Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy opens its world to prospective students

The academic rigor, deep discussions and hands-on projects engaged in daily by Flintridge Sacred Heart students were recently on full display at an event designed to give prospective students a taste of what the La Cañada campus has to offer.

The Jan. 12 academic preview night gave eighth-grade applicant girls and their parents an inside look at some of the coursework available for FSHA freshmen, offering eight 20-minute “mini classes” on subjects ranging from math, science and research to poetry, history and religion.

“We really wanted to get the word out about our academic programs here,” said Kristen Mariotti, director of admissions and enrollment management. “A student who’s really into sports, they can come to a volleyball game or a basketball game and see sports. Usually, there’s nothing for just academics.”

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Math teacher Simone Butera, with help from student ambassador Shanley Galanto, 16, helps Haley Ansel, 14, of Clairbourn School in San Gabriel, get logged into her computer at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Katie Nash, 14, center, with her parents David and Laura, listen to FSHA junior Bobby Byrne talk about the Tolog Tech Team at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Parents and 8th grade girls listen to a brief opening at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Parents and their 8th grade daughters learn how to use the computers in Mr. Butera’s math classroom at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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FSHA math teacher Simone Butera walks the back of the classroom to make sure parents and students are logging into their computers correctly at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Jocelyn Aguirre, 13, of Odyssey Charter in Altadena, laughs with FSHA student ambassador juniors Bobbie Byrne and Elizabeth Patterson as they solve math problems in Mr. Butera’s math class at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Parents and their 8th grade daughters enter a math classroom at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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FSHA President Sister Carolyn speaks to 8th grade girls and parents interested in attending the school at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Junior Amalia Christodoulelis talks with parents and 8th grade girls interested in the school at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Haley Ansel, 14, of Clairbourn School in San Gabriel, and Alyssa Adriano, 13, of Holy Family in San Gabriel, laugh having survived Mr. Butera’s math class at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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FSHA Junior Bobbie Byrne, with the Tolog Tech Team, talks with 8th grader Isabelle Durand, of Salem Lutheran School in Glendale, and her mom Cynthia, about the technical possibilities at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Several 8th grade girls with their parents listen to teachers and student ambassadors talk about the school at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy’s first mid-school-year Academic Preview Night on Thursday, January 12, 2017. 200 people, including 8th graders and their families, visited to take part in 20 minute mini classes to get a taste of the academics available at the school.   (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

Before classes began, some 200 potential students and their parents learned more about the Catholic Dominican college preparatory campus and what sets it apart from some of its peers.

“We are wanting to educate young women with the values of faith, integrity and truth — values that are so critically important in the world we live in,” President Carolyn McCormack said as she addressed the crowd. “It gives me great joy to welcome you tonight and to offer you the opportunity not to hear in words, but rather see in action what is happening on the hill each day.”

After hearing from administrators and student ambassadors representing each grade level, participants broke into groups and headed for the first of what would be four mini-classes on their schedules for that evening.

Librarian and research program coordinator Nora Murphy launched into some of the basics students who enroll in Sacred Heart’s research program learn up front, teaching attendees how to verify online sources and separate web facts from fiction using a site dedicated to the “Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.”

“It’s amazing how many young people are fooled by this website,” Murphy said, revealing the dubious identity of the site’s author. “We really want to get you thinking about what you’re looking at, what you’re hearing, what you’re reading and what people are telling you.”

Down the hall, history teacher Andy Cramer staged a “meeting of the minds” with four costumed students arguing the fate of post-Revolutionary America from the perspectives of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson and then-British monarch George III.

While the students demonstrated the activity, built off independent research, parents and prospective students voted via cellphone on which speaker made the most compelling argument (student Lauren Risha as Jefferson won with 60%). The audience also suggested, based on what they heard from the students, that the newly formed nation ally with France over Spain.

Glendale resident and prospective student Natalie Kaplanyan said she enjoyed sampling FSHA’s academic offerings. She and her parents are trying to decide between two private schools.

“This is very interactive and fun,” Kaplanyan said of preview night. “The poetry class was really cool.”

AP environmental science teacher Leslie Miller taught students about the Los Angeles watershed, allowing participants to build and test paper watershed models using a spray bottle to watch them in action. Math teacher Simone Butera demonstrated how technology in the classroom can make lessons more collaborative and engaging, as students and parents beat the clock in an algebra-themed group computer game.

Kiran Pfaffinger, a 13-year-old Pasadena resident who came with parents Luke and Julie, said she was impressed with FSHA’s twist on open house night.

“I thought we were going to get presentations on things, but this is so much better,” Pfaffinger said in the hallway between classes. “I was surprised at how well the students and teachers get along. This is definitely my first choice.”

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine