PIC picks up $50K tab for Hopwood renovation

Pacific Islands Club recently acted as a Good Samaritan to Hopwood Junior High School, picking up the tab for a $50,000 renovation project at the largest junior high school in the CNMI.

PIC general manager Kieran Daly said the renovation entailed the construction of new basketball courts, repair of classroom ceilings and roofs, paved hallways, landscaped and constructed planters, as well as the installation of lunch benches around the school, where students and school employees can enjoy lunch everyday.

Daly said the renovation project started in January and ended last Monday. Apart from the construction of facilities, the hotel also donated new books worth $2,000 to add to the dwindling number of books in the school’s library.

The general manager said he was walking around the area when he realized that majority of the school’s roofing were decrepit, posing a hazard to the school’s 1,160 students. He immediately called the school administrators’ attention and offered PIC’s assistance.

HJHS vice principal Beth Nepaial told the Saipan Tribune yesterday that the school’s entire administration was stunned and made speechless by the hotel’s generosity.

“What they did made a big difference in the lives of our students,” said Nepaial.

She added that Hopwood’s Linala Malawasch Academy head teacher Christine Halloran is so happy with the new basketball court for her students.

Hopwood recently made headlines with news that an international luxury hotel company wants to use the campus property as the location of a new hotel.

Daly said that students of the CNMI would have the time to enjoy the newly constructed facilities for at least one to two years until the project for the new luxury hotel materializes.

Hopwood principal Jim Brewer earlier said that he would only be amenable to relocate the school to another location if the government would not spend a dime on the project. The principal said investors would shoulder the expense of relocating the largest junior high school in the CNMI.

“Everything should be paid for by hotel investors. Let them foot the bill,” said Brewer.

The school, which was established in 1962, has a total of 1,160 students. Brewer said the school would have at least 1,250 students next school year. He said relocating the students would entail a huge amount of responsibilities.

Brewer said the government should make sure that would-be investors should set aside plans for the building of at least two new junior high schools that could accommodate 700 or more middle school students to replace Hopwood.