The Head Start Center in Garapan\/Chinatown was officially renamed the Joaquina M. Rabauliman Head Start Center yesterday to honor the valuable contributions of the program\u2019s first director.<\/p>\n
Government officials and community members joined the children and siblings of Rabauliman, fondly called \u201cKinai\u201d by many, in celebrating the \u201cvery historic occasion\u201d in the CNMI and the Carolinian community\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial led Rabauliman\u2019s family and guests in the ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by the unveiling of the center\u2019s new signage and a latte stone that signifies what the Head Start program does: building the foundation of a student\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I\u2019m not part of the program, I am part of the family,\u201d the governor remarked, drawing laughter from the audience.<\/p>\n
Fitial said that Rabauliman, his sister-in-law, was \u201cone of the top two that has contributed tremendously\u201d to his successful career. <\/p>\n
Head Start Program director Melissa DLR Palacios described Tan Joaquina as an educator who inspired and molded young minds with her commitment, dedication, and passion.<\/p>\n
Palacios, herself a product of the program, showed off her 33-year-old diploma that was signed by Rabauliman.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us continue to build foundations within our children and make a difference in the lives of our children one step at a time, one child at a time,\u201d added Palacios as she congratulated Rabauliman\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Board of Education chair MaryLou S. Ada led the reading and presentation of copies of the resolution to each of Rabauliman\u2019s seven children: Manny, Cecilia, Frank, Henry, Andrew, Vincent, and Carmelita. <\/p>\n
Rabauliman herself was not able to make it to the ceremony due to her frail health.<\/p>\n
Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan said that she never had the chance to meet Rabauliman but recounted how she and Manny, Tan Joaquina\u2019s oldest child, got in trouble when the latter \u201cstole\u201d his dad\u2019s car when they were still attending high school in Mount Carmel back in the \u201870s.<\/p>\n
Sablan described Tan Joaquina as \u201ca living testimony of an accomplished woman.\u201d <\/p>\n
Grandson Felix Rabauliman said he is proud of his grandmother, \u201ca strong and very hardworking woman\u201d who spent over 30 years helping elementary and Head Start students back when it was still called the Mariana Islands Community Action Agency.<\/p>\n
Felix, who teaches at Hopwood Junior High School, said his grandmother \u201cepitomizes the traditional Carolinian woman: strong yet very humble.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hardworking yet simple woman we\u2019re honoring today is in fact very thankful for the renaming of this establishment,\u201d said Felix. \u201cAlthough she is unable to stand in front of you this morning, we, the family, would like to extend our humble and sincerest gratitude to all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Division of Environmental Quality director Frank Rabauliman, one of Tan Joaquina\u2019s children, said the event was \u201cvery humbling\u201d for their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m out of words honestly that she will be one of the first Carolinian women that\u2019s ever recognized for the work that she did and the services she performed for the community,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Manny Rabauliman, the eldest son, said that while it\u2019s unfortunate that their mother was not able to join the event, he believes that Tan Joaquina is excited about being recognized.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very grateful to the Board of Education, the staff of PSS for renaming this building after our mom. We\u2019re very glad and we really appreciate all their efforts in making this thing possible today,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Head Start Center in Garapan\/Chinatown was officially renamed the Joaquina M. Rabauliman Head Start Center yesterday to honor the valuable contributions of the program\u2019s first director.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}