by Irie Quitugua, for KUAM News

Chief Hurao Academy, a place that fosters the revitalization of the CHamoru culture and language for the island’s youth “One family at a time,” according to their website, celebrates Famagu’on Lima, the kindergarten Class of 2025, at their first award ceremony.

The Maga’lahen Hurao CHamoru Academy has celebrated its first grayuasion for their kindergarteners. Saina Guinifi, or Ann Marie Arceo, is the president of the academy and has great admiration for the students, the teachers, the community, and the academy as a whole. "I’m just so overwhelmed with gratitude to God and to all the support of the parents. I couldn’t have done it without them and the staff," she said.

"We had some bumps along the way but we held on tight to that galaide and we kept paddling so here we are. And from the parents to the children to the grandparents, they all want the same thing for the next generations to come so we can continue on as a people."

Bunitayi, or Emilia Chance Gutierrez Arroyo, has been immersed in this environment since she was three years old. Bunitayi shares her favorite moment of the graduation and her favorite school subject, saying, "The dancing." She added that math was her favorite thing to learn.

And her proud parent, Hannah Gutierrez Arroyo, shared feelings on what this means to her as a CHamoru woman and as a CHamoru mother. "When the opportunity arose for her to be put into immersion schooling it was something that was really near and dear to my heart," she said. "Cultural revitalization and the preservation of the language is I think has to be the paramount concern for those of us here in Guam and in the Marianas."

"It’s not just language and culture its the values, its the family they’re being raised from. There is nothing more important to me as a CHamoru woman than to have a daughter to pass this on to. She said she wants to be a doctor and a CHamoru teacher when she grows up and I have no doubt that she can."

Locals trying to build their connection to their language, their culture, their identity, whether as a child or as an adult, the resources, the people, and the island will be there to support every journey. Biba Chief Hurao Academy - Biba Famagu’on Lima!