand and what we find is in the co-ed classrooms they mellow each other,” said School Principal, Sister Joan of Arc Souza.

The girls aren’t complaining either. In fact they seem to like the idea of having boys on campus as much as the boys do.

“Overall it’s been better having boys here. It’s just more diverse it’s like a public school, you have more experiences when they’re here,” said freshman, Kayla Morrow.

“I like the boys here personally because I’m athletic too and we just talk about sports,” said freshman, Kalei Mau.

With boys, the school can also try out for Pac Five’s football team.

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