Although Sacred Hearts Academy is a Catholic college preparatory school, many students and teachers are affiliated with other religions.

Dance teacher Micki Kolberg does not follow a specific religion but is a spiritual being.

“I grew up in a Christian home, but I felt like I was being forced into the religion. I think of God as love, love passing from one person to another. Religion is good for people to follow and believe in. It also gives them a structure to live by, but religion becomes very political and politics are manmade not divine.”

Senior Connie Lee has been attending the Academy for four years and is not Catholic but Buddhist.

“I think the basic teaching of Buddhism and Christianity is very similar like treat others how you would like to be treated and just be good towards others, but to me Buddhism seems more lenient with how people live as long as they are doing good in their lives.”

Another senior, Tran Tran, is also Buddhist.

“Although I don’t really agree with much of the theology courses here, what I’ve learned does not necessarily go against anything I believe in, but I think the basic message in Buddhism and Catholicism and most religions is to just do good for others.”

Although theology classes are required for graduation, the school does not try to convert non-Christian students.

“Contrary to what people may think, there is not much of a difference when teaching students of other religions. There may be things that they do not understand but other than that, there is no problem in teaching those of other religions.

“What is challenging, though, is teaching those who have no religion. It’s fine with those of other religions because they have teachings they can relate to and their own God they believe in and can understand why Christians do some of the things they do. Those who do not know of religion have no experience or understanding of religion and no concept of what God is. They learn best from peers because faith in a real sense rubs off on people. They also learn from the practices and liturgies that our school does such as morning prayers and prayers in class.

“I try to enforce that students should keep an open mind because even if they are resistant now, they might appreciate the lessons they learn when they are older,” Theology chair, Sr. Irene Barboza, said.

The Academy not only teaches the history of Christianity but a Christian way of living, which not only Christians but others can follow.

Math teacher Eric Reppun is Christian.

“I can say that some students ‘appear’ to be on a good path and some appear not to. I used to be a Christian missionary in Russia. One of the fundamental questions that was constantly brought up is that if a person sins, does that make them not Christian? The answer is no because everybody sins. I cannot judge what my students appear to act like because if I judge them, would I treat them differently? I know if others knew some of the sins I’ve committed in my life, they would treat me differently.”

Lee agreed.

“I cannot really judge how others act in this setting because in school and around friends people act differently than how they do in public or at home. There are some who do not necessarily act by the religion they say they are, but usually I’ve seen that if someone is presented with a situation where they can choose to do either bad or good, they will usually choose good,” said Lee.