It’s been 107 years since Sacred Hearts Academy was established, and over the years, it has flourished with each generation that passes through. Mostly, it is because of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the school’s congregation, that the Academy is what it is today, a center for the academic, artistic and spiritual growth of young women.

Sr. Mary Laurence, SS.CC., who was the Academy’s first principal, traveled from France with the other founding sisters. Another contributor was Bishop Libert Boeynaems, SS.CC., who founded the land upon which the school would be built.

The first section of the school was the Administration Building, which was constructed in about a year. Today, this building is where high school students have most of their classes. Years prior, a elementary school had settled in downtown Honolulu in 1859.

Sr. Katherine-Francis Miller, SS.CC.,  said, “Honolulu was a growing city. There was a need for women who had a higher level of education than just grade school.”

The school needed to expand due to the lack of space at the elementary.

At the time first established, the elementary had about 20 students. The number of students grew rapidly to about 200 students. For convenience, the school had a boarding department, in which girls could also dorm.

Over the decades, the school has undergone a multitude of changes. However, one aspect that stands the test of time is that, like the first students, the Academy’s young women today continue to live out the school motto, “orare et laborare,” or “to pray and to work.”