MHS hosts pep rally, carnival

By JACQUELINE DELA CRUZ
MV Teen Reporter

The public high school with a mascot that represents strength, speed, and intelligence celebrated its last pep rally of the school year last Thursday.
The Marianas High School Dolphins started the event with a one-hour change of command ceremony establishing Edgardo Macabalo as the new Junior ROTC Battalion Commander for school year 2007-2008.
Later on in the afternoon, the day became a mix of pep rally activities and as well as carnival events, where students got to enjoy watching the performances and spend a two-hour “free” time.
Performances
The seniors, sophomores, juniors, and freshmen performed their own numbers.
Hee Ae Lee, Tambra Reyes, Leangie Sablan, Juan Pinaula, and Shauna Kileleman were the only five dancers who represented the seniors.
The sophomores gave performances with songs that came from the feature dance Hollywood film starring Channing Tatum in “Step-up.”
The juniors banked as the crowd’s favorite and delivered a small skit parody of the Mario Brothers’ tale with Princess Peach as Jose Castro and AJ Dela Cruz as Maria. The tale ended with a great modern dance. Then, to end their performance with sure applause, the juniors ripped the poster ‘Juniors 2006-2007’ in half and brought a new poster out for the audience to recognize them as the new “Seniors for 2007-2008”.
Lastly, the freshmen stepped up performing “My Boy Lollipop”and “Candyman” from Christina Aguilera, to the crowd’s resounding approval.
In addition, the other main performance was the Mr. Wonderful Pageant, where sophomore Fredo Paez won first place. The seniors won “Hot-Pepper Contest.”
Clubs
The RCC club performed giving the crowd full of laughter with their remix Cultural performances of hip-hop and a slow dance. The Chamorro club performed with members from both its students and advisors.
Booths
School clubs and classes set up booths to sell food, drinks and games to raise funds for their own causes.
Some just sold ice cream, drinks and snacks.
The seniors were a bit more creative with a game that was “throw a football through the loop and win anything they offered in the booth.”
The juniors sold not only food and drinks, but also a game entitled ‘Pop the Pimple,’ where someone would have to pop a balloon with a dart. The winning prize was also anything available from the booth.

Mount Carmel Knights dominate outrigger scrimmage

By BERNARD RIVERA
MV Teen Reporter

The Mount Carmel Knights made steel cut water and raced their way to the top at the recent NMI Canoe Racing Association scrimmage at the World Resort Saipan beach.
Three schools competed in two categories, the 500 meter and the 100 meter, in the girls and boys division.
Marianas High School and Kagman High School also showed up to display their paddling skills.
“This race was more of like a scrimmage—something for all the teams to feel what it is like with a real competition. There will be no points in this competition until the next one which will be this Saturday,” said Sonny Downer, member of the NMI Canoe Racing Association. “We do, however, have the results from each team on what they did today.”
“My Mount Carmel Knights have been training for two months. We have put a lot of work so we are in good shape for competition. But besides that, we have a lot of people behind us that truly supports the team. I told my paddlers that the spirit of the canoe culture will embrace all of us,” said MCS coach Andrew Salas.
Some teen paddlers see the canoe culture as an extension of their heritage.
“The canoe culture, I believe, is valuable to our islands. This is a chance to do a sport that signifies as part of our culture,” said Mathew Deleon Guerrero, a senior at Mount Carmel School.
KHS athlete Connie Manglona Iglesias adds that, “It’s just a great sport. It’s something that the whole team could feel as one. It’s like when you’re on the water, you are just gliding. It’s amazing.”
Rose Ajoste, coach and AP literature instructor at KHS, notes that her vision for the team is to really see aggression with excellence and, of course, good sportsmanship.
“With all of that, first and foremost is to have fun. The goal in my opinion, to be in part of a sports team is to teach students discipline, teamwork, and self-respect,” said Ajoste. “I think I have a great team. They got a lot of potential. They’re energetic and excited about life.”
Kay Park, a freshman at MHS says, “I try my best, but…it would be nice to win. My team is hard working. We are self-motivated and really happy to be here. We are just here to have fun and show other schools that we have good sportsmanship.”