FOUR hundred and ninety-five students will begin today a week of preparatory courses that include work ethics and customer relations before proceeding to government and private agencies next week where they will spend summer as job trainees.
“I know this is going to be a good experience, and I get to receive my first paycheck, too,” said Berna Rankin, a 16-year old student of Marianas High School.
Rankin, who has been assigned to the Division of Revenue and Taxation, is just one of the over 1,000 students, parents, teachers and public and private human resource personnel who filled Saipan Diamond Hotel’s ballroom hall on Friday for the program orientation.
The CNMI Workforce Investment Agency’s six-week Summer Youth Employment and Training Program begins today and ends on Aug. 2.
Felix R. Nogis, executive director of WIA, said the government has far exceeded the limit of 300 summer job slots available for Saipan students this year.
Rota and Tinian, however, were able to fill in the allotted 50 slots for each island.
“There were 700 students on Saipan that applied for this year, but the number of those who are considered eligible are 395. We believe the (bad) economy has a lot to do with (the increase in the number of applicants),” Nogis told Variety.
Each youth trainee will be paid $3.50 an hour.
The WIA program gives priority to high school students aged 16 and above who belong to families that have incomes below the poverty guideline.
Tyrone Phillip, a 18-year-old student of Kagman High School, will report to the Emergency Management Office for the duration of the program.
“EMO is a good agency, and I know I’ll be able to enjoy my summer job there,” Phillip said.
Another Kagman High School student, 17-year-old Dexter Dillay, said he is “nervous” about the summer job, but he expects to learn a lot of things as trainee at the Carlsmith Ball law office.
Nogis said WIA was able to request for close to 400 job slots on Saipan from private companies and government agencies.
“WIA is very thankful to private and government offices that provided us slots for our students. We hope they will continue to do so in the next years to come,” said Nogis.
He said due to the CNMI’s current economic conditions, WIA tried to ensure that a lot of the summer job slots were geared toward tourism-related industries.
“Because we are a tourism-based economy, those jobs will benefit the kids in the long haul,” he added.
All summer trainees will be provided insurance by the Workers’ Compensation Commission in the event that work-related injury or illness occurs while undergoing training, Nogis said.
