PSS’ Ada and Taylor visit NMTech’s Trading Up classes

Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada of the CNMI Public School System and Dr. Jessica Taylor, director of PSS Career & Technical Education, pose with Da’ok Academy students who are enrolled at the Northern Marianas Technical Institute campus in Lower Base. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada of the CNMI Public School System and Dr. Jessica Taylor, who is the director of PSS Career & Technical Education, recently visited Da’ok Academy students at the Northern Marianas Technical Institute campus in Lower Base to check on how a dual PSS-NMTech program is going.

The two PSS officials met with a group of students from PSS Da’ok Academy who are enrolled in the Trading Up program and learned how they are progressing with their courses at NMTech.

The “Trading Up” Program—a collaboration between PSS and NMTech—is a dual enrollment program where interested PSS students enroll in NMTech classes and receive credit toward graduation and, upon completion of any construction course, alo get a nationally recognized certificate from the National Center for Construction and Education Research, among some of the accredited programs that are offered at NMTech.

A group of 12 students from PSS Da’ok Academy are enrolled in the Trading Up: Construction Craft Laborer program. Students are exposed to postsecondary instructional settings and workshops at the NMTech campus four times a week until completion of the following modular programs: Introduction to Power Tools, Introduction to Construction Drawings, Basic Employability Skills, Properties of Concrete, Building Materials, Fasteners, and Adhesives.

Starting even younger, a class of 17 students from Tanapag Middle School are enrolled in the Trading Up: CORE Fundamentals program—a prerequisite for all NCCER construction courses offered at NMTech. Students as young as 13 learn about Basic Safety, Introduction to Construction Math, Introduction to Hand Tools, Basic Communication Skills, and Orientation to the trade.

“This class helped me pass my ASVAB test. Some of the things I learned here were on the ASVAB and I knew the answers,” said one of the students, MJ, who is a senior at Da’ok Academy.

“This class is preparing us for the real world so we could have something in our life in the future. The things we’ve learned are things that we could use everyday,” said another student, Taisei, who is also a senior at Da’ok Academy.

Both classes started on Oct.26, 2022, which was the beginning of the second quarter and will continue until students have completed the required modules to earn a national certification. (PR/Saipan Tribune)