By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

KAGMAN Elementary School earned some $8,000 on Friday during the 5th Annual Cultural Day, a campus fundraising event held every year.
With the theme “Culture — the foundation of our identity,” the event was highlighted by traditional song and dance performances.
School principal Ignacia Demapan said KagES, together with its Parents and Teachers Association, was pleased with the turnout.
“Despite the economic situation, we were able to see the active participation and involvement of the community. So far, just for the raffle tickets alone, we have made over $8,000 and this is a very satisfying turnout for us,” Demapan said, adding that this year’s funds will be used to assist parents with their children’s school uniforms.
“We also wanted to use part of the proceeds in procuring tents for the school so that we don’t need to rent them every time there’s an activity or gathering on campus,” she said.
Demapan, in her opening remarks, said the celebration coincided with the “many achievements” of Kagman Elementary this year.
Last Thursday, the school was visited by an accreditation team of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
“We have many reasons to celebrate this year in terms of achievement. We have just finished a one-day accreditation visit and it was very positive and we believe we will continue our six-year accreditation up to 2010,” she said.
KagES started a uniform policy this year, but 100 students are still not complying. KagES has 710 students from kindergarten to fifth grade.
Next school year, six additional classrooms will be ready for use after the Public School System appropriated the needed funding.
One of the new rooms will be used for special education while the other five will be used as regular classrooms for students who have to attend classes in the storage room, the library and the cafeteria.
Demapan said the success of their Cultural Day was due to a big team effort by the school, its PTA and the community.
Over 500 individuals joined in the celebration on Friday which featured 12 food and games booths.
The Historic Preservation Office also participated with an artifact exhibit and book signing by Bob Coldeen.
The event’s guest speaker, former Miss Teen Marianas Myana T. Welch, talked about the importance of culture and how it forms the basis of one’s identity.
She also praised the members of the school Royal Court — second grader Cory Ray San Nicolas and third grader Cassey P. Babauta, this year’s Mr. and Ms. Blue Marlin; third graders Rakina Chong and Gregory Manuel Sablan Jr.; fourth graders Karee Lu Matagolai and Ray Anthony Camacho; and fifth graders Keona Torres and Jordan Manglona.