{"id":282255,"date":"2018-08-15T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=282255"},"modified":"2018-08-15T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T20:00:08","slug":"borja-hopes-more-will-join-youth-leadership-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/borja-hopes-more-will-join-youth-leadership-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Borja hopes more will join youth leadership program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-282255 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\/borja-hopes-more-will-join-youth-leadership-program\/cohort-pix1\/'>Cohort pix1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-282256'>\n\t\t\t\tStudent council leaders from various public and private schools pose for a picture after a workshop as part of the 2018 Youth Leadership Cohort, which is a project under the Office of the Governor Special Assistant for Youth Affairs. (Jon Perez)\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\/borja-hopes-more-will-join-youth-leadership-program\/cohort-pix2\/'>Cohort pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-282257'>\n\t\t\t\tGov. Ralph DLG Torres leads other young leaders during the 3rd Youth Leadership Cohort at the American Memorial Park Visitors\u2019 Center. (Jon Perez)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Shelane Borja hopes more student leaders would join the third year of the Youth Leadership Cohort, and she looks forward to having Tinian and Rota students join the program in school year 2018-2019.<\/p>\n<p>Student council leaders from various public and private schools on Saipan underwent a weeklong workshop as part of the 2018 YLC, which is a project under the Office of the Governor Special Assistant for Youth Affairs that Borja heads.<\/p>\n<p>Borja said the program, which began last year, is open to all student council leaders where they present possible solutions to community problems. \u201cThey had a weeklong workshop with different people in our community, like current leaders and businessmen, just sharing their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted them [students] to meet each other and work together to figure out ways to help the community, recognize their participation and how to empower them to have other leaders become active members in our community, define what leadership means to them and recognizing that it is not just a position,\u201d Borja added.<\/p>\n<p>She said that representatives from the CNMI Scholarship Office and the local Department of Labor talked about career readiness and the current labor demands of Commonwealth industries.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why, Borja said, it is hoped the program would spark more interest in student leaders this coming school year. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that it would be something that more student leaders are going to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, we\u2019re hoping that more people are going to run for STUCO (in both public and private schools). And hopefully we could include Rota and Tinian as well,\u201d said Borja, who added that they are planning to make September Youth Leadership Empowerment Month.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, CNMI State Board of Education Student representative Mariah Manuel Cruz of Tinian had the chance to join the program.<\/p>\n<p>Kagman High School students DeFaustina Camacho, Dianne Torres, Alanna Romolor, Kyle San Nicolas, and Goddhy Taitingfong presented on the benefits of having a Veterans Center in the CNMI that would assist the personal, medical, and other needs of those who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.<\/p>\n<p>The topic of Saipan Southern High School students Elaiza Suarez, Tommie Sablan, Mazie Manalang, Particia Atalig, Champ Sabanagan, and Andre Taitingfong were the economic impact of having a shopping mall on Saipan.<\/p>\n<p>Mt. Carmel School\u2019s Dayna Macaranas teamed up with Grace Christian Academy\u2019s Wilgene Lieto and Marcky Masilungan to outline the advantages of having marijuana legalized in the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>Talia Trianni of GCA, and MHS\u2019 Angela Barbo, Esther Huh, and John Bucayo talked about obesity, its impact on the community and ways to prevent. GCA\u2019s Justine Calayo, MHS\u2019 Carl Garon, and SSHS\u2019 Tiah Camacho and Sheena Varias hope to someday have a Students Engaging in Academics and Leadership that would help students who struggle in some of their subjects and studies.<\/p>\n<p>CNMI State Public School System Office of Curriculum and Instructional Services associate commissioner Jackie Quitugua said that YLC is another program that they are looking to include in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to sustain it. That means, we need to think of how we can give you elective credits because this is the choice that you have to make during summer\u2014give up your summer so you can learn something. These are the kind of opportunities we\u2019re thinking of how do we help our kids to move to the next level,\u201d said Quitugua.<\/p>\n<p>Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente, who was the guest speaker at a recent certification ceremony at the American Memorial Park Visitors\u2019 Center, challenged the students that would go off island to seek higher education to return and be part of helping the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ask you to make it a point to come back to help the community and the students who are also trying to find their way on which direction to go, what career to take, and which college to go to. Last month alone, there were 5,000 job openings,\u201d said Benavente, who added that she and her husband, former lieutenant Diego Benavente, are some of those who came back to the CNMI.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said all occupations on the island are important. \u201cEvery one of you have a different occupation that you want to be; don\u2019t let anyone tell you that it is not important or you should shift.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo what you believe what\u2019s right for you, because that\u2019s the only way you could help the community, by doing something that you are passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shelane Borja hopes more student leaders would join the third year of the Youth Leadership&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":282256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,698,67,22322],"class_list":["post-282255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-gca","tag-people","tag-ylc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282255","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}