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NMTI to work with Herman’s Bakery
The Northern Marianas Trades Institute board of directors approved yesterday a memorandum of agreement that will allow NMTI to hold bakery classes at Herman’s Modern Bakery along Airport Road.
With this, NMTI will not have to create a separate facility to provide classes for baking, said NMTI CEO Agnes McPhetres, adding that arrangements like this are common in trade school in the U.S. mainland.
The NMTI board was only able to approve the memorandum of agreement yesterday as the institute was working on the liability policies with Moylan’s Insurance Underwriters, Inc.
McPhetres said this arrangement with Herman’s Modern Bakery will be beneficial to NMTI students as it will provide them an opportunity to work in an actual bakery, with experts in the field.
“The liability insurance is important for the students of NMTI and Herman’s Modern Bakery, as any accidents that were to occur will be covered,” NMTI board vice chair Joe Torres said.
McPhetres said that NMTI currently has about 90 students enrolled in its bakery program. With this new MOA, each of them must obtain liability insurance.
NMTI board chair John Gonzales is excited with this development, saying it opens the opportunity for hotels, restaurants, and bakeries in the CNMI to have a new group of certified bakers that they can tap in the future.
He said this also plays an important role for students as it will give them an opportunity to gain work experience.
Gonzales said it was Herman’s Modern Bakery that offered this partnership with NMTI to allow NMTI students to use its bakery for programs like pastry making, baking, and others.
“We took the opportunity because Herman’s [Modern] Bakery is a pioneer institution that has been serving the CNMI for 75 years,” Gonzales said.
He said NMTI is aware that there will be a void created once the foreign worker program years down the road and that it is their priority to train and educate people who would later fill that void.
This move also expands NMTI’s reach within the private sector: It has worked with Hyatt Regency Saipan and Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan for culinary instructions; their current goal is to expand this partnership with the other hotels on Saipan.
