Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/14049
AUGUST 2010 SPORTS & EDUCATION 48 FEATURE : HIGH ACHIEVERS Things reached a low when the school was in danger of being closed by the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Several alumni met with hopes of saving the school. Maguire, who had spent a career as a journalist and anthropologist, had shifted to public relations and marketing, with a specialty in corporate turnaround for companies. She was living in Long Beach and was called in to take a look, but admitted she was a bit terrified. "What if it closed on my watch? When you care so much about something, of course, you don't want to lose it, especially through your own action or inaction," she said. At first, Maguire just focused on the PR side of things, trying to stem the slide. Then, she was offered the position as first President of the school. A study of the area followed, and the results revealed that Long Beach was able to sustain a private Catholic high school, despite the large number of students attending the large public high schools in the area. "We never really wanted to be that big. The niche was small, college prep, personalized attention, small class sizes, faith- and values-based, and safe," Maguire said. Following a recommendation, St. Anthony HS implemented the president-principal model, where the president focuses on the corporate side of things and the principal on academics and supporting teachers. "It's taken a while, but it's worked for us," Maguire said. "It has enabled us to be where we are now at almost 400 kids and growing at 30 percent a year. I discovered pretty quickly that a school is different from a business in many ways. A lot has been going on over the last decade that added to that. But, at the same time, the City of Long Beach has been going through its own renaissance and we've been a part of that." In every aspect, 2010 has been a banner year for St. Anthony High. Besides the feat of the graduating class, the girls' basketball team won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship, the boys won their league, and the school also went into championship play in baseball and diving. To top it all off, St. Anthony High was awarded a six-year accreditation from the Western Catholic Educational Association and Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Panaguiton, who was on the girls' basketball team, noticed the difference between her experience and that of a friend who attended a public school. "We both wanted to go to UC Irvine, but she wasn't able to get in," she lamented. "It sucks that we won't be able to go to school together. She thinks it's because she wasn't in as many extra-curricular activities as she could've been. She had great grades but she wishes she could have attended St. Anthony. It's the chances that St. Anthony gives us that other schools aren't able to provide." To Maguire, St. Anthony represents something bigger. The school has always been dedicated to serving the community of Long Beach and she feels that it is a microcosm of the city. "Our demographics are the city," she said. "We are proving that we can coexist" Schabert echoes her statements, adding that St. Anthony went from being a school that people didn't know about to a school of choice in the Long Beach area and is welcoming its biggest incoming freshman class in 15 years. "It says a lot about the community's reawakening to St. Anthony," Schabert said. "People once shied away from our location. But Downtown Long Beach has enjoyed a resurgence and people need to remember that we serve a community–from the wealthy of the wealthy, to the poor of the poor. What better place to serve people than in the heart of Long Beach?" n Photos courtesy of St. Anthony High School. LAB CLASS