HMS holds Career Day for students

Hopwood Middle School students got a taste of the real world after their school-wide Career Day last Tuesday, with over 20 government agencies, businesses and individuals showcasing their careers to the school’s 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.

The Career Day, held as part of the celebration of the CNMI Public School System’s Career & Technical Education Month, gave the students an opportunity to listen to experts from different fields as they shared their professional journeys and work experience.

Former representative Sheila Babauta, who spoke to an 8th grade English Language Arts class, said exposing the youth to careers while still at an impressionable age is important.

“I think the more options that they can see around them of what’s possible, the more they’ll be empowered. At the end of the day, it all comes down to them being empowered,” she said. “I’m so happy and so proud that Hopwood is hosting a Career Day and I hope to see it more consistently in all of our schools.”

Babauta shared her story on community advocacy and being in public office. “I shared with them what I do today, which is focused on community engagement. And as a business owner, I’m an advisor and I connect federal agencies or national non-profit organizations—or people, researchers, and universities, to our community when they visit,” she said.

An 8th grade student, Leelando Backman, said of the Career Day event, “It’s pretty cool to see all the opportunities presented that we can have in the future. Around this age in adolescence, we’re trying to figure out what we want to do, so it’s good to have these examples of job opportunities.”

Didiich Tudela, 8th grade ELA teacher, said hosting this event is a great way for students to learn what they like, dislike, and learn more about themselves. “They’re still trying to find their identity and another way is to explore and do different things to see if that’s something they like or not,” she said.

HMS counselors worked with HMS teachers in preparing for the event. One counselor, Ashley Roberto, said they wanted to expose their students to different career fields that are not only offered in their CTE classes.

She said, “I want them to broaden their horizon of what careers are out there because a lot of them think there’s only like the military or engineer, or a doctor, or a lawyer. They don’t realize that there are all these other careers and that you can also create your own business if you want. So not to just really stay within the bubble of what they think or what their parents think they should be. We want them to explore.”

Other presenters of the Career Day event were 500 Sails; Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting; U.S. Army Reserve; Environmental Health and Disease Prevention of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.; CNMI Supreme Court; Come Play With Us Pet Services; Community Solutions; Department of Finance: Customs Biosecurity and K9 Unit; Department of Public Safety’s SWAT, K9 Unit, and Boating; Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services; Commonwealth Ports Authority’s Ports Police and K9 Unit; Office of Indigenous Affairs; Latte Built Fitness; Mariana Islands Nature Alliance; Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; NMI Judiciary; Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc.; Northern Marianas Technical Institute; Public School System; Saipan Tribune; CNMI Legislature; Trench Tech, and AnaLee Villagomez (Marianas advocate), among others.