Chamber holds career exploration day

A total of 84 students with their business leader partners gather together to culminate the 2017 Career Exploration Day by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce yesterday at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort. (Bea Cabrera)

High school juniors and seniors from across the CNMI were paired with business executives for half a day yesterday to give them a firsthand experience on what it is like to be part of the CNMI workforce.

The program, called the 2017 Career Exploration Day, was created by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and gave students a glimpse of how professionals perform their jobs and responsibilities.

It was the first time for Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC to participate in the program. Three students—Justine Rain Kirby and Juli Anne Loong from Kagman High School and Talia Trianni of Grace Christian Academy—were assigned to the Learning and Development and Licensing Department and were given small projects to work on.

“It has been so wonderful, especially since my interest is in business. I was able to learn more about marketing and all the qualifications within the business—what companies look for when they hire—and it has been so informational,” Kirby said.

“I wish it was longer because there is so much to learn and I look forward to more activities like this,” she added.

Ed Arriola of Let’s Go Saipan, which offers tours to exciting trails and historical sites on Saipan, was paired with Arcen Obando Marianas High School and Joo Young Kim Grace Christian Academy, both seniors.

“We showed them how to interact with the customers. We are fortunate one of our students (Kim) speaks Korean that she was able to help our Korean customers this morning,” he said.

Arriola said this program is also a learning experience for the business community.

“This is beneficial for both parties. I like them so much that I got their contact information and have them try each of our products so that they will be able to teach us how to market these products to their ‘age group,’” he said.

“We love to keep our business growing. [We want] to know what their age group likes, what makes them tick and what makes them buy stuff. It’s a learning experience for the students and us,” he added,

SCC executive director Jill Arenovski said, “We encourage these students to seek employment on these islands to fill our needed vacancies and to keep in mind the Chamber Scholarship program that gives a minimum of $12,000 each year to deserving students.”

The 2017 Career Exploration Day program started 8am and ended noon.

The other companies that participated were 360 Restaurant, AC Pacific-I Love Saipan, Bank of Guam, BankPacific, Chelu Photos, CNMI Small Business Development Center, D&Q Saipan, Delta Management, T-Galleria, Docomo Pacific, Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan, First Hawaiian Bank, Gutterridge, Haskins, & Davey, Hyatt Regency Saipan, IT&E, Joeten Enterprises, Kanoa Resort, McDonald’s Saipan, MP Holdings LLC, N15 Architects, Northern Marianas International School, No Ka Oi, Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc., Paradise Dental Center, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Saipan Seventh Day Adventist School, Saipan Tribune, TanHoldings, and Xerox Corp.

Schools that participated are Grace Christian Academy, Kagman High School, Marianas High School, Mount Carmel High School, and Saipan Southern High School.