This school year, KoES will also adopt a new reading and math program, she said.
Under the YEAH program, student leaders will help create a healthier environment on campus and promote the prevention of childhood obesity, she said.
Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service and the Public School System’s Food and Nutrition Services will provide technical support to YEAH, she added.
The goal of the program, Purugganan said, is to empower student leaders in initiating discussions about health among their peers.
More than 3,000 children and teenagers in the CNMI from first to 12th grades are overweight.
The YEAH program will allow students to participate in the planning and implementation of initiatives that aim to change the current trends in obesity, Purugganan said.
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Also this school year, KoES vice principal Jack Sablan said they will implement development projects.
These include repainting of the school’s buildings, roof coating, general repairs of its facilities and upgrading electrical components, he said.
KoES was allotted more than $221,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, he said.
He said they will replace all their old model air-conditioning units with energy saving ones.
“This is part of our conservation program to reduce power usage,” he said.
Purugganan said they want to make the school more attractive and conducive to student learning.
The repair and repainting will most likely be undertaken every weekend or after school in order not to disrupt classes, she added.
Sablan, who was transferred from Oleia Elementary School, said there was a smooth transition for his new assignment.
Purugganan said her new vice principal is a “great help” to the school.
“He is very hard working and he made our work easier because he knows what to do,” she said.
