{"id":273027,"date":"2018-04-02T06:06:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T20:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=273027"},"modified":"2018-04-02T06:06:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T20:06:16","slug":"scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholarship, Labor reach out to CNMI students in Guam"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-273027 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam\/photo-1-5\/'>Photo-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-273028'>\n\t\t\t\tCNMI Scholarship Office administrator Rose Pangelinan, CHCC Hospital Services director Jesse Tudela, University of Guam dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Margaret Hattori-Uchima and colleagues after the outreach presentation.\u201d (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam\/photo-2-4\/'>Photo-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-273029'>\n\t\t\t\tCNMI Scholarship Office administrator Rose Pangelinan, administrative officer Carmen Sablan, University of Guam financial aid office director Mark Duarte and Admissions supervisor Angie Anthonio after their meeting. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam\/photo-3-6\/'>Photo-3<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-273030'>\n\t\t\t\tGuam Community College Communications &amp; Promotions assistant director Jayne Flores and Apprenticeship program specialist Melvin Cruz together with CSO Workforce Program coordinator\u00a0Monique\u00a0Sablan, and administrative officer Carmen Sablan. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/scholarship-labor-reach-cnmi-students-guam\/photo-4-5\/'>Photo-4<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-273031'>\n\t\t\t\tGCA Trades Academy Education director Herbert Johnston and CSO administrator Rose Pangelinan following their meeting and tour of the trades academy. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The CNMI Scholarship Office, in partnership with the CNMI Department of Labor, recently held their first outreach in Guam. <\/p>\n<p>The outreach held on March 6, 2018, was intended to provide CNMI students studying at the University of Guam and Guam Community College an opportunity to learn about new programs and workforce initiatives. <\/p>\n<p>CSO chair Geralyn Dela Cruz said it is always the intent of CSO to reach out to as many CNMI students that are pursuing their degrees. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout the years, CSO has created more programs and established more partnerships that will provide students with even more access to scholarship programs they can avail of than ever before. Being able to hold these types of outreach will also help students understand the needs of our workforce and how their skills\/knowledge once they graduate with their degree can help benefit not only themselves, but our islands\u2019 workforce,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n<p>CSO administrator Rose S. Pangelinan, Labor Secretary Vicky I. Benavente, CHCC Hospital Services director Jesse Tudela, CSO Workforce Program coordinator Monique Sablan, and CSO WICHE-CNMI student representative Carmen Sablan were able to engage with CNMI students to learn more about their scholarship needs as well as to encourage them to return to the CNMI. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are working every angle to entice more CNMI and U.S. citizens to work in the Marianas,\u201d said Benavente. \u201cWe&#8217;re grateful to the Scholarship Office for providing the Department of Labor an opportunity to meet with students in Guam. We were able to share information with these students about the workforce needs of the CNMI employers and we also listened to their challenges and goals.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The presentation discussed multiple existing and new programs available for CNMI students, including topics such as: <\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education program (Professional Student Exchange Program) <\/p>\n<p>\t\u2022\tWashington University in St. Louis and Mariana Islands program \u2028<\/p>\n<p>\t\u2022\tTrain and Revitalize through Academics, Internship and Networking program \u2028<\/p>\n<p>\t\u2022\tCNMI Department of Labor Employment Services<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the presentation, students were able to voice their concerns and questions regarding scholarships and workforce issues. <\/p>\n<p>Following the presentation, Pangelinan and her colleagues were able to meet with the University of Guam dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Dr. Margaret Hattori-Uchima to discuss their current nursing program. <\/p>\n<p>Hattori-Uchima led a tour of the nursing school and provided exclusive access to their simulation lab as well as the different equipment, materials and teaching methods they utilize on a daily basis to enrich each nursing student\u2019s ability to learn. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s important that the CNMI Scholarship Office reaches out and sees the CNMI students when they\u2019re here. We\u2019ve heard from the students that there are a lot of differences, especially in the way of life and having their support system change when moving to Guam. I think having outreach from the CNMI makes them feel that they have that support system, which will make them more likely to go back home,\u201d Hattori-Uchima said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important especially in healthcare workforce development that there continues to be a focus on nursing, social work, and public health. Like the CNMI, Guam also has a severe nursing shortage so I do think we need to continue to focus our resources, including scholarships, to provide support in those areas. If we continue to have this relationship, we can communicate and assist the CNMI too. It\u2019s helpful for us to know if there are things that we can do. I won\u2019t know what the CNMI needs unless we have that open communication so I think that it would be perfect to be doing this on an on-going basis,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n<p>CSO also met with the University of Guam financial