by Grace Kitts

STA had an all time high of 233 girls apply for the class of 2017. With 233 girls wishing to attend STA it forced decisions regarding the admissions of next year’s freshmen class.

This means decisions on who to accept and how many to accept. STA doesn’t have the capacity for all these girls in the facilities and or the the staff for this amount of girls. What is the right size for a class at STA?

“[A class] can be a little more than 160 students, but don’t want to go over 600 students total,” president Nan Bone said. “ We want students to have a good relationship with their teachers and we want everyone to graduate knowing everyone.”

With roughly 160 students in the class of 2016, 150 students in the class of 2015, 147 students in the class of 2014, and 137 students in the class of 2013 this class of 2017 could potentially be many more girls. These numbers show we have been increasing in numbers as years have come, but never had this many girls apply. This creates a new situation that admissions, along with others, will have to tackle.

“I think the new track and field, chapel, and the technology are drawing the eighth graders,” eighth grader Claire Fiorella said.

With all these new additions making STA more popular and increasing the number of girls applying means STA is having to turn away more girls. Admissions had to turn away 50 testers this year.

“We carefully assess each applicant looking not only at her HSPT scores, but also her report cards from her grade school, other standardized tests and teacher recommendations,” Director of Admissions Roseann Hudnall said in an email interview. “If we see potential and likelihood of success, we admit the student.”

STA has been known for good academics, and larger classes would create a challenge to keep that high standard.

“I think if the class was bigger it would make it harder to concentrate and more friends would be talking in class,” freshman Claire Jefferson said. “ I think socially it would make it harder to meet everyone.”

If STA were to have accepted all these girls, changes regarding teachers and classrooms would of had to be made. Since we can’t add teachers and space each year, admissions has to take this into consideration when accepting girls. This is why we had 50 girls wanting to attend STA be turned in different directions for next year.

“The number of students in a class is guided by the vision our administration has for STA,” Roseann Hudnall said. “Our goal is not to get too big. The current size of STA is just about perfect.”