63 PSS seniors obtain hospitality, tourism certificates
Saipan Southern High School students smile for the camera. (Dennis B. Chan)
Latte Training Academy graduated 63 young adults poised to enter the CNMI’s vital tourism industry on Tuesday night at the Pacific Islands Club.
The 63 graduates are seniors from Marianas High School, Saipan Southern High School, and Kagman High School. They earned their certification from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute’s START program, which is recognized in hospitality and tourism industries the world over.
Island Training Solutions president Jim Arenovski said these students “went above and beyond their peers” by taking the course.
He said the training taught the students good attitude and enthusiasm, which is “the gold standard for the tourist industry,” he said.
With the CNMI’s growing human resource needs, he said the academy is firm in its belief that the time of this program had come.
“We laughed. We cried. We had fun and worked hard,” SSHS instructor Kanae Quinn told her students. “I’m proud of everyone in the class because we had grit.”
Students were taught in class and also shadowed positions in the hotel industry—from cooks, to office or rooms work, among others.
Fiesta Resort and Spa, Laolao Bay Resort, Pacific Islands Club, Saipan World Resort, Mariana Resort and Spa, and Hyatt Regency Saipan took part in the program.
Arenovski said they are hoping to have more hotels on board for their next class.
