CONFRONTED by Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic two years later, the Class of 2021 is surely among the toughest high school students in the region.
This year’s graduates of Saipan International School were honored in Saipan World Resort’s Taga Ballroom on Saturday not only for excellently completing their secondary education, but for their resilience during the academic years that were punctuated by two major disasters.
The graduates are:
Eun Bi Choi, member of the National Honor Society and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Frederic Manicdao Guintu, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Zhourui Han, NHS member; Gaeul Kim, NHS member and Advanced Placement Scholar; Guy Yeon Kim, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Wonji Kim, NHS member; Geon Ho Lee, NHS member; Xinshi Liang; Kwangjo Lim; Samantha Liske-Clark, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Ariya Auparakhot-McGuire; Kazuma Nakabayashi; Wonwoo “Mark” Nam, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Yeonkyoung “Eileen” No, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Jason Sablan, NHS member, Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Zi Huan Shan; Jinju Thompson, NHS member and AP Capstone diploma candidate; Maury Zon Tybaco, NHS member; and AP Capstone diploma candidate and Cheng Paul Xiong.
Top graduate
Liske-Clark, who also received the Social Studies Award, is the class valedictorian.
Joining SIS in the 9th grade, she had been part of her school’s volleyball and mock trial teams.
Sam, as she is known to her friends, is most proud of her success in the AP Capstone program. Though she found AP Seminar difficult, Sam improved in her research and presentation skills, making it possible for her to thrive in AP Research. She received the highest mark for her research in the coral nursery during which she had the chance to study coral growth in the waters around Saipan, and discovered that she really loves research.
Mark Nam and Eileen No are the class salutatorians.
A hard working student, Mark Nam was involved in speech and debate, mock trial, Mathcourt, volleyball and basketball. He was also a member of the NHS and the Student Council.
At SIS, everybody knows Eileen No as a charismatic leader who has maintained her academic excellence throughout high school.
She created a permanent regional speech competition for the CNMI students, self-organized and taught summer programs.
Student Council president Frederic “Mac” Guintu was introduced by the high school team leader, Ingur Lee.
Lee described Mac as everything a high schooler should be. “He’s had more fun in four years than anyone else — he was part of the best musical dance, planned the best proms and was the SIS Gecko mascot.”
Guintu is “academically amazing and a part of the founding MUN club. He’s a super math genius, and was awarded a QuestBridge match scholarship to Emory University,” Lee said.
They persevered
In his remarks, school headmaster Dr. Ronald Snyder recalled that after Super Typhoon Yutu battered the island, the students “persevered, meeting under the trees for class and in cafés with study groups.”
He added, “I am sure that they didn’t think that a pandemic would sweep the globe, shutting down the campus during their junior year, forcing them to take their AP exams in the middle of the night.”
But again “they persevered, meeting in chat rooms and Zoom to not only meet their academic and personal goals but to excel at them,” Snyder said.
The members of the Class of 2021, moreover, couldn’t have known that they would spend their senior year behind masks and desk shields “but they persevered.”
The Saipan International School Class of 2021 throw their caps in the air at the conclusion of their graduation ceremony in the Saipan World Resort Taga Ballroom on Saturday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
Saipan International School Class of 2021’s Samantha Liske-Clark delivers her valedictory address.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
