14 CNMI students visit DC under Close Up program

CNMI participants in the Close Up Insular Areas Program showcase the islands’ unique cultural heritage through song and dance. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS)

Fourteen high school students from both public and private schools in the CNMI joined their peers in other Pacific jurisdictions last May to visit Washington, D.C. under the Close Up Insular Areas Program.

This social studies program is designed to give students and educators an inside look at democracy in action, using the nation’s capitol as a living classroom. Participants get a “close up” view of government interacting with people, processes, and places that make the federal city unique. 

In this year’s edition, the CNMI students were joined by students from American Samoa, Guam, the Federated Stated of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

The U.S. Department of the Interior authorized $1 million to fund the 2019 program.

Selection for the program is a rigorous selection process at the school level that includes an activity point system, essays, debates, and interviews.

Education specialist Claudia Palacios, who is the Public School System’s Social Studies coordinator, said that, for this trip, CNMI students informed their peers of the unique government structure and relationship the CNMI has with the United States, “as well as to showcase our unique cultural heritage through song and dance; about how current issues in the community can be addressed through the lawmaking process, and suggested mental health awareness as an issue they would like addressed for our islands and proposed strategies toward a solution; and visited sites that are of historical importance.” 

“It is my hope that students who participate in the Close Up experience will be more actively involved in civic responsibility and the democratic system, and eventually to be future leaders of the CNMI,” she added.

She stressed that the teacher experience is much more than just chaperoning the students. “Close Up engages teachers in utilizing our nation’s capitol for educational enrichment,” she said.

The trip was also supported by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, first lady Diann T. Torres, Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Delegate Gregorio C. Sablan, Rota Mayor Efraim Atalig, Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan, the Marianas Visitors Authority, Star Sands Plaza-I Love Saipan, the CCLHS teacher team of Koblerville Elementary School, and Christiana Duenas of Marianas High School. (Saipan Tribune)