‘Road to Resilience’ is theme of PSS’ two-day youth conference

The Public School System held its Annual Youth Conference with the theme “Road to Resilience” yesterday and Tuesday, beginning with the Middle School Youth Conference on Tuesday, March 22, from 8:30am to 1:00pm at the Kensington Hotel Saipan’s Kensington Hall and the High School Youth Conference yesterday, Wednesday, March 23, also at the Kensington Hall.

In compliance with COVID-19 safety guidelines, guest numbers were limited and the conference’s breakout sessions took place in multiple rooms inside Kensington Hall.

For this year, Tinian’s youth conference is yet to be decided and the theme is “Grow, Grow, Stallions. Rota’s youth conference is scheduled for Friday, April 29, 2022.

According to Elfriede Suda, State Personal Responsibility Education program coordinator, the conference is “an annual youth conference where PREP, a Teenage Pregnancy Program with CNMI Public School Systems through the Office of Students and Support Services, coordinates positive youth development activities such as the youth conference.”

She said PREP coordinates the event with advisers of the Youth Advisory Panel (a student-led group in every school) and student leaders and pairs them with the varying PSS Programs, Office of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning Education and Mental Health, and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for the presentations that were the skeleton of the two days, said Suda.

A prerecorded video of inspirational speaker Thomas Manglona II was presented during the conference, where he encourages the youth to “ask questions, ask a lot of them. Ask questions that might be uncomfortable, but mostly that challenge the status quo…on topics of inclusion, self-care, our role in society…that can help us have a healthier mind, a healthier body, and will lead to a healthier you.”

During the conferences’ breakout sessions, student leaders from their respective middle schools and high schools presented—with the guidance of participating community partners. 

The breakout topics included Digital Citizenship by Saipan Southern High School YAP and PSS IT/DE; Self-Care, by Kagman High School YAP & PSS Mental Health Program, Students & Support Services; Inclusion: Celebrating Pride & Allyship, by Marianas High School YAP & PSS Mental Health Program, Students & Support Services; Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, Healthy Me, by Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Family Planning Program.

Schools that joined the conference were Tanapag Middle School, Dandan Middle School, Chacha Oceanview Middle School, Hopwood Middle School, Fransisco M. Sablan Middle School, Marianas High School, Kagman High School, Saipan Southern High School, and Da’ok Academy.