aid office director Mark Duarte and admissions supervisor Angie Anthonio to establish regional collaborations with UOG in hopes to better serve and improve enrollment and financial aid services for CNMI students. CSO explored avenues for data collection of all CNMI graduates so that the government can identify our workforce resources. <\/p>\n<p>Duarte said he gained a better understanding of the scholarship process for CNMI students attending UOG, including the process by which the scholarships for CNMI students are done an streamlining disbursement and the need to track awards to be able to comply with federal aid awarding guidelines. Discussion also focused on sharing information with the scholarship office on the academic performance of their awardees, which can assist the CNMI in the evaluation of the effectiveness of their scholarship program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be able to collaborate on issues of college affordability by pulling financial aid and scholarship officials from the region and creating an organization that will actively address issues from federal financial aid to local government and private scholarships,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to ensure that we provide not only the best programs and opportunities for our students pursuing their postsecondary, graduate and post-graduate studies, but to also streamline the process for these services as well. Our students on Guam make up the second highest group of recipients for our financial assistance. I\u2019m thankful to\u2026Duarte for his willingness to welcome our quest to establish regional collaborations to improve the enrollment and financial aid services for our students and tract their academic performance. I look forward to building this partnership that will expand opportunities for our CNMI students at UOG,\u201d Pangelinan said. <\/p>\n<p>From this meeting, CSO will be drafting a memorandum of agreement in the next weeks to begin the partnership to expedite scholarship disbursement for CNMI residents, which will be effective fall 2018. CNMI residents attending UOG will soon be receiving their scholarships\/loans through electronic funds transfer once the MOU is signed. This will cut the current paper check award processing time from 3-5 weeks to 10-14 days at the most. <\/p>\n<p>CSO also met with Guam Community College\u2019s Communications &amp; Promotions assistant director Jayne Flores and Apprenticeship Program specialist Melvin Cruz to discuss their current apprenticeship program, which caters to Guam employers and their employees. <\/p>\n<p>The GCC apprenticeship program, in partnership with the Guam Department of Labor, combines on-the- job training with trade-related classroom instruction. <\/p>\n<p>CSO hopes to be able to utilize the GCC apprenticeship model to develop their own internship and apprenticeship programs that are currently in the works. <\/p>\n<p>On the last stretch of their trip, CSO met Herbert Johnston, who is the Education Director for the GCA Trades Academy in Guam. <\/p>\n<p>Johnston shared with CSO the wide variety of training programs in fields ranging from carpentry and automotive technology to project management and safety. GCA Trades Academy provided insight to its operations and success due to their innovative management and full partnership with the private sector. <\/p>\n<p>Pangelinan noted that the CNMI workforce is at a critical stage. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important that we keep our students abroad informed and engaged with current initiatives and opportunities available to them. <\/p>\n<p>She said it is important that the CNMI Scholarship keep an open dialogue with future workers to hear their concerns as they are the new generation that will be the driving force behind a healthy and prosperous economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnderstanding and finding ways to decrease brain drain in the CNMI will not solve the shortfall in our workforce, but it will help. We hope that though these outreach efforts, we will be able to keep our students engaged and remind them that we value their inputs. Our goal is to convey the CNMI\u2019s dire need for their services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said the outreach is just one of several key initiatives undertaken by CSO to address the CNMI\u2019s workforce development issues. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cRose and her dedicated team at our Scholarship Office have done great work to make sure that our students abroad get the support they need and have an organic desire to come back home to their islands. Workforce development is challenging, and we all know that. But we have now put in place some key programs and initiatives that create opportunities for graduates when they come home. In the meantime, they have worked hard to ensure that NMTI, NMC, PSS, and Latte Training Academy get the support they need to develop our U.S. workers here. It\u2019s not easy, but <\/p>\n<p>we have made great progress in creating opportunities that our graduates can come back home to and serve our community,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p>From this trip, the CNMI Scholarship Office truly believes that they have opened up a channel for communication between Guam and the CNMI in regards to scholarship, financial aid and workforce development. CSO will continue their efforts in reaching out to CNMI students across the pacific and in the mainland in order to help them succeed in their educational efforts. <\/p>\n<p>For more information on the types of programs and scholarship opportunities, email the CNMI Scholarship Office at awards@cnmischolarship.net or call (670) 664-4750. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CNMI Scholarship Office, in partnership with the CNMI Department of Labor, recently held their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":273028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,2638,3567,445],"class_list":["post-273027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-cso","tag-guam-community-college","tag-uog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273027","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}