MHS-JSA: Making a difference in others’ lives

The Marianas High School Junior Statesmen of America Chapter, along with several individuals from other schools, spent yesterday morning focusing on enhancing communication skills, a value the group said is key to the success of their chapter this school year.

The chapter held the workshop at the Pacific Islands Club’s Napu Room.

“When you’re in group, you have to have three things—communication, trust, and understanding,” MHS-JSA Chapter president Edrianne Flores said. “So what we have here today is the entire [MHS-JSA] chapter getting together and trying to get to know each other better.”

According to the group’s advisor, Dr. Chaz Algaier, the MHS chapter consists of 40 students.

“They did activities that focused on building communication skills, trust, and a sense of team,” he said.

Flores echoed Algaier’s comments, citing that the activities, such as human rope and trust fall, “are ones that really honed our abilities to trust one another.”

“We’re made up of students who go to school for a purpose,” she said. “Looking at each and every one of them, they have a driven purpose like I do to make a difference.”

For her part, chapter vice president Carmelita Gutierrez said the workshop could only be good for the chapter. “Today was a good thing for all the members,” she said. “It’s a chance for the members to be comfortable with each other so we can a good start to the school year as a chapter, and that will help us accomplish our goals.”

Flores, who took part in the JSA summer program at Stanford University during the past summer, said her experience led her to have the urgency to influence others in taking advantage of the program and participating in this coming summer.

“We really want to motivate our peers to go and experience it because it changed my life,” she said. “After my experience at Stanford, I told myself that I did not want to just influence myself…I want to influence and help other people as well.”

Summer school programs are featured at various Ivy League schools, including Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and Georgetown universities.

The chapter is also working toward hosting a convention for all JSA chapters in the Commonwealth in May. The group also takes part in various community events, as well as debates, and most recently, hosted a mock poll based on the recent U.S. presidency election.

With over 16,000 members from the U.S. and Canada, the JSA is the largest student-run high school organization in America. It focuses on politics, government, debate, law, and education.