by Krystal Paco
Guam - It was a labor of love as hundreds of GovGuam employees and community members volunteered for Adopt-A-School. Fresh paint, working air conditioning units and cut grass are just some of the things J.Q. San Miguel Elementary School students will see when they start the new school year on August 20.
The Home of the Eagles was one of dozens of public schools to receive some TLC over the weekend as part of Governor Eddie Calvo's directive for all public sector agencies to volunteer their time to prepare school campuses for opening. Calvo's office adopted the Toto school. Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio said, "We work every single day for the people of Guam, coming out on a Saturday, Sunday to do beautification for the Islandwide Beautification Task Force is what we do."
Principal Tricia Moylan was happy to see the volunteers level out a pile of dirt in the school yard. Now her students will have the opportunity to grow their own plants. "For several years now we've had a pile of soil in the back of the school and we wanted to really start a children's garden where the kids can plant and watch it grow and see the product of what they planted and finally we're able to do that with the help of the governor's staff today," she told KUAM News.
Department of Education superintendent Jon Fernandez joined the governor's staff and school volunteers bright and early Saturday morning. He's looking forward to more work in the coming weekends, including a last day for touchups at his "Team-Up to Clean-Up 2012" scheduled for August 18.
He said, "We're reaching out and trying to get volunteers to come out and donate their manpower. Just show their support for the schools help with the painting some of the cleanup; we're reaching out to businesses for supplies if its financial donations that they can give to help purchase supplies. We're actually just eager and waiting for anyone who wants to help. We'll sort it out as we go along, but right now it's about building support for our school system and getting ready to welcome our kids for the coming school year."
To volunteer call Robb Malay at 300-1631/1536 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.