story by Lindsey Valdiviez, photos by Kelly Fletcher, alternative coverage by Sabrina Redlingshafer

Past

Ten years ago, 511 girls went to St. Teresa’s Academy. 43 faculty members worked in the three buildings that made the STA campus. The smallest class had 122 girls. When the class of 2014 (current seniors) were freshmen, 578 girls attended STA and there were 47 faculty members. According to admissions director Roseann Hudnall, the smallest graduating class in her 18 years at STA had 94 girls.

Present

This year 606 students attend STA. Though this is 26 more students than last year, STA only needed to make minor alterations to the school’s aesthetic accommodations. According to principal of academic affairs Barbara McCormick, aside from lunch tables, many of these accommodations were already in place.

“We added tables in the cafeteria and we changed who eats when so that a large class is with a small class,” McCormick said. “But we didn’t have to order lockers this year since there were enough already in place. We’ve gone to using the Windmoor Center as four full classrooms, which we had not done in the past. We had to remodel and add Mr. Tonnies room.”

The STA faculty currently has 58 members. Five of the teachers have classrooms in the Windmoor center, whereas last year the Windmoor classrooms were only used intermittently.

Though the student body has grown, keeping the faculty proportionate is vital for STA. The administration, Hudnall says, strives to keep the student to teacher ratio at 12:1.

“Even though we’re growing, we’re growing all across the board,” Hudnall said. “It’s not like one side is suffering. We always have to look at the student to teacher ratio and see how many we can handle.”

Keeping the amount of students per advisory at a figure of 18-20 girls is a goal of the administration. To fulfill this goal, director of admissions Roseann Hudnall says two new advisories were added.

According to Hudnall, reaching the population STA currently holds has been part of the 2012-2016 Strategic Plan.

“[The administration] feels like that’s where we need to be, and we’re happy with that,” Hudnall said. “I like the variety we have with a little bit bigger population. It enhances [a student’s] knowledge when you draw from a bigger population.”

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Future

Hudnall says that keeping the student body number similar to this year’s will be a big consideration for the administration.

“I’d say 150 would be the most, but I’m not the final say,” Hudnall said. “We have to keep in mind that we’ll lose and gain some students from other grades.”

STA admits an amount of girls higher than what is desired, Hudnall says, since many incoming freshman choose other schools.

“230 applied last year, and the class is at 168 girls,” Hudnall said. “We take a few more than we want because some people change their mind.”

According to McCormick, the school has no plans for any significant increase in population.

“We’re not going to go to 800 or 700 [students],” McCormick said. “We can hold the capacity of that 600 figure.”

McCormick says that an estimated 400 eighth graders will shadow STA this year. Though there is no limit on the amount of students that can inquire about and apply to STA, Hudnall says that the administration ultimately admits the applicants with the most potential.

“As many kids can take the HSPT as want to,” Hudnall said. “We are looking to get the best students.”

According to Hudnall, being more selective has contributed to improving ACT scores and the amount of national merit scholars. This also helps STA’s title as a college preparatory school.

“It gives us more opportunity for national merit and higher ACT scores,” Hudnall said. “When you have the luxury of being more selective, we automatically have more students that can be in the advanced classes. We’re college prep, and we always want to do the best we can with our student population.”