As the first day of school inches closer, we visit Juan M. Guerrero Elementary - one of the campuses preparing to welcome students from the now-closed Chief Brodie Elementary.  We also take a closer look at the upgrades in place ahead of the new year.

As the countdown to a new school year begins, two communities officially become one, with J.M. Guerrero Elementary in Harmon now welcoming students from the decommissioned campus. The Busy Bees are now Dolphins.

JMG principal Rose Castro says the school is absorbing about 100 students from the Tamuning campus, adding, “We’re excited - first of all, we also have more teachers, and we prepared all the new classrooms to welcome the students, and we just finished orientation and parents from Chief Brodie that we’re merging together and that we’re all going to be Dolphins.”

Last school year, the two campuses shared one roof but operated separately. This year marks their official merger. And that’s not the only change at JMG. A major facility upgrade, the once-troublesome awnings, are now brand new, thanks to donated work. “Pacific Federal Management did all our awnings, and they’re brand new–and they did it on weekends and they did it for free. I feel like that could not have happened at any other time. Those renovations were perfect because during the month of August, we always have so much rain–even yesterday’s rain, in previous years, they would be wet. Now, we have all these wonderful awnings to protect them," said Castro.

The campus also receiving a “B” rating from Public Health, a reflection of ongoing efforts from both staff and families. And that community support?

Principal Castro and PTO president Elena Garcia say it's crucial. “We really do have great things happening in our schools—but, we do need everyone to work together," said Castro. And GARCIA noted, “I’m hoping we would get a lot of the parents to come and join so that we can support our kids here in the school, and support our teachers and our administrators.”

“All they have to do is reach out to us if they really want to get involved.”

The first day of school is August 7.