On January 29, 2014 Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School (OLMCHS) was presented with a grant assistance of $166,580 through the Government of Japan's Grassroots Human Security Projects to construct a gymnasium. OLMCHS was founded in 1976 by the Mercedarian Sisters of Berriz as an all-girls vocational school. Finally in 2009 it became a co-ed, college preparatory, full-curriculum high school for grades nine through to twelve and graduated its first academic class in May 2013. Educational statistics show that students from OLMCHS were among those with the highest college entrance grades for 2013 in the FSM.
The grant will be utilized to construct a gymnasium that will serve not only school functions but is designed to enable events to take place such as stage plays, art exhibitions and other cultural activities. In that way, this grant will encompass various objectives such as further improvement of the educational sector in the FSM, quality of education given to students, and the people to people relationship by allowing members of the community access to the gymnasium.
The Government of Japan has been a huge contributor in the assistance of various type of projects throughout the FSM not only on a national basis but down to the grassroots level as well and in his remarks, Ambassador Eiichi Suzuki stated that the Government of Japan is always pleased to be given these opportunities to assist the FSM and encouraged the students to study hard.
The ceremony was witnessed by Judge Benjamin Rodriguez, Chief Justice of Pohnpei State, school board members, school officials, students, and staff of the Embassy.