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Over 170 students graduate from NMTI
The Northern Marianas Trades Institute certified over 170 individuals last Friday during the school’s graduation ceremony at the Koblerville Gymnasium. Certificates of completion were awarded to students who completed the trade school’s GED program (a high school program for adults), plus automotive technology, culinary arts, construction trades, and hotel and restaurant operations programs.
NMTI chief executive officer Agnes McPhetres said this means these students now have the opportunity and are empowered to join the Commonwealth’s workforce.
Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan general manager Wendi Herring, who was the keynote speaker, focused on encouraging students to stay on their chosen path, to be prepared for the challenges that life will throw at them, and to take action—being the future of the CNMI who will play a vital role not only in the hotel industry but in other industries in the CNMI.
“Start now, start with fear, start with pain, start with doubt, start with handshaking…start but don’t stop and keep going,” Herring told the students.
Grace Suda, who received her GED and was chosen by the graduating students to speak on their behalf, thanked NMTI for giving her a second chance and promised to keep striving and aim to build a profession in culinary arts.
NMTI board chair John Oliver Gonzales thanked the CNMI government for providing NMTI the support needed to “advocate for the future of the CNMI” through Public Law 20-92, which made NMTI a government entity. Gonzales also thanked the Public School System for opening its doors and providing its students the opportunity to see what NMTI has to offer for them, as a combined total of 111 high school students from Kagman High School, Marianas High School, and Saipan Southern High School received certificates under the Hotel and Restaurant Operations program
“Failure is no longer an option, success is our ultimate goals and it is what matters,” Gonzales told the graduates.
