Ada-Calvo team ties Guam’s future to opportunities for young people

EJ Calvo and Tony Ada

 By Ron Rocky Coloma

At Pono Hawaiian Grill Guam, the conversation started with childhood memories, wandered through tourism and schools, and occasionally gave way to a discussion of fried rice and favorite local foods.

But as gubernatorial candidate Tony Ada and his running mate EJ Calvo sat across from Genesis Babauta on Aug. 18 for his “Lunch with Leaders” series, the conversation kept circling back to a more consequential question: Will Guam’s young people still see the island as a place where they can build a future?

Ada approached the question from the classroom. He said students should leave school prepared for college or a technical trade while also understanding the financial realities of adulthood.

“I think that’s what’s very important, for them to know what their track in life is going to be and how they want to achieve and succeed in getting to their goals,” Ada said.

For Calvo, that question is tied to whether young adults can find careers, support themselves and eventually raise families without feeling they have to leave Guam to get ahead.

“We talked a lot about the economy and about basically having a place where they can see themselves making a career in Guam,” he said. “And it’s not just making a career, but being able to not stress out about finances, being able to provide for their families, provide for themselves and, I think most of all, enjoy what they do in life.”

That concern became a thread running through much of the conversation, connecting the ticket’s proposals for tourism, education, workforce development, sports facilities and changes in how the government is managed.

Calvo said younger residents do not necessarily describe the problem in terms of economic development. Instead, many are simply trying to determine whether Guam can offer the life they want.

“They may not say it exactly that way, but basically, they’re thinking about their future,” Calvo said.

At the center of the Republican team’s economic plans is tourism, which Ada said “has a hand in everything.”

Calvo said Guam remains below its pre-pandemic tourism economy and needs to compete more effectively for travelers from markets such as Japan and South Korea. That begins, he said, with improving Guam itself.

“It’s about investing in our product once again. Cleaning up the island first and foremost. It’s fundamental,” Calvo said. “It’s something people deserve and expect, and, you know, presenting our house in a better light.”

Their proposal includes appointing a chief of tourism and economic development who would report to the governor and coordinate government agencies and tourism stakeholders.

Calvo said the position would help keep agencies working toward the same objectives, track deadlines and ensure plans move forward rather than allowing agencies to work independently of one another.

The ticket envisions similar executive-level positions for other major areas of government, including education, public safety and health.

A chief of education and workforce development, Calvo said, could work with the Guam Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the private sector, and higher education institutions to better connect what students learn with the jobs available to them.

With regard to the closure of Tiyan High and Simon Sanchez High School, Ada said he supports exploring site-based management, which would give individual schools greater authority over decisions now handled through the education department.

Ada argued that principals, teachers, staff, students, and parents know their campuses and their needs better than administrators who are farther removed from individual schools.

“So maintenance requests will go, instead of to the central office, to a principal,” Ada said. “So that it gets to them faster, and they can take action quicker to get these things done.”

Ada said legislation would be needed to implement site-based management.

He called for a national baseball stadium that could serve multiple purposes, along with a rugby pitch, a “world-class skate park” and additional dedicated pickleball courts.

Sports tourism, he said, could bring athletes and their families to Guam while giving local athletes better places to train and compete.

Calvo said Guam should not try to compete solely by offering the same large-scale entertainment available in major cities across Asia. Visitors coming to Guam, he said, should be able to find something distinct from what they can experience at home.

“When they come to Guam, they look for something different, and we can provide that experience to them,” Calvo said.

The pair discussed a cultural center that could bring together local food, music, dance, fashion and other traditions in a single destination.

Calvo compared the idea in some respects to Chamorro Village, but said the concept would be expanded into a more developed cultural destination.

“Is it the food? Yes. Is it the music? Yes. Is it the dance? Is it the fashion? Is it everything? It’s everything,” Calvo said.

Ada said cultural performances were once more common at hotels in Guam and argued that revitalizing tourism could create more opportunities for local dance groups and other cultural performers.

Addressing the abortion issue, Ada said an administration must follow the law while supporting education and alternatives such as adoption.

Ada and Calvo are pro-life candidates.

Calvo said he had considered political office before but believed he could serve the community through business, sports and other work.

“I definitely would love to see things change and get better,” Calvo said.

Ada said he wanted a running mate with experience in both government and the private sector and someone willing to think differently about Guam's challenges.

Throughout the conversation, their proposals ranged from school management to sports facilities, tourism and drugs. But the candidates repeatedly brought those issues back to the next generation and whether young people will be able to find opportunity on Guam.

He encouraged young people to travel, experience other places and see what opportunities exist elsewhere. The larger challenge, he said, is making Guam a place they can choose to return to, or never feel compelled to leave in the first place.

Ada framed that goal more practically: Prepare students to understand their options, equip them with the education and financial knowledge they need, and give them a chance to build a life today.

Someday, he said, that could include purchasing a home. “Because your heart is where your home is at, right?” Ada said.