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42 students participate in Mentor for a Meal
The Marianas Young Professionals hosted its 10th and largest Mentor for a Meal event last Monday.
According to organizer Gerard Van Gils, this year’s event was the largest one yet that he organized, with the participation of about 42 students and 42 mentors. The event was held at the Naked Fish in Oleai.
The concept is to pair a mentor with a high school student. The mentor and the student share a meal and the mentor is given the opportunity to share advice, life lessons, and stories.
Van Gil said the students involved in Mentor for a Meal are either preparing to pursue higher education, or are preparing to enter the CNMI workforce.
Van Gil said that public school students are equipped to transition smoothly into the professional community.
“Yesterday was a real victory for public education…public education is the great equalizer and our public schools are the centers of our community so what we’re doing is we’re bringing our public school students to interact with our professional community and everybody wins,” he said.
The professionals involved in Monday night’s Mentor for a Meal came from the government sector, private sector, businesses, and more. The mentors were engineers, CEOs, accountants, doctors, lawyers, legislators, etc.
The 42 participating students came from Saipan Southern High School, Marianas High School, and Kagman High School.
