WSR 6th graders exposed to different careers

Sixth graders at the William S. Reyes Elementary School learned about the different career options they have by meeting people from different professions during WSR’s first Career Awareness Day on Friday.

Ninety-two sixth graders from four classrooms listened to the invited speakers, which included Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo, MCV sportswriter Bob Coldeen, musician and artist Noel Quitugua, and U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Mike Murphy, who is also a teacher.

The students also met Glenn Mendoza, a staff at the U.S. District Court for the NMI, Al Cabael of Blue Bay Productions, and Pam Carhill, a physical therapist at the Commonwealth Health Center.

Govendo discussed about law practice and law enforcement, Coldeen talked about journalism, Quitugua shared his views about arts and music, while Murphy tackled about military and his experience in Iraq.

Mendoza conducted a presentation on computer technology, Cabael talked about business and TV production, while Carhill discussed physical therapy or medicine.

Before the students met the speakers, counselors Rebecca J. Flores, Patricia Mendoza, and Cecilia Labausa conducted sessions on exploration of strengths, skills, and talents of each student.

Flores, Mendoza, and Labausa, are members of the Public School System’s counseling steering committee. They have had training on skills, strengths and talents.

Flores told the Saipan Tribune that this is the first time they are conducting such sessions in which the focus is on identifying the students’ strengths, skills, and talents.

“It’s important for them [students] to know how they are as a person. And knowing their skills, strengths, and talents would make it easier for them to find out what is available out there in the market…what are the various careers that could fit in their skills, strengths and talents,” Flores said.

Flores said the second part of the sessions is knowing the different resources, different agencies, different careers, so they invited guests from different professions.

“We want the students to be exposed to these different careers,” Flores said, stressing that it is important for the kids to start thinking about their career as early as elementary.

Flores explained that the Career Awareness was the initiative of the counselors, with funding from Kui Cheng-Gugliotta, program coordinator at the NMI Occupational Information Coordinating Committee.

The students are under Evelyn Perez, April Purugganan, Nina Reyes-Ross, and Melissa Dickinson.

WSR vice-principal Lynette Villagomez said under the program they are giving their sixth grade students the opportunity to experience and to hear first hand about some careers that are available.

“This is the first time we’ve done this for the students. And next year, we would like to expand it. Instead of just the speakers coming to our school, we want our students to actually experience the job, go out for a day and try it out,” Villagomez said.