{"id":401762,"date":"2023-11-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=401762"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Saipan-son-awarded-10K-as-Rotary-Club-of-Tokyo-Atago-Scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Saipan-son-awarded-10K-as-Rotary-Club-of-Tokyo-Atago-Scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"Saipan son awarded $10K as Rotary Club of Tokyo-Atago Scholar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>University of Guam junior Ivan Sablan Blanco is the new Rotary Club of Tokyo-Atago Scholar.<\/p>\n<p>The scholarship comes with $10,000 that would go toward the completion of his degree in Business Administration and is the latest support provided to a UOG student from the Rotary International District 2750 and from clubs under its umbrella. Rotary International District 2750 covers Rotary clubs in Western Tokyo and Pacific Basin Group clubs in Guam, Saipan, and other parts of the Micronesia region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are immensely grateful to Rotary International District 2750 for their continued support,\u201d said UOG president Anita Borja Enriquez. \u201cThese Rotarian scholarships provide assistance for students like Mr. Blanco to pursue career goals and also contribute to the development of the future professional workforce of Guam and the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UOG aims to help its students afford college, in part by matching them with scholarship donors who look at the totality of a student\u2019s character, Enriquez added.<\/p>\n<p>During the interview phase, Blanco showed knowledge of the Micronesia region and the problems the region faces, said Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba, UOG interim senior vice president and provost.<\/p>\n<p>Raised on Saipan, Blanco also highlights his heritage from Chuuk and Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. He is the namesake of his dad, a beloved Saipan lawmaker who passed away after a sudden illness at the age of 44 in 2021. Blanco juggles his job as a legislative policy advisor in vice speaker Tina Muna Barnes\u2019 office and taking academic classes. He faces one more academic year before graduating.<\/p>\n<p>Barnes mentioned Blanco\u2019s role in helping coordinate the recent Association of Pacific Island Legislatures conference as an example of the scholarship awardee\u2019s leadership skills.<\/p>\n<p>Blanco expressed gratitude to his family, mentors, Rotary International District 2750, and for UOG\u2019s support. He aspires to bridge gaps between the islands in the Micronesia region. <strong><em>(UOG)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/c6486dfc8de526ab7a85fc5df74cfcae.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Ivan Blanco, a University of Guam junior in the School of Business and Public Administration, is this year\u2019s Rotary Club of Tokyo-Atago Scholar. From left, Dr. Sharleen Santos Bamba, UOG interim senior vice president and provost; and Dr. Anita Borja Enriquez, UOG president; Blanco; Sen. Tina Muna Barnes, vice speaker; Dr. Lawrence Camacho, dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success; and Mark Duarte, director of the UOG Financial Aid Office; gather for a photo on Nov. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>-UOG<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Guam junior Ivan Sablan Blanco is the new Rotary Club of Tokyo-Atago Scholar&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401762","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\/401762","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}