The Association of the CNMI Municipal Council members from Saipan, Tinian and Rota met last week at the Saipan Municipal Council chamber and finalized plans for the first academic postsecondary and trades academy scholarships underwritten by the Association of Mariana Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors, & Elected Municipal Council members to CNMI residents.
AMIM intends to issue the award notice by the end of December.
The AMIM-funded scholarship is generated from annual AMIM membership dues. The municipal council members of Saipan, Tinian and Rota are official voting members in the Guam-based local government association.
The Friday announcement fulfills the vision of then Mayor Isabel Haggard of Guam, considered the architect of the AMIM scholarship some ten years ago.
When the idea of a scholarship was first placed on the AMIM agenda in 2004, the program was focused on the development and advancement of the workforce of the member residents. At the time, the association pledged to allocate certain percentage of the association fees to address areas that would advance the culture, linguistics and history of the Mariana Islands, inclusive of studies on tourism and agriculture.
The trades areas were not included in the original plan then.
Only last year at the AMIM general assembly on Rota when the association voted to include trades studies as part of the scholarship as spearheaded by 10th Saipan Municipal Council vice chair Ramon B. Camacho and Association of CNMI Council president Felipe Atalig and supported by chair Antonia Tudela of Saipan, along with council members: vice chair Charlene M. Lizama, chair Antonio H. Borja and secretary Eugene L. Villagomez from Tinian and chair Roy Masga, vice chair Alfred Apatang and secretary Vincent Calvo from Rota.
The proposed scholarship is restricted to residents of the Mariana Islands who are U.S. citizens from Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan. The applicant must also be on his/her third and fourth year of undergraduate studies.
Guam is allocated $2,000 while the CNMI $1,000 each for Rota, Tinian and Saipan per academic year. The use of the scholarship is strictly for tuition, related fees or books only.
A recipient must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and be on full-time status in college.
Applicants are required to obtain at least one letter of recommendation from the village mayor where the applicant is residing. Applicants from the CNMI, however, must obtain a letter of recommendation from the respective municipal council members of Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Extracurricular activities directly related to AMIM's priority studies will be weighed in the decision by the selection committee.
As the AMIM scholarship is not automatically renewed, a recipient must re-submit an application every academic year during his/her third and fourth year in college.
In return for the scholarship, recipients are required to pay back in services (equivalent to the value or worth of the scholarship award) to the respective AMIM communities for a minimum of six month. Services are to be performed not later than one year of receiving a scholarship from AMIM. This service is to be performed by the recipient before he/she even graduates from college. In this way, the recipient does not prolong his/her studies before performing the required services in the community.
The AMIM selection committee will begin receiving applications in Rota, Tinian and Saipan by the end of this month. (PR)
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