The 10 Da’ok Academy students hold their IC3 Spark certificates as they pose for a photo with Island Training Solutions President Jim Arenovski, third left, Public School System Career & Technical Education Program Manager Jessica Taylor, fifth right, Da’ok Academy Principal Christine Tudela, right, and Da’ok Academy teacher Taj Van Vuuren during a graduation party at Da’ok Academy in Koblerville on Tuesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
TEN students of Da’ok Academy excelled in IC3 Digital Literacy Spark, a certification course that covers essential digital literacy topics for students.
Formerly known as the alternative education program of the Public School System, Da’ok Academy provides a supportive educational pathway for students who face challenges in the standard high school system.
Before receiving their certifications, each of the 10 students gave a PowerPoint presentation on the technology basics they learned, shared their experiences throughout the course, highlighted their favorite parts, and offered feedback on areas they felt could be improved.
The certification courses were provided by Island Training Solutions at all high schools and Da’ok Academy in partnership with PSS and its federally funded Career & Technical Education Program. ITS is a local provider of education, workforce and professional development initiatives.
According to Da’ok Academy Principal Christine Tudela, more than 30 Da’ok students have completed the courses over the three-year partnership with ITS. In total, across all high schools, over 200 students have earned certifications in financial literacy and digital literacy.
The Da’ok students who completed the IC3 Spark course this year were Princess Debengek, Jasper Helson, Sentine Kaipat, Nathalie Matsunaga, Owen Quitugua, Clancy Ramangmou, Jayanna Ruiz, Jared Suares, Jeran Tudela and Lourese Faisao.
In her presentation, Debengek said that at first, she wasn’t sure what to expect from the GMetrix site — one of the learning tools in IC3 Spark. But she said it ended up being “super organized and helpful.”
Tudela said, “We are always so proud of the success that the students make each year, every semester and every day.”
She said it is a point of pride to see any Da’ok student seize the opportunity and succeed in class.
She noted that the students are very interested in digital technology.
“It’s not easy to know where you want to go in life, especially in high school nowadays…. They just want to try so many other things. But just having that opportunity [to learn about digital technology] shows that we are achieving our goal of providing [students] with those opportunities,” Tudela said.
ITS Chief Operating Officer Alex Hu said a 100% pass rate is an amazing result. The Da’ok students completed technological projects, and learned about technology basics, software, hardware and operating systems, he added.
The students’ feedback is also very valuable to ITS, Hu said, “because it helps us improve for next semester and provide students with what they want to learn.”
