Yutu affected number of Step-Up participants

The CNMI Public School System Step-Up program drew a fewer number of participants this year and that is being blamed largely on the lingering effects of Super Typhoon Yutu, which wreaked havoc in the Marianas last year.

In an interview with Asapmar Ogumoro, PSS teacher and member of the Step-Up committee, he said they were surprised that there were even participants because the deadline to register for the program was around the time Super Typhoon Yutu hit the Marianas back in October 2018.

“We were actually surprised to have participants considering [Super] Typhoon Yutu was on the way [at that time]. The application and registration for Step-Up was during the time when our schools were still closed so we weren’t sure if we were going to get any applicants but we stayed hopeful and we’re actually really surprised to have applicants,” he said.

Originally, seven students applied for the program but the number went down to three as the other four were not able to finish the application process. The three participants were Marianas High School’s Catherin Byen and Ryan Kang and Kagman High School’s Jemalynn Iguel.

“The University of Hawaii and the National Institute of Health coordinated the application process. We were excited to work with any student who made it through,” he said.

The application process was actually extended to accommodate the students in the Marianas, according to Ogumoro.

“One of the requests, when they asked us what can NIH do to help the CNMI, was that, one, they extend the application, also some of the deadlines like the deadline to submit an abstract, deadline to submit the PowerPoint, they extended that as well just to give our students that extra time. The only thing that stayed the same was the national presentation,” he said.

Ogumoro said that even with the deadline extensions, it was still a struggle for the students but the participating students were able to make do with what they were given and he was blow away by their efforts.

“Our students didn’t have much research time, and that was a challenge but they were able to put so much together by extending their hours in the day because of the days lost. We typically get 8-9 weeks research period, but our students had about 6-7 weeks. We felt like we lost two or three weeks but we are always surprised with what our students can do because they always come out and make it happen and I’m kind of blown away by the work they’ve done,” he said.