Mia Sablan, originally from Saipan, is a graduate of Arizona State University. She founded IslandHer Rising as a way to close the opportunity gap for the CNMI’s young women.
The IslandHer Rising logo.
STARTING Aug. 5, the IslandHer Rising College and Career Prep Fellowship will accept applications from incoming female high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Saipan public schools, IslandHer Rising founder Mia Sablan said.
A Marianas High School alumna who holds a degree from Arizona State University and is a strategic sourcing analyst in Arizona, Sablan said the application process ends Sept. 9. The accepted applicants will be notified by Sept. 23, Sablan said.
The fellowship is designed to provide “comprehensive information about two-year and four-year undergraduate programs, guide students in creating a pathway toward a career of their interest, and offer valuable insights on how to prepare for college applications,” Sablan said.
The program aims to “educate, prepare, and inspire rising female Pacific Islanders,” according to its official website.
Sablan said that, when accepted, fellows will have access to a professionally curated college preparatory guide that lays out various milestones to ensure they become competitive applicants to universities.
She said fellows will have access to monthly college and career readiness coaching opportunities. The fellows will also have access to live, virtual panel discussions that bring together successful Pacific Islanders, who will speak on a variety of topics to include test-taking tips, extracurricular activities, how to navigate college off island, and much more, Sablan said.
She said one goal of the fellowship is to use the coaching sessions and community space as a way to increase the confidence of those in the program.
“We want to ensure that we give them the tools to feel confident with the decision they make for their future after high school,” Sablan said.
Applicants may be accepted even if they do not have a dedicated career picked out for when they eventually graduate college.
If the fellows decide university is not for them, they can still use the coaching to successfully access resources that can benefit them in their career path, Sablan said.
The application will go live on the IslandHer Rising website, islandherrising.com/.
A news list is available on the site to notify interested parties about the launch of the fellowship application process.
Applicants “must identify as female” and Pacific Islander, or “identify as female and currently a permanent resident of the CNMI,” Sablan said.
For this first iteration of the fellowship, IslandHer Rising is selecting incoming 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students at MHS, Saipan Southern High School and Kagman High School.
Sablan said future fellowship opportunities will be open to students on Tinian and Rota, as well as high school students from private schools.
The application will be available only online and will require an official school transcript, basic personal information about the applicant, and responses to three short questions.
“We’re not looking for who have the most eloquent writing,” Sablan said. “We’re looking for the content, and we’re utilizing that to really understand the applicant — whether they align with our mission, as well as if they have shown an interest in developing themselves.”
She said she began the IslandHer Rising organization based on her collegiate experience at Arizona State University. She said she noticed that her college peers had more exposure to resources that could help high school students be successful in college.
“I personally have experienced this opportunity gap where, growing up compared to these folks, they had resources that I wasn’t familiar with,” she said, referring to private college consultants, tutoring services, SAT prep, and more.
“That’s just the start. In addition to that, a lot of them have established a network from individuals they know who have worked in [professional] fields. They’re more exposed to people in the workforce and people in leadership,” she said. “Our goal is to bring the resources out [to the CNMI], especially because we have a team in the mainland and bring the resources back to our fellows. I’m trying to open up opportunities for women back home, trying to ensure that there are more available to them that they have access to.”
