Gabionza to further studies in hospitality industry

While he has already started a career in the hospitality industry, Maximina Gabionza is looking to further her studies and widen her knowledge about lifeblood of the CNMI.

She is now working at Kanoa Resort after completing a certification program given by Latte Training Academy.

LTA, in partnership with the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute, has already given out more than 100 globally recognized certificates since 2014 to high school seniors that completed the hospitality program.

Last Thursday night at Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall, LTA handed another 61 certificates to high school seniors from Kagman (20), Marianas (19), and Saipan Southern (22) high schools. This is the fifth group that completed the said program.

Gabionza, who graduated from SSHS, and MHS’ Pavan Hemlani were one of two alumnae of the program. They were the guest speakers of the certification ceremony of Cohort 5.

Now that she has a job in one of the hotels on Saipan, Gabionza said that she doesn’t want to stay only in one department but would like to explore and learn the other areas of the industry where she works.

“I want to go to and try different departments. But I would like to concentrate more in the food and beverage department. Go out and learn new things in my line of work,” said Gabionza, who added that she also plans to study at Northern Marianas College.

NMC offers an associate in Applied Science in Hospitality Management but another option is to take specialty courses given by Island Training Solutions president Jim Arenovski.

She said completing the AHLEI program was hard since you have to take it for one whole semester, three hours a day, and three times a week.

“That was in my senior year. You really have a lot of effort that you need to put in to complete the program. Time management got me through since I was finishing up my classes and the hospitality program,” Gabionza said.

She was glad that she survived since both of her finals were done the same day.

Kagman’s Riana Ignacia Sablan Nauta completed the program with honors, while Jia Wen “Jacky” Chen, John Fabian, Marla Mettao, Angel Mar Pamintuan, and Kayleen Salle duplicated the feat for MHS.

Miller James Bundoc, Mike Carreon, Jackyrie Castro, Sam Esturas, and Bruce Ong earned their certificates with honors for SSHS.

The AHLEI certification course is provided in cooperation with LTA and the CNMI Public School System. PSS funds the program where 25 students each from KHS, MHS, and SSHS can be admitted. The program started with 17 students from the three high schools in 2014.

Larry Lee, Tyce Mister, and Kanae Quinn were the instructors for KHS, MHS, and SSHS, respectively.