Beautifying With Nihon University

Aya-san and Willy-san Matsumoto invited me and other Beautify CNMI! partners to join Isa-CNMI and Nihon University students in a beach cleanup at Aquarius Beach Hotel. I was there with my staff, Dennis Cabrera, Angelo Villagomez of RC&D and MINA, and FMI President Marites Castillo at 7 a.m.
We armed ourselves with gloves and trash bags and fanned out.
Honda-san (far right) of ISA-CNMI leads a group.
And everyone was off and running.
The group made their way towards the Sugar Dock and then looped around.
We ended up right back where we started. We had a short presentation of gifts.
Aya-san, who is a board member of MINA, presents the group with a MINA t-shirt.
Marites and I presented them with a Beautify CNMI t-shirt.
I presented them with a Beautify CNMI! bag.
And then we took the obligatory group shot and shouted -- 1, 2, 3 -- Beautify CNMI!
There was also time for one last photo. Aya-san Matusumoto, Sensei Koshiro, me, and Marites.

Arigato Gozaimasu! Si Yu'us Ma'ase! Olomwaay! Thank You!

I left the beach at 8:10 and rushed home to get ready for my meeting with the SWAT team who is looking at overhauling our entire workfrorce training system. The meeting started at 9 a.m.

I arrived there about 9:10, just in time for the slide presentation of HB 15-38, my labor reform bill. The presentation went well; it was well received.

Then I had to leave at 11:15 to head up to the Hachiman Jinja for a luncheon meeting. The Nihon University students met us there, as seen in the photos below.

Our First Coral Reef Mural Contest Planning Meeting

Earlier this year, we held a press conference with DPS Commissioner Rebecca Warfield and Officer Tricia Seman to discuss the rash of graffiti that cropped up all over this beautiful island of ours. Rather than just repaint over the graffit, I had this idea that we would have a mural-painting contest that would involve local artists, art teachers, and the young students involved in working together to paint either a bus stop or a vacant building. Imagine how much nicer it would look to our visitors and our community if, instead of looking at graffiti, we saw beautiful, colorful mural paintings. Tonight, we moved closer and closer to that goal.
Juanita Fajardo and Tricia Seman at our first Coral Reef Mural Painting Meeting at Java Joe's. I tapped Tricia to chair this huge project, with the rest of us providing full support. Angelo will post some minutes of the meeting later or as soon as he gets his notes back from Reina.
We met for a couple hours and put together our "wish list" of supplies, prizes, etc.
We also discussed when to hold this contest and how we would go about it.
Super science teacher Bree Reynolds flashing that winning smile.
Marites heeded my request and brought by a proposed budget for the Contest, as did Angelo. Ken and I added our own suggestion to the "wish list", as did the other planning team members.
And then in walked Missy and Bev! MISSY! It's *GREAT* to have you back!

And speaking of being back, I was THRILLED to see Brad back. I'm sorry I didn't get to share any chicken nuggets with him but, then, I didn't get any this time and he didn't stick around long enough to get hungry. LOL!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for coming to the meeting tonight.

Proud As A Peacock!

Did you see it?! Did you see it?! One of the very first flame trees that Beautify CNMI! planted along Beach Road over a year ago has bloomed.I'd remembered to stop and take a picture on our way home from the lighthouse cleanup yesterday and, Boy!, were we thrilled!!!
We were so happy, we almost danced around the tree! This is great considering the sad post earlier regarding the old flame trees being infected with a disease and dying.

Ken and Angelo, sorry you couldn't be with us for the photos, but give yourselves a pat on the back, too!

A *GOOD* DAY!

Today was a good day. I got to see a bunch of my Beautify family members, some of whom I haven't seen in weeks. We got together to paint over the graffiti on the old lighthouse on Navy Hill. Click here for Angelo's excellent "before" and "after" shots which show some dramatic improvements.

Also click here for Aya-san's excellent post detailing some of the actions that had gone on today.

Bree and Doug Reynolds were there. . .














. . .as were some Student Action for a Viable Environment (SAVE) Club members like Ann, Zoe, Yoshi, et al. This is like a jr. Beautify CNMI! Club. Way to Go Guys!
It was nice to see and joke around with some of the leaders and supervolunteers of Beautify CNMI -- Angelo, Ken Kramer, Tess and the FMI Gang. . .











. . . and, of course, Adam, Juanita and Zack, our favorite supervolunteer family! Adam even brought a friend from San Vicente School!








Aya-san and Willy-san were there as well. . .









. . . and we got to enjoy our oishi bbq lunch with our partner R&C Tour members.

It was also great to see new friends from Aqua Resort join Beautify.

Of course, I had my own crew with me: Gus, AJ, Franklin and Willy Boy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Note: Unfortunately, I didn't see my friend Dr. Dave Khorram and crew earlier or I would've gotten a picture of them and they were too quick for my camera when they stopped by briefly in the afternoon. Sorry, Dave!

Our Visitors From Israel and Switzerland

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In July, Beautify CNMI! welcomed some new international friends who joined us in some of our activities. Neta, from Israel; Rep. Cinta Kaipat; and Flurina, from Switzerland. These two ladies participated in the Koblerville flame tree plantings that Beautify CNMI held last month (July). Thank you, friends.Neta and Flurina posed with two of Beautify CNMI!'s leaders -- Ken Kramer (RC&D) and Captain Carl Brachear.Flurina planting lasting memories in Koblerville on Saipan..

Beautify CNMI! volunteers working side by side to help transform the Kobler Substation into a truly beautiful site to behold. We should start to see some blooms in about three or four years. Hopefully, in three or four years, we would see blooming flame trees such as these when we travel down Koblerville's main street. (Blooming flame trees photos courtesy of Mike Tripp.)
The Group Shot. 1-2-3: Beautify CNMI!
One more time with Angelo! 1-2-3: Beautify CNMI!