Alpino, now studying pre-medicine courses at the Philadelphia University, said being denied the CNMI Honors Scholarship came as a big shock to her and her family.
“We worked extremely hard to appeal the original decision, but unfortunately, things did not work out the way we wanted it to,” she said in an email to Variety yesterday.
She said that although she didn’t qualify, she will remain hopeful as there are many other opportunities available for her.
“With the moral support of my parents, friends and the rest of my family, I am confident that I can make it through college even with this extra financial burden. I believe that everyone struggles and for me as well,” she said.
On Nov. 11, CNMI Scholarship Office chairman Kodep Ogumoro-Ulodong informed Alpino about its decision to deny her appeal.
Her father, Arthur Alpino sent an appeal on Sept. 28 requesting the CNMI Scholarship Advisory Board to reevaluate the computation used by the CNMI Scholarship Office in determining her daughter’s rank.
Ogumoro-Ulodong said that upon careful review of their calculations and ranking methods, the CNMI Scholarship Advisory Board stands by its original decision.
“Under our selection criteria, you did not receive a ranking high enough to be awarded one of the two Rota Honors Scholarships awarded by our office,” Ogumoro-Ulodong said in his letter to Katelyn Alpino.
The decision further said that “It is important to note that our rules are separate from the criteria PSS uses to award the class valedictorian.”
The Scholarship Advisory Board consider the applicant’s cumulative GPA for all terms combined, inclusive of advanced placement and non-core elective courses, Ogumoro-Ulodong said.
He said that many people in Tinian and Rota communities still mistakenly assume that the class valedictorian and salutatorian are automatically awarded the honors scholarship.
He added that this assumption is understandable as the former law, the post secondary education scholarship of 1990, awarded the honors scholarship directly to the valedictorian and salutatorian in Tinian and Rota.
“This law was amended by Public Law 14-37, which set additional criteria for applicants and eliminated the automatic awarding of the honors scholarship to the valedictorian and salutatorian from Rota and Tinian,” he said.
For his part, Arthur Alpino said with the scholarship issue affecting his daughter, it opened the eyes of the general public including the lawmakers.
However, he added nothing has been done to correct the “wrong doings.”
“We are saddened by the outcome. We are robbed, deprived of rights. In time, justice will be served,” he said.
