From left, Mark Alvaro, Aiden Montes, Samantha Calub, and Kyle Trinidad pose for a group photo at the rehearsal for their NMTech awards ceremony scheduled for June 15.
73 Public School System students will receive awards from the Northern Marianas Technical Institute on June 15 for completing the “Trading Up: Hospitality” dual enrollment program.
Ben Babauta, NMTech marketing and outreach coordinator, said the program allows the students to receive the same hospitality curriculum offered under NMTech courses. In addition, they receive relevant certificates, and can count their experiences as a PSS co-op credit, elective credit, or career and technical education credit.
Babauta said these classes came at no cost to students, who underwent a combination of in-class and on-the-job training experience.
Hannah Blanco, marketing assistant at Island Training Solutions, worked alongside NMTech with the students. She said the participating hotels were the Pacific Islands Club, LaoLao Bay Golf & Resort, Aqua Resort Club, World Resort Saipan, Saipan Surfrider Resort, and Crowne Plaza Resort.
Blanco called the program a “win for our youth, the tourism industry, the local workforce, and the community as a whole.”
“We’ve trained our youth and also taught them about our main industry, hospitality tourism, while introducing the students to our workforce,” Blanco added.
At the conclusion of the program, Babauta said students who passed the exit examination will receive a certification from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute.
Mark Alvaro, who just graduated from Marianas High School, is one of the program participants. He plans to go to the University of Guam and work in the medical field, but he said the Trading Up: Hospitality program is still something that can help his future.
“I’ll have this on my résumé,” Alvaro said, adding that should he need a job while a student on Guam, he can fall back on the training and certification he received in the Trading Up: Hospitality program.
He said the program is beneficial to high school students.
Samantha Calub, another member of the MHS Class of 2023, said like Alvaro, she wants to work in the medical industry. However, she recognizes that there is an opportunity to bring the skills she learned in the Trading Up: Hospitality program into her future role as a nurse.
Another participating student, Aiden Montes, said he enjoyed the experience of “shadowing” industry employees.
“They made us learn all the positions in the hospitality program,” Montes said, adding that if he gets hired at a hotel he’d like to be in recreation or front desk.
Kyle Trinidad is a waiter at a restaurant in Garapan and has some experience in the food and beverage and tourism industries.
He graduated from high school this year but started his job while he was a junior.
“This program opened up a new path for me,” Trinidad said. He now wants to pursue hospitality management.
