Chamorro Month may be coming to end, but the celebration and preservation of our island's culture continues. And it's Guam's youth that are coming together to ensure that it happens.

Abreanna Cruz, a representative of the Academy of Our Lady of Guam, recently introduced Bill 19 to the Guam Youth Congress. If passed, the bill would officially change Guam's national flower from Puti tai Nobio, the Great Bougainvillea, to Guasali, the Torchwood.

The reasoning behind it, she said, "Our territorial flower which is the Puti tai Nobio, it's actually from South America. So the Gausali that grows here, which is grown on like the mountain cliffs area because it needs that ocean mist, it's native to Guam. So having something here that's from our island and we're able to promote that will probably inspire the youth to find other things that are native or local here."

During ancient times, the Guasali flower was used by the Chamorros for heat and a source of light, making it a symbol of Guam's true natural heritage.

In 2014, former Speaker Judith Won Pat introduced a similar bill, 351. "There was a lot of controversy going on with that. So now the 31st, what we're trying to do is we're trying to bring it back and introduce it again because with the whole topic of decolonization and nowadays with the youth of Guam, whether you're Chamorro by blood or whatever, they're very interested with taking pride from our island," she said.

The bill has been referred to the Guam Youth Congress Committee on Environmental and will discussed at their next session in April.