The center offers productive activities such as sports, arts, fitness and health to students after their classes, especially during summer.
Every Friday, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., children at the center learn about the basic techniques of table tennis thanks to volunteer teacher Pastor Ahn Iek Hyun of the Mission Aviation Organization, a church in San Antonio.
“The older kids pretty much enjoy the games,” said Vernon Lee I. Manglona, Koblerville Youth Learning Center youth affairs representative and program coordinator.
The program inspires the youth to aspire to become a better, if not the best, player, he added.
Iekhyun also brings professional ping-pong players from Korea to teach the children.
At least 14 students are attending the class.
Manglona said they also have Korean language classes every Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. with Pastor Daeyong Daniel Huh and wife Jenny Beck as teachers.
“It’s good that they give local residents a taste of their language to give us a better understanding about their culture,” Manglona added.
PDM Promoters Inc., for its part, provides Awaodori dance lessons at the center.
Misako Kamata, PDM director, has been very active with the Saipan Awaodori Team, teaching local children how to perform the Japanese cultural dance every Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Manglona said the local Awaodori team usually comprises of dancers who enrolled at the center. Shunsuke Katagiri and Mayumi Suzuki from PDM Promoters Inc. are the instructors.
The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library is also very supportive.
It brings the mobile library to the center and presents videos while offering tutoring and other educational services.
Manglona said all programs at the center are free. “We try to accommodate the children to give them more time in a beneficial learning atmosphere.”
Michael Manglona, special assistant for youth affairs, said most of the materials, equipment and resources available at the center were acquired through donations.
The teachers of the different programs volunteer their skills and expertise, he added.
He lauded the initiative of the center’s coordinator for attending to the needs of the children.
Vernon Lee I. Manglona said due to the rising crime rate on island, most especially among the youth, the center was established to help reduce negative influences.
“We hopefully try to eliminate them as much as possible,” he said.
The center plays a major aspect in the “enhancement of young and growing minds by taking part in the prevention of substance abuse, alcohol abuse, and gang-related crimes,” he said.
It is because of the belief in the youth that the center opens its door year-round to work together with parents and schools to help empower the youth to become better individuals, he added.
The center is a government after-school program and is free of charge to all registered individuals from the Koblerville community and its surrounding area as well as to interested parents who would want their child to participate, Vernon Lee I. Manglona said.
The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday to Friday, except legal holidays.
Vernon Lee I. Manglona thanked the donors and volunteers who have contributed this year to the center and its registrants: parents and students, Evelyn Saures Hermosilla, the longest-serving volunteer from 2008 up to the present, Arnold Jason H. Lazaro, Sabrina N. Siren, Faustino Litulumar, Gina K. Somorang, Stevielyn Iguel Muna, Sohny J. Bautista, Marlon Borito, Pilar Anastacio, Geraldine Imperial, Sheena K. Saures and Arnold Mesa.
The donors are the Koblerville Neighborhood Watch members Juan Reyes, Thomas and Sue Sablan, Julian and Alice Taman, Rose Ada Hocog and family, Joseph A. Imperial, the Office of the Governor, Special Assistant for Youth Affairs Office Michael C. Manglona, CNMI Fire and EMS Association, Kimpachi Restaurant and the Department of Labor.
