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2015 KHS salutatorian in ICU following car accident
Friends urged to donate through crowdfunding site
U.S. Air Force Academy C3C Paolo Reyes, second from right, poses with his father Pepito, mother Malou, and sister in this undated photo. (Contributed Photo)
The salutatorian of Kagman High School’s Class of 2015 is in serious condition after a pickup truck plowed through a sedan he was riding early last week.
Paolo Reyes, a sophomore in the U.S. Air Force Academy, is currently confined at the emergency care unit of a hospital in Colorado. The accident happened in Colorado Springs in the morning of Jan. 15.
Before the accident, Reyes was active in many activities at the Air Force Academy and has been on the Commandant’s List and Dean’s List. He plans to be a pilot.
Aside from being a salutatorian of the 2015 class of KHS, he is also the recipient of the CNMI Commissioner’s Award and earned the gold medal for the President’s Education Award Program of Outstanding Academic Award.
Reyes was also KHS’ Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps battalion commander for two straight years, earning the rank of colonel and receiving the JROTC Commendation Medal. He was sponsored by Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) in his application to the Air Force Academy.
He is the youngest of three children and has an older sister and an older brother who is in the Air Force stationed at Travis AFB. His parents, his brother, and his sister are by his side in Colorado.
Reyes’ father, Pepito, works as an architect at the Department of Public Works, while his mother, Malou, is an accountant at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
In a social network message to the Saipan Tribune last Friday, Pepito said there still has been no change in his son’s condition.
“Paolo is still in ICU and under observation. I can’t give you additional details for now but I will inform you of whatever improvements he will have in the coming days,” he said.
To help defray the cost of his parents’ temporary living costs associated with being away from their home on Saipan for an undetermined length of time, Air Force Academy parents have set up an account in behalf of the Reyes family at the crowdfunding website, www.youcaring.com.
Currently, 522 donors have given nearly $29,000 to the online fundraising effort. To donate, type https://www.youcaring.com/paoloreyes-739508.
