Students of the Yigo school, during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, revealed a new project that serves a temporary security solution. In this measure, the students obtained security for their school through a partnership with Hotel Nikko Guam.
The impetus for this project came from students of Gretchen Andres, a senior English teacher who is taking the lead of the “Leave Your Mark” project.
According to senior student Meghan Amparo, the “Leave Your Mark” project started in 2008. “The project focuses on the effects that happen in our school, in students’ lives, in the community,” she said. “Our ‘Leave Your Mark’ project is student-led, under the guidance of our teachers.”
This year, Amparo revealed, their “Leave Your Mark 2012” project is called “Nikko Shark Guard” to address the burglary issues that have been burdening their school.
“On the second day of school, our school was burglarized already and this did not just cause confusion for our students, it caused loss of instructional time, loss of teacher equipment, and most importantly, it lost our student morale,” explained Amparo.
With “Nikko Shark Guard,” Nikko Hotel’s in-house security guards volunteer their time by patrolling the school during their off-duty hours.
Temporary
This is only a temporary solution for the school year as they hope the Guam Department of Education and the Legislature identify funds to find a more permanent solution.
“As students, we can only do so much,” said student Sarah Garcia. “We have heard our leaders saying many times that education is important – but are we really that important to you? Our schools are getting burglarized and vandalized almost every week, but enough isn’t being done to stop the problem.”
During the press conference, students held up numerous posters with artwork manifesting their gratitude towards Nikko for their help. Joe Blas, assistant general manager of Hotel Nikko, expressed his appreciation for the gesture, commending the efforts of the students and echoing their concerns of appealing to island leaders for solutions.
“In the past week that we’ve been going around, there haven’t been issues with the school regarding security,” said Blas. “But we already have about four pages of recommendations. … Some issues that we want our local leaders to take action immediately can be done right away like lights.”
According to Blas, more lighting at the front of the school would be a deterrent for some of the issues.
“We don’t have a budget in the hotel to do outside security, we have our own security matters in the hotel to do,” said Blas, who noted one of the guards insisted they could help the school. “But these volunteers have all volunteered to do this for the school. I gave them my permission.”
“The students at Simon Sanchez High School have just proven that you don’t have to be a senator or a governor to make a positive change in the community,” added student Reef Falan. “Even as students, a little bit of commitment, purpose and most especially drive can leave an impact in the lives of many.”
