CNMI education and government officials on Monday honored the 365 graduating members of Marianas High School’s Class of 2022.
Joining the ceremony at MHS campus at 4 p.m. were Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Board of Education Chairman Gregory Borja, BOE member Maisie B. Tenorio, BOE Vice Chairman Antonio L. Borja, Non-Public School Representative Ronald Snyder, Education Commissioner Alfred Ada, Reps. Tina Sablan, Leila Staffler, Joseph Leepan Guerrero and Corina Magofna.
The Class of 2022 valedictorian is Perpetua Jasmine Magcalas Garcia while the salutatorian is Vivien Liu.
Garcia’s parents are Edwin and Rosalie Garcia. Liu’s parents are Jun Liu and Hong Mei Xu.
Also the recipient of the Board of Education Award, Garcia will attend the Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga, northwest of Manila, the Philippines where she will study nursing.
Liu, a recipient of the 2022 Commissioner of Education Award, will head to Amherst College in Massachusetts to study computer science and law, jurisprudence and social thought.
The rest of the top 10
The Top 3 student is Jieun Yang who will study nursing at Northern Marianas College; Top 4 is Joanah Victoria Bartolome Jimenez who will attend De La Salle University in Manila and pursue a career in civil engineering; Top 5 is Shu Qi Wu who will go to Santa Monica College in California to major in pharmacy; Top 6 is Christina Kim who will study biomedical engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois; Top 7 are Arisa Iseyama Custodio who will attend the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Jerawn Christopher Camacho Joyner who will attend Rice University in Texas; Top 8 is Seung Won Lee who will attend the University of Minnesota; Top 9 is Lizzie Joy Del Rosario Manabat who will study nursing at Berea College in Kentucky; and Top 10 is Jigger Zyrus Manalo Parayaoan who will study political science at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Special awards
Receiving the Governor’s Leadership Award was Youth Sen. Easton Joel Cabrera Dela Cruz. The Lt. Governor’s Leadership Award went to Jigger Zyrus Manalo Parayaoan while this year’s Mayor’s awardee is Rownel Jody Valladolid Coloma.
The Outstanding Female Graduate is the valedictorian, Perpetua Garcia; the Principal’s Awardee is Izeah Napu Rocky Santos; while the Dolphin Award went to Jerry Oscar Mettao.
Receiving the Department Content Area Awards are the graduates who have worked diligently over the course of four years and have earned the distinguished honor of being the best in their respective subject areas.
Liu and Joyner received the Language Arts Award; Haonan Zhou and Ydrane Lizama Sanje, Language other than English Award; Adbiel Reginio Carandang and Joanah Victoria Jimenez, Mathematics Award; Jimenez and Christian Kim, Science Award; Lie and Joyner, Social Studies Award; Gabriel Kwamena Arkoh and Raven John Prado Francisco, Physical Education Award; Heart Mariel Mojica De Luna and Earl Lawrence Gonzales Salamat, JROTC Award; Morgiana Rosario Iakopo Alepuyo and Arisa Iseyama Custodio, Career Technical Education Award.
Receiving the Premier Distinction Award was Jonathan Wolf. The award is given to the highest achieving and excelling student who competed in National Speech and Debate Association of America events. The award is very rare and is only given to less than 1% of graduating students. It is the highest award a student can earn from the honor society.
Never ending strength, spirit and love
In her valedictory address, Perpetua Garcia noted the Class of 2022’s “never ending strength, never ending spirit and never ending love.”
“The Class of 2022 is not pretty,” she said. “We as a class have our own flaws. Our own storms. We are not the most book-perfect class we can be.”
She added, “From what I know, we are the first ever class to never experience a complete school year. We had Super Typhoon Yutu in our freshman year, the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of the sophomore year, which eventually stretched all the way up to now, our senior year.”
But she said they never let all those things affect their class, and no matter how many challenges were thrown at them, they adjusted, and made the past four years memorable.
None of them, she said, would be at the graduation ceremony “without our loved ones.” She thanked her parents, Edwin and Rosalie Garcia, her brothers Eric, Earl and James. She thanked all her teachers and counselors who have always guided her to the right path “even when my goals seem to be far.”
