1st SAT prep program attracts more than a hundred

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

More than a hundred high school students trooped to the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe Monday afternoon to participate in a two-day seminar that aimed to prepare students for next year’s Scholastic Aptitude Test, popularly known as SAT.

A brainchild of 16-year-old Roselle Calvo, the SAT preparatory seminar was headlined by guest speaker Jennifer Balakrishnan, a Junior Math major student at the Harvard University. The event was supported by the Youth Congress, the Workforce Investment Agency, Office of the Washington Representative, and the Office of the Governor.

Calvo, a junior student at the Marianas Baptist Academy, said she came up with the idea after learning about the program on Guam. She said she knew that her fellow students and other high schools students could benefit from sessions like this.

“The program aims to teach students SAT strategies and exposure to the current SAT set up,” she said. “The new SAT will comprise an essay section this time.”

Monday’s session focused on verbal skills. It also briefly discussed the new SAT setup effective March 2005. Analogies, more critical reading, eliminating quantitative comparisons, adding advanced algebra, and the essay section that is similar to “SAT II: Writing” were some of the changes in SAT.

Students from Mount Carmel School, Grace Christian Academy, Kagman High Schools, Marianas High School, Marianas Baptist Academy, Tinian High School, Rota High School, Calvary Christian Academy and Hawaii Pacific Academy were some of the schools that participated in the event. The entire Youth Congress also assisted.

Another session was slated yesterday for the Math area with Balakrishnan still as the guest speaker.

Calvo was behind the reading program that she launched last year, inspired in part by an article she read about the low reading skills of students in the CNMI. Now that her reading program is on its feet, she worked on this SAT program seminar.

“I felt relieved and a great burden was taken off my shoulders. This program couldn’t have happened without sponsorships.” She expressed her immense gratitude to the sponsors who helped fly in guest speaker Balakrishnan.

Jesse Stein, director of Workforce Investment Agency, Ana S. Teregeyo from the Office of the Washington Rep., and Guam Sen. Carmen Fernandez also welcomed the attendees to the event.