We can see people around us as a tool, obstacle, or even irrelevant. However, if you really want to create change for the good of everyone and the community, we must learn to see them as people with goals.<\/p>\n
That, in a nutshell, was the message of Seamus Fitzgerald, Cultural Islands director at the Polynesians Cultural Center, at the opening retreat for the inaugural Marianas Chapter of the Pacific Century Fellows program.<\/p>\n
The two-day retreat, held at the Kanoa Resort over the weekend, hosted 19 of the CNMI\u2019s young leaders in education, law, business, and the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people come to a resort they come to enjoy and relax,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cBy looking at the islands\u2019 visitors as \u2018tourists\u2019 we do not see them as people who have goals and are, instead, tools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald, who also serves as the Aotearoa Village manager, urged the Fellows to look at people they work with and are surrounded by as \u201che tangata,\u201d the native Aotearoa term for \u201cpeople.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to see the students, coworkers, employees, and people we work with as people with goals,\u201d he said in his presentation titled \u201cLeadership from a Pacific Islands Perspective.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is where change begins, with you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald noted that in ancient Polynesia, chiefs always saw to the needs of their people and did not advance any decisions until a consensus was met. <\/p>\n
PCF Hawaii founder and former White House Fellow Mufi Hannemann told the CNMI Fellows that the bottom line of the overarching goals and objectives of the PCF in 2014 \u201cis all about Pacific pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have something to contribute. At the end of the day we have to bring people along with us in the process. The Pacific Islands have all sorts of stories and we can teach the world about leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hannemann shared his hope that all of the Fellows grasp the importance of what it means to be a Pacific Islands leader.<\/p>\n
Jacqueline Che, one of the inaugural Marianas PCF Fellow and director of Institutional Effectiveness at the Northern Marianas College, thought Fitzgerald\u2019s speech was \u201cmeaningful and truthful.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot and I felt more a part of this [group],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Joseph L.G. Taijeron Jr., NMC adjunct professor and CNMI Legislature legal counsel, echoed Che\u2019s comments. \u201cIt was very moving and very thought provoking and inspirational,\u201d he said. \u201cIt reminds us that we in the Pacific have a heritage that we can be very proud of and a lot of the Western ideas are not nearly as advanced as our ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The retreat also featured Triple J Enterprises, Inc. vice president of Finance and Administration Michael Sablan, who discussed Ethics and Tradition; and PSS Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan, who talked about education in leadership. <\/p>\n
A health care panel discussion featured Dr. Jeanolivia Grant, acting Non-Communicable Disease Bureau administrator Becky Robles, Public Health Services director Margarita Aldan, and Commonwealth Health Center CEO Esther Mu\u00f1a. <\/p>\n
CNMI issues <\/p>\n
Che told the Saipan Tribune at the retreat that the most pressing issue she currently sees for the CNMI is workforce development. She explained that placing locals in meaningful positions and educating them as well as recruiting those who have gone off-island are integral in order to create a sustainable workforce. \u201cThere is a lot of work to do and ground to plow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEducating our people to make sure we can become better followers, leaders, and people,\u201d is what Taijeron thinks the CNMI has to worry about the most. \u201cWe do this so we can identify our needs and the best ways to address them.\u201d He added that selflessness is a trait that is lacking in the CNMI\u2019s political leadership. \u201cThey need to be more selfless and get their priorities straight and take more actions that are consistent. They all can speak the rhetoric but they need to start taking actions to match it.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the youngest fellows, Matthew Deleon Guerrero, 25, shared that \u201cdirection and understanding of where we want to go and what we plan to do to reach a goal in long terms\u201d is something he considers the most pressing issue in the CNMI. While he does not believe there is any lack of political leadership Deleon Guerrero said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt to get new leaders and a new vision and new perspective.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Marianas Chapter of the Pacific Century Fellows program aims to develop leadership. It is modeled after the PCF of Hawaii, which was founded in 1996. The program\u2019s objective is to develop leaders with greater awareness and sensitivity of the people and institutions of the CNMI. The nine-month program, which began with the two-day retreat, will bring the Fellows together for an all-day session once a month to address some of the CNMI\u2019s most pressing issues. Graduates of this program are then encouraged to take a more active public service role. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We can see people around us as a tool, obstacle, or even irrelevant. However, if you really want to create change for the good of everyone and the community, we must learn to see them as people with goals.<\/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-175729","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\/175729","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=175729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}