Little Lancers enjoy a visit from the Honolulu Fire Department. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Kiyabu.

Currently, the youngest generation of Lancers are from the classes of 2036 to 2038. From reading to counting, they spend their days at the Sacred Hearts Academy’s Early Learning Center (ELC). 

Junior Kindergarten teacher Tiffany Wong just started her first year at the Academy. She first fell in love with teaching as a high school student. She worked at a local elementary school as an A+ teacher. Throughout college, she started to work at Summer Fun as a teacher. Although she originally got her bachelor’s degree in Journalism, she later realized that her true passion is working with young children. 

After her discovery, she later went on to obtain her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Chaminade University. This year also marks her fifth year as a teacher.

“The biggest challenge when teaching the children at this young of an age is their short attention span,” Wong said. “However, their constant movement keeps me on my toes.”

The goal of the ELC is to provide an excellent education to allow girls to grow. To support this goal, there are many hands-on activities such as science and discovery, language classes and art classes. 

The Academy says on its website, “These activities are all geared toward allowing girls to discover and construct their knowledge in centers,” with an emphasis on, “accelerating their desire to learn with individualized learning.”

The classes of the ELC are relatively small, with a 12 to 1 student-to-teacher ratio in each class. The ELC is under the direction of Sandra Arnobit, who has been teaching at the Academy for many years.

The ELC welcomes children ages 3 to 5 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), Hawaii Association of Independent Schools (HAIS) and Western Catholic Education Association (WCEA). 

Students of the ELC wear a white button-up shirt with the school logo on top of their hearts and navy khaki pants.

The Academy continues to nurture students of all ages to become independent women in society. With many resources and opportunities available, students have the ability to become their best selves.