{"id":384401,"date":"2023-01-31T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T20:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=384401"},"modified":"2023-01-31T06:06:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T20:06:07","slug":"babauta-vargas-are-nmtechs-2022-top-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/babauta-vargas-are-nmtechs-2022-top-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Babauta, Vargas are NMTech\u2019s 2022 top employees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left, Benjamin Babauta and Eugenio “Mike” Vargas are joined by Jodina Attao, chief executive officer of NMTech. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northern Marianas Technical Institute\u2019s marketing and outreach coordinator Benjamin Babauta and construction instructor Eugenio \u201cMike\u201d Vargas have both been recognized as NMTech\u2019s 2022 Employees of the Year.<\/p>\n

NMTech, an educational institute in the CNMI that fosters the professional growth and development of individuals who have an interest in the technical and trades fields, recognized Babauta and Vargas last Dec. 22 at their holiday appreciation party.<\/p>\n

Babauta has worked at NMTech for seven years where he got started as a part-time culinary arts\u00a0instructor. He helped revamp the culinary program alongside chef Inas Hocog and former instructor Tyrell Pauling.<\/p>\n

When NMTech transitioned into a government entity and re-opened in June 2021, Babauta became a full-time instructor for Culinary Arts, then moved into Marketing and Outreach in December 2021 as NMTech worked to build its capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin is a huge asset to the NMTech team. He is vibrant, full of energy, and truly advocates for the school and its mission,\u201d said NMTech chief executive officer Jodina Attao.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for this recognition. …[The year] 2022 has been a great year for NMTech and I was happy to use my skills and abilities in a new work setting to execute big projects for NMTech. I just try to do my best daily,\u201d\u00a0said Babauta<\/p>\n

Vargas, who is more popularly known at NMTech as \u201cMr. Mike,\u201d has worked at NMTech for 11 years as a construction instructor. Before becoming an instructor, Vargas had his own construction business here on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has skills and talents that he passes on to his students on a daily basis. He is always willing to serve NMTech and contribute to any and all projects. He is a great team player, advisor, and educator. We are blessed to work with such amazing people,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n

Vargas is thankful that the effort he pours into the school is being noticed. \u201cI\u2019m thankful for that. I will continue to work hard and this award motivates me to do more in the coming year. I think we have a great team here at NMTech, along with great captains,\u201d said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth chef Ben and Mr. Mike are phenomenal people and play critical roles at NMTech. We are grateful for their service and look forward to the many accomplishments to come,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Marianas Technical Institute\u2019s marketing and outreach coordinator Benjamin Babauta and construction instructor Eugenio \u201cMike\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":384403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384401","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}