PSS students win prizes in Meal of Champions raffle

Eighty exciting prizes—including a brand new netbooks and an iPad—were given away to students of Koblerville Elementary School and Saipan Southern High School during the 5th Meal of Champions Raffle Draw held Friday at the Saipan Southern High School.

Meal of Champions is a promotion from Herman’s Modern Bakery, a vendor under the Public School System’s Breakfast and Meal Program to encourage more students to eat their free healthy meals at school.

The promo ran from Jan. 15 to June 15 or before the students go on summer break.

“We came up with the program in the beginning of the first quarter of the school year because our statistics for student participation in our lunch program was very low,” catering manager Nita Sablan told Saipan Tribune.

As a result, Sablan said they came up with the Meal of Champions for breakfast and lunch so that students will be motivated to eat their provided meals and win at the same time.

“We saw about 50 percent increase in the number of students who ate their breakfast and 75 percent increase for those who ate lunch,” she disclosed.

The grand prize of a brand new 32B iPad with free Wi-Fi went to Virginia Imperial for her ticket No. 200122.

Sablan and other Herman’s Bakery employees went to Koblerville Elementary School where Imperial is current at fifth grade to deliver her prize.

“I’m very surprised and happy to win. This is my first time to win a raffle,” Imperial said in an interview.

According to Imperial, she has always wanted an iPad so she will play with it right away.

Mercedes Deleon Guerrero, Imperial’s teacher, said her student who is part of the school’s track and field team deserves to win the prize.

“She’s the fastest runner among the girls. She’s our top peace builder and she’s a good citizen. I think she deserves it,” she said.

Deleon Guerrero added that she always encouraged her students to eat healthy and right, and that the promotion was just an added bonus for the students.

Clayton Aguon and Tim Sula of Saipan Southern High School each won Dell Inspiron netbook for the second prize.

Seventeen-year old Aguon, who is an 11th grader, said he and his girlfriend Sarah submitted more than 300 tickets for the raffle.

“I’m surprised to win. I just collected the tickets for the promo,” he said.

Aguon, who already owns a PSS-issued netbook, said he will definitely work and explore his new laptop.

Other prizes given away were a Samsung cellphone, iPod Nano and Shuffle, round cakes, sim cards, and phone cards.

Sablan added that they were happy about the great turnout for the event.

“We’re trying to see and work if we can give them gift certificates for school supplies to help them in their school needs. We’ll add some movie passes as well and we hope to have another great turnout,” she said.

Left, Koblerville Elementary School fifth grader Virginia Imperial, center, receives the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi which she won from Herman’s Modern Bakery Meal of Champions raffle draw held last Friday. With her is Herman’s Modern Bakery catering manager Nita Sablan and Imperial’s teacher Mercedes Deleon Guerrero. Right, Saipan Southern High School junior Clayton Aguon, second from right, is flanked by Juan Pan Guerrero of Herman’s Modern Bakery, Dale Roberts of Public School System Food Nutrition Services, and James Nelson of Docomo Pacific after winning a Dell Inspiron netbook in the Meal of Champions held on June 10 at SSHS campus. (Clarissa V. David)