Island Snapshots – February 2020

By Contributing Author

Posted on Feb 07 2020

: MTEC SUPPORTER First Hawaiian Bank donates $1,000 to the Marianas Tourism Education Council on Feb. 3, 2020, at the bank’s Oleai branch. In photo, from left, are Dave Guerrero, FHB assistant vice president & business banking officer Oleai branch; Rita C. Agulto, FHB personal banker; MTEC treasurer Robert Ryan Yulo; MTEC secretary Martin Duenas; and Vickie N. Izuka, FHB assistant vice president & branch manager Gualo Rai Branch. (Contributed Photo)

: ‘GIVE KIDS A SMILE’-Representatives and volunteers of the Saipan Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic help treat kids at the SDA Dentistry Clinic as part of the American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile program event last Feb. 7. (NEIL FAMA)

: VETERAN LAID TO REST-Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps cadets perform honor guard roles at the burial of the late Army veteran Robert McCausland yesterday at the Veterans Cemetery in Marpi. Photo shows them removing the American flag that had been draped on McCausland’s casket. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

: ‘TALAYA’ FISHING-Series of photos shows a fisherman demonstrating how to catch fish using talaya or a cast net or throw net at a beach in Garapan. Many locals can be seen walking the stretch of beach, with talaya wrapped in their arms and ready to be tossed over a school of fish. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)

: COPE NORTH – U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 14th Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan, are staged on the flight line in preparation for Exercise Cope North 20 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Feb. 12, 2020. Cope North 20 is an annual trilateral field training exercise conducted at Andersen AFB, Guam, and around the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Palau and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Gracie Lee)

: COPE NORTH 2020-U.S. Air Force airmen assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, prepare a KC-135 Stratotanker for take-off during Exercise Cope North 2020 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, last Feb. 13, 2020. Cope North enhances U.S. relationships with our regional allies and partners by demonstrating our resolve to promote security and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific. (U.S. AIR FORCE/SENIOR AIRMAN GRACIE LEE)

: ‘YOU’RE OUT’ Julian Biscocho from San Vicente Elementary School “pushes” Kyokutaisei Takuya out of the sumo circle at the sumo wrestling exhibition held last Saturday at the beach side of Hyatt Regency Saipan. (Bea Cabrera)

: ‘GIVE KIDS A SMILE’ Representatives and volunteers of the Saipan Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic help treat kids at the SDA Dentistry Clinic as part of the American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile program annual event last Feb. 7. (Neil Fama)

: ‘GIVE KIDS A SMILE’ About 60 children got free oral health services, including dental exams, extractions, fillings, and fluoride treatment at the Saipan Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic last Feb. 7 as part of the American Dental Association’s “Give Kids A Smile” annual event. (Neil Fama)

: PASEO CLEANUP Volunteers of PDM Promoters pick up trash underneath bushes during their cleanup last month at Paseo de Marianas. (Contributed Photo)

: PASEO CLEANUP An army of sweepers clean up the Paseo de Marianas grounds during the PDM Promoter’ monthly cleanup at Paseo de Marianas last month. (Contributed Photo)

: HONOR SOCIETY Members of the Saipan International School’s National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society pose together at the Charley’s Cabaret of the Pacific Island Club Saipan in San Antonio last Jan. 29 during the swearing-in ceremony for new members. (Contributed Photo)

: SUMO BY THE BEACH Hyatt Regency Saipan general manager Nick Ishikawa, left, and sumo wrestler Kyokushiuho Koki have a souvenir photo taken during a break in the sumo wrestling demonstration at the beach side of Hyatt last Feb. 15. (Bea Cabrera)

: SUMO BY THE BEACH Saipan children have a glimpse of what a sumo wrestler’s life is like at the sumo wrestling exhibit held Saturday at the beach side of Hyatt Regency Saipan. (Bea Cabrera)

: SUMO BY THE BEACH A member of the audience takes the sumo wrestling challenge during the sumo wrestling demonstration at the beach side of Hyatt last Feb. 15. (Bea Cabrera)

: FINAL SALUTE Veterans and extended guests pay their final respects to the late Robert McCausland at the Veterans Cemetery in Marpi last Feb. 11. McCausland passed away on Sept. 28, 2018, and his body spent the next 18 months at the morgue of the Commonwealth Health Center. (Contributed Photo)

: FINAL SALUTE Dave Blake, a friend of the deceased, receives the American flag that had been draped on the casket of the late Robert McCausland at the conclusion of the burial ceremony at the Veterans Cemetery in Marpi last Feb. 11. (Justine Nauta)

