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$95K budget for JSA requested
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Posted on May 06 2005
A budget of at least $95,550 is being requested by the Mount Carmel School Junior Statesmen of America Local Chapter for this year’s JSA program.
Mt. Carmel JSA Chapter president Matthew Owen Deleon Guerrero wrote last week to Gov. Juan N. Babauta, House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, and Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano detailing the breakdown of the budget.
In his letter, Guerrero said that the CNMI currently has 33 students accepted to the 2005 JSA summer session. These students are both from Saipan and Rota and three of them are receiving full scholarship from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
He said each student would have to spend at least $6,000 for the JSA and $3,675 is allotted for the tuition expenses alone. Guerrero said individual participants and their families normally pay for the airfare and other costs associated with their JSA participation.
Guerrero said he is appealing to lawmakers that JSA be appropriated and funded for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. He said the JSA is an educational program that allows high school students to attend summer college courses and experience real college life during their sophomore and junior years, or the summer before their junior and senior years.
He also said high school students are given the option of applying in several prestigious universities including Stanford University, Princeton University, Yale University, Northwestern University, and Georgetown University.
Guerrero said he is confident that the lawmakers would again appropriate a budget for the good cause of the program. He said throughout the years the CNMI government has funded the JSA program, allowing several CNMI youth to achieve a higher level of education.
He said he himself is thankful for the support of the local government, which enabled him to attend Stanford University last summer.
Guerrero said the program has been providing opportunities to students to develop their leadership skills abilities, while deepening their understanding and commitment to the American system of law and the democratic form of government.
