Program coordinator Geri Willis said the extension is due to the success of AmeriCorps in the CNMI.
“Besides those students who are classified as members, we have numerous volunteers, which includes other teachers, principals, parents, students, etc.,” she told Variety.
The program’s current 45 members provided approximately 30,000 hours in tutoring over 5,200 students, Willis said.
AmeriCorps activities also include providing service learning activities in the community.
Willis said for this coming school year, the site supervisors are expanding the AmeriCorps program to incorporate other students who would also like to tutor and be involved in service learning activities, “whether it is creating a garden for their school to learn about science, or volunteering to work with the CNMI Red Cross.”
AmeriCorps is a national program that helps the Public School System in expanding its reading programs.
PSS received a three-year grant amounting to $1.65 million to implement AmeriCorps, which aims to improve lives, strengthen communities and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.
This year, the program will have two new site supervisors, Christine Tudela-Masga, principal at Hopwood Jr. High, and Vanessa Mobel, a counselor at the school.
The two, along with the program members, will create an AmeriCorps Club.
Willis said AmeriCorps members and volunteers make a huge difference in their communities.
She said Rota site supervisors Vanessa Hocog and Maria Sablan developed a Rota Ecotourism Guide, while Tinian site supervisors Brenda Safer and Zandra Ilo conducted a summer reading program and worked with students in the Romper program through the Tinian Mayor’s Office.
“The program has grown exponentially,” Willis said. “High school students after their year of volunteering as AmeriCorps members are more confident and their self-esteem has vastly improved. They’re now speaking and presenting to large groups.”
