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16 students finish NMC apprenticeship program
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Posted on Aug 01 2004
The Northern Marianas College apprenticeship program graduated 16 Saipan students from various workshops on Wednesday.
Anthony Benavente, director for NMC’s Agricultural Development in the American Pacific, was on hand to issue the certificate of completion in the various workshops the students participated in.
“It turned out to be very successful. All the students who participated learned a lot about the programs they had to offer. I’m hoping to see other faces next year,” said Benavente.
The program promotes capacity building among local residents in hopes of getting more agriculturists and home economists in the CNMI.
According to Benavente, the program has been ongoing for several years. “This is the first time this [program] has been very successful, we’ve done some in the past but not as formal as this year. This year we had presentations and they were more involved with the work of the faculty and staff,” he added.
Each student in the program was also given a stipend of $500 from ADAP. Three students in the expanded food and nutrition education program assisted with testing recipes for nutrition value; two students in the integrated pest management program learned how to identify and manage different types of agricultural pest
The food-processing program consisted of five students learning about the agricultural produce and how to properly preserve juices in the CNMI.
Six students participated in the horticulture program where they learned how to set up fish tanks. They also had first hand experience on dealing with farmers in the CNMI.
Horticulturist Dr. Craig Smith and Edgar Cocker, associate director for family and consumer department, conducted some of the programs.
The NMC apprenticeship program was conducted through the Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service or CREES. (Cassie Dlg Fejeran)
