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PSS counselor of the year is Melanie Sablan
The Public School System Counselor of the Year is Marianas High School’s Melanie Sablan.
She was notified of the award via a surprise visit by the Board of Education and PSS staff last Thursday.
Sablan told the Saipan Tribune that to receive the award is “a prestige and honor.”
“It is the honor of knowing that I have made a difference in a student’s life,” she said. “I firmly believe that is our job to educate our kids no matter what issues or challenges they confront. As a counselor, I play a major role in ensuring the personal and social wellbeing of a child, in order for a child to excel academically and in turn, become college- and career-ready. I must admit that it is a daunting task and no matter how much training I undergo, when the struggle is real for a child, it comes down to maximizing my efforts and doing what best suits the interest of the child.
“I thank God for affording me the opportunity and the ability to help others. It is in this act that I find my greatest reward. I wholeheartedly share this award with all my students and fellow counselors,” she added.
Sablan thanked her daughters, Herminia Kolani and Auriahny Jean, for being the “driving force in life” and making her believe “that I can go beyond my potential.”
She also thanked the CNMI Board of Education and the whole Public School System for its support and for affording her the opportunity “to be a part of the educational lives of our children.”
BOE chair Herman Guerrero said that strengthening the counseling services provided to students has been one of the things they’ve been pushing the last few years.
“One of the thing we have done is to establish additional provisions within PSS,” he said, citing the recent Office of Student and Support Services headed by associated commissioner Yvonne Pangleninan as an example of this.