: PROJECT PROA Rota students who are part of the Project PROA program at the Northern Marianas College recently met with NMC interim president Frankie Eliptico, NMC regent Elaine Orilla, and NMC Rota Campus executive director Martin Mendiola during a recent gathering on the NMC Rota Campus. Project PROA is a federally funded program that offers tutoring, mentoring, and advising to NMC students. For more information, visit www.marianas.edu. (NMC)

: COPE NORTH 20 Members of the U.S. military, Royal Australian Air Force, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force cut into a runway with their compact track Caterpillars during the Exercise Cope North 20 at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam last Feb. 13, 2020. CN20 is an annual trilateral field training exercise conducted at Andersen AFB, and around the CNMI, Palau, and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. (U.S. NAVY/MCS1 OMAR POWELL)

: COPE NORTH 20 Members of the U.S. military, Royal Australian Air Force, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force cut into a runway with their compact track Caterpillars during the Exercise Cope North 20 at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam last Feb. 13, 2020. CN20 is an annual trilateral field training exercise conducted at Andersen AFB, and around the CNMI, Palau, and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. (U.S. NAVY/MCS1 OMAR POWELL)

: ASSOCIATED STUDENTS OF NMC The Northern Marianas College recently swore in new Associated Students of NMC officers during an investiture ceremony on campus. ASNMC officers are elected each fall semester to represent NMC students. From left, ASNMC adviser Roxanne Torres, School of Education director Roland Merar, Student Leadership coordinator Alexis Cabrera, senator Joelin Mettao, vice president Maia Pangelinan, secretary Eloise Lopez, senator Victoria Matsunaga, dean of Learning and Student Success Charlotte Cepeda, president Shanthia Espinosa, ASNMC adviser Jose Tudela, and Human Resources director Polly Masga. (NMC)

: ASSOCIATED STUDENTS OF NMC Students from Northern Marianas College’s Rota campus at an event hosted by the Associated Students of NMC during the college’s spring 2020 Welcome Week. For more information about the Northern Marianas College, visitwww.marianas.edu.

: MARIANAS FESTIVAL OF HOPE-The outdoor stage of the American Memorial park is lit up against the early evening sky during the Marianas Festival of Hope last Friday, which was attended by an estimated 3,600 people. (BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION)

: CEMETERY EXPANSION-CNMI Veterans Affairs Office executive officer Stanley Iakopo, seventh from right and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, sixth from right, join other officials for the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Veterans Cemetery in Marpi. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration. (JUSTINE NAUTA)

: COPE NORTH 20-U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Todd Dozier, 5th Air Force vice commander; Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore (O-7) Martin Smith, Combat Support Group temporary commander; and Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) Lt. Gen. Shinichi Kaneko, Air Support Command commander, read an inscription on a World War II memorial dedicated to the 505th Bombardment Group on Tinian last Feb. 19, 2020. The monument is dedicated to “those young Americans of the 505th who survived the war and those who gave their lives here in pursuit of victory. Believing deeply in the value of living as free people in a democratic society, they fulfilled with honor and pride their duty to their country, supporting the cause of freedom throughout the world.” For the first time, three general officers representing the U.S., RAAF and JASDF visited Saipan, Tinian, and Rota together. (STAFF SGT. CURT BEACH)

: NMC GOLF FUNDRAISER The Northern Marianas College Foundation Golf Tournament will help raise funds for the college’s typhoon recovery efforts. This year’s tournament will be held on Saturday, March 21, 2020 at the Laolao Bay Golf and Resort. First place winners in the men’s Championship, A, B, C, Senior, and Ladies Flights will each receive $500, while $300 and $200 will go to the second and third place finishers, respectively. Hole-in-one prizes include a 2020 Kia Soul from Joeten Motors, and two $5,000 hole-in-one prizes from McDonald’s and Pacifica Insurance. The tournament will also feature many other items such as raffle prizes like smartphones, hotel stays, meals, and much more. For more information, visit www.marianas.edu or call 237-6833. (NMC)

: COOKIE SALE Erin Camacho, left, troop leader for the Girl Scout Daisies, poses with the Northern Marianas Island Girl Scouts at the cookie sale booth at the Joeten Superstore in Susupe last Feb. 22. The Girl Scouts successfully sold 3,000 boxes of cookies, with only a few cases left, at their cookie sale throughout the month of February. (Justine Nauta)

Contributing Author

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