80 attend National Prevention Week roadside waving

About 80 community members, teachers, and students attended the first roadside waving and health walk that commemorated National Prevention Week last Friday along Beach Road in Oleai.

Seven different schools entered the banner competition, did a roadside waving, and a health walk to Quartermaster along Beach Road.

Jody Abraham, prevention specialist at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s Community Guidance Center, said it was the first walk they’ve ever hosted and they hope to do it more often.

Students from Saipan Seventh-day Adventist School, Whispering Palms School, Tanapag Elementary, Garapan Elementary, Hopwood Junior High School, Mt. Carmel School, and Saipan Southern High School, along with their teachers and other registrants, were all given green tickets at the start. The green tickets were for the walk and the participants had to walk to Quartermaster and were then given a red ticket.

Abraham said the students would get free shirts once they turn in their tickets at the finish line.

All participating schools had different banners but every banner had the theme “Our Lives, Our Health, and Our Future.” The winning banner will get $500 worth of school supplies.

Under the elementary school category, SDA School took first place, while Hopwood took first place for the junior high category and Saipan Southern took first place in the high school category.

Ramnes Karben, 14, an eighth-grade student at SDA, said he enjoyed the activity as it was his first time to join.

En Ming Cadac, 13, also a student of SDA, said he enjoyed the event as well.

“I think we came here for prevention and we need to stay healthy and also support the prevention of bad things from entering our body,” Cadac said.

Hopwood’s National Junior Honor Society president Casey Huliganga, 13, said they attended the event to raise health awareness and prevent the use of illicit drugs.

Hopwood art teacher Fred Salavaria said it was a great experience for students because it taught them about “diseases that are increasing and to expose them to healthy living so it’s better if they get more exposure to these events and get them to come out and see that the community is a part of it as well.”

National Prevention Week seeks to raise awareness of behavioral health issues and help create healthier and safer communities.