By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THIRTY-EIGHT students from the CNMI will be honored by AmeriCorps for their volunteer work in the community.
In celebration of National AmeriCorps Week from May 13-20, the CNMI will hold a recognition ceremony for student volunteers at the Aqua Resort Club tomorrow.
Geri Willis, the local program coordinator, said 38 students have volunteered to tutor and participate in service learning projects for a total of 6,600 hours.
“Our members are doing an awesome job. I just totaled the hours of service and in just three months 38 members from Rota, Saipan and Tinian have volunteered 6600 hours,” she told Variety, adding that one member put in 280 hours of volunteer service.
Willis said there are 12 site supervisors who monitor tutoring and service activities at each of the schools and have been instrumental in making the program a success.
She said the members assigned to schools have been working on individual presentations for the recognition ceremony.
The site supervisors are Johanna Taimanao, Kagman Elementary; Maria Sablan, Rota Jr. High; Bertha Orsini, Oleai Elementary; Vanessa Hocog, Rota Elementary School; Zandra Ilo, Tinian High School; Brenda Safer, Tinian Elementary School; Eric Evangelista, Koblerville Elementary School, Leila Camacho-Yumul and Paulette Tomokane, Garapan Elementary School; Augusto Evangelista, William S. Reyes Elementary School; Marsha Arriola, San Vicente Elementary; and Martha Kintol, Dandan Elementary School.
The Public School System has expanded its campaign on reading by implementing the AmeriCorps program which has tapped the services of senior and junior students on Saipan, Rota and Tinian.
PSS was recently awarded a three-year $1.65 million grant by the federal government in support of the program, which aims to “improve lives, strengthen communities and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.”
Seniors are paid $350 monthly by the program. They need to put in 900 hours per year tutoring kindergarten to 8th grade students.