She also thanked the Class of 2022 leadership team whose accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible without the collective hard work, patience, energy, sweat and tears throughout the past four years. She likewise thanked her friends.
“Each and every one of you are incredible, amazing. I wish all of you an amazing rest of the ceremony, evening and future,” Garcia said.
‘Advice’ from the salutatorian
In her salutatorian speech, Vivien Liu said she learned the following things at MHS:
“(1) Trust nobody. Especially when they tell you, falsely, that you can expect to have the same counselor for all four years of high school. If I had a penny for every time I got assigned a new counselor, I’d be wealthy enough to purchase 4/99ths of a 99-cent coffee. (2) And I’ll be serious this time: talk to people. Conventional wisdom may suggest that talking to like-minded people will result in the most pleasant conversations, which for all intents and purposes is probably a lot of times. But when I think back to the conversations I’ve had with complete strangers, Joe Rogan style, I’m always humbled and I’m always reminded of just how little I know.”
She admitted that she still “don’t understand” the following things at MHS: “(1) Our school bell. Why is it not a bell? My first day on campus, I thought to myself, ‘Now, why is MHS doing a fire drill at 8 in the morning?’ Obviously, it turns out it was not a fire. Worse, it was first period! (joke); (2) The mirrors. The MHS girls’ restrooms, infamously, do not have mirrors, while the boys’ do. I don’t know why this is the case. In fact, I’ve interviewed several students and staff about this bizarre MHS-specific phenomenon, and nobody can seem to tell me exactly why this is!”
Resilience, relationship, gratitude
MHS Principal Jonathan Aguon M.Ed., in his remarks, said despite the interruptions of typhoons and the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the years, “you, Mighty Dolphins, made the most of your experiences at MHS.”
Aguon then shared three lessons with the graduates: “One is the importance of resilience — to strive through tough times on the faith and determination that things will get better. And you did. Two is the importance of relationships even as we lost personal connections, covering our faces with masks, and started social distancing. Third is the importance of gratitude. While it is easy to feel down that your high school experience was not what you imagined, let’s shift that perspective to one of appreciation and gratitude. Therefore, we have an activity to practice a little bit of gratitude.”
Determination and dedication
In his remarks, Board of Education Chairman Gregory Pat Borja commended the members of the Class of 2022 for their determination and dedication.
“Not only have you endured your four years of high school, which is no easy feat; you have done so under extraordinary circumstances. You all have been challenged by typhoons, pandemic, and the chore of remote learning during the last few years of your education, but you made it.”
Borja added, “You and your peers in the [Public School System] have shown what can be accomplished when you show your determination and dedication in reaching your educational goals.”
Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred B. Ada said for the Class of 2022, high school was no walk in the park.
“Half of your high school journey was a rollercoaster ride due to the worldwide pandemic. We are now making our way toward normalcy in our community: booster shots are available, face masks are becoming optional, and drive-thru ceremonies are long gone,” Ada added.
“Here you are today showing us how to be strong, how to endure, and how to adapt to any situation you are faced with — because you have been down that road before,” Ada said.
The MHS Class of 2022’s Top 10 students, from left: Jigger Zyrus Manalo Parayaoan, Lizzie Joy Del Rosario Manabat, Seung Won Lee, Jerawn Christopher Camacho Joyner, Arisa Iseyama Custodio, Shu Qi Wu, Joanah Victoria Bartolome Jimenez, Jieun Yang, Vivien Liu and Perpetua Jasmine Magcalas Garcia. Also in photo are Board of Education Chairman Gregory Borja, BOE members Antonio Borja, Maisie Tenorio, and Ron Snyder, non-public school representative.
Marianas High School Class of 2022 valedictorian Perpetua Jasmine Magcalas Garcia delivers her valedictory address during the graduation ceremony at MHS on Monday.
Class of 2022 salutatorian Vivien Liu delivers her address
Premier Distinction awardee Jonathan Wolf, center, with MHS Principal Jonathan Aguon, second left, Vice Principals Romolo Orsini, left, Melanie Rdiall, second right, and Preston Basa, right.
