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THROUGH the Legacy Project, Simon Sanchez High School seniors took action to mobilize community support and generate funds to improve the current conditions of the SSHS gymnasium.
Last Friday, the school community saw for the first time the results of the hard work the students put in.
The project came about through the support and encouragement of English teacher Acie Jo Cruz who initiated the idea and brought it up to the students.
Cruz said before the school year started her students were informed that the class will be more than just “learning grammar and proper punctuation.”
“I wanted them to leave high school knowing more about life. And with that, in the second semester, we focused more on life after high school,” Cruz said.
Cruz added: “I told the seniors: What do you want students to remember you by? Do you want to leave an impact? So they decided to do this project with the gym so they can have a legacy that they can leave for the future generation.”
For SSHS Principal Beth Perez, the Legacy Project is a great way to end the school year. Among the improvements she noted include the repainting of the gym and walkways, and construction of a new canopy. A new trophy case and scoreboard was also set up.
“We are absolutely proud of their success today, especially since today is the last day of school. Today we had a ribbon-cutting so our students who are here are going to truly benefit from the improved gym that they have left us with,” Perez proudly stated.
Yigo Mayor Robert Lizama and Robert Malay of the Guam Department of Education graced the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Lizama, a former SSHS student, felt proud after seeing the students go beyond the requirements of the classroom. He said the students took action after government shortfalls to provide the necessary funding to keep and maintain the gymnasium.
Malay said the project “signifies a lot of good things on different levels.”
“It signifies good leadership from the teacher and administrator, but it also signifies pride and commitment and love of the school by the students who took part in the project. If they didn’t have pride in the school, they wouldn’t have done it,” Malay added.
