PSS co-op program looking for more company partners

Public School System interim cooperative education program coordinator Christopher A. Tenorio encouraged companies to join their Co-op Program to improve student education and training through workforce experience at the Society of Human Resource Management-NMI Chapter monthly meeting held at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan last Thursday.
(Frauleine Villanueva-Dizon)

The Cooperative Education Program of the Public School System continues to seek partners in the Commonwealth to improve student education and training through workforce experience.

Interim cooperative education program coordinator Christopher A. Tenorio spoke at the Society for Human Resource Management-NMI Chapter monthly meeting last Thursday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan.

Tenorio provided an introduction to the program and how it helps develop student core academic skills through application in real work situations. He also presented how working with the program can assist in building capacity in the youth workforce.

“The purpose of the program is to build capacity in our workforce through work-based training,” Tenorio said.

“We want to make sure that the students, they don’t forget the value of hard work, they don’t forget the value of having a job, coming from humble beginnings and learning what it takes to get to the top,” he added.

The co-op program is a student-internship program that integrates classroom instruction with planned and supervised work experience which allows students to effectively gain work experience prior to graduation.

It is composed of the on-campus Cooperative Education where students participate in completing resumes, applications, interviews, personal development, related field trips and other projects and the off-campus Cooperative Training where students gain work experience by participating as a “trainee” in a business organization. 

Tenorio said close to 400 junior and senior high school students participate in the co-op program every semester and they have about 81 companies in Saipan, Tinian, and Rota who are partners in the program.

They have a wide array of partners, but most of the companies are in the hotel and hospitality, food and beverage, retail, law offices, administrative work areas as well as government agencies.

“We always open our doors to different companies that come in and learn about the program,” Tenorio said, “We just want to make sure, because these are youth workers, that they don’t participate in hazardous work.”

Marianas High School’s Christine Anlinzo and Anabel Manzo shared how the co-op has helped them to discover more about the career they want to pursue in the future and encouraged companies to take part. Anlinzo worked at the DFS Galeria as the assistant of general manager, while Manzo worked at Robert Torres’ law office.

“You have a chance to invest your time. You have the chance to leave a legacy, to make a mark. You have a chance to make a difference in the lives of young adults of our island for the next generation and who best to train them than our leaders now?” Anlizo, who will be going to Arizona to study business management and administration, said.

“You never know the students you take in may just be the ones who will sit on your seats later down the road,” she added.

Tenorio added that education is also a community effort.

“I’m always looking for partnership. This is a collaborative effort. Education is not something that only the Public School System is responsible for. This is a community effort so I’d like to encourage companies who are interested in investing in students, companies who are interested in possibly improving the efficiency of their company to reach out to me and give me a call,” Tenorio said.