Saipan Rotary holds Vocational Summit

The Saipan Rotary Club will hold a half-day Vocational Summit for the islands’ young adults tomorrow at the Aqua Resort Club.

Vocational committee chair Ben Babauta said the summit is in line with the club’s mission to assist local youth in achieving their goals by pursuing vocational fields. The summit will start at 8:30am and will end at 11:45am, with a light buffet for participants.

Speakers for the summit include Rotary Club president Jim Whitt, Windsock Saipan, Inc.’s James Thomas, Merchant Maritime’s Jason Schakwiler and Fred Reiman, Workforce Investment Agency director Jesse Stein, and CNMI Auto Dealers Association’s Jay Jones.

Babauta said the Rotary Club is hoping to connect with participants through an open dialogue with educators where obstacles that stand in the way of having a successful vocational agenda can be identified.

“We hope to assist in removing some or all obstacles where feasible for the Rotary Club of Saipan to do so.”

Other guests in the event would be Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos, public school principals in the CNMI, and Rep. Justo Quitugua.

Thomas earlier said the lack of vocational training schools in the CNMI is the main reason why local companies have to look outside the Commonwealth to acquire skilled laborers. He said this should be changed if the CNMI wants to improve its local employment numbers.

The 12-year business veteran, who runs Windsock Saipan Inc., said during the weekly meeting of the Saipan Rotary Club in July that, the island is producing either an unskilled or semi-skilled labor force.

“[The] big factor is that there is no training available here,” he said, though he was quick to add that he is not making a generalization about the education system in the CNMI, but only on the vocational aspect of it.

Thomas said he is concerned with the technical skills of the workforce in the CNMI as there is no local certification training school. The CNMI still has to answer to the certification requirement of U.S. laws. For example he said, a welder must be certified under U.S. law.

Training is almost impossible to get on this island and there is no certified electrician or certified plumber on the island who had acquired the certification locally. He said he would not be surprised if one goes to a car shop and one’s vehicle is not fixed right the first time around.