Submitted by: C/CPT Lloren, Mark
Photos by: C/CPT Janiy, Mohammed
The Marianas High School Dolphin Battalion Cadets completed multiple service learnings at different middle schools around the CNMI. Within 4 months, we were able to complete service learning with all middle schools on the island. These schools include Hopwood Middle School, DanDan Middle School, Tanapag Middle School, and ChaCha OceanView Middle School. This year’s topic for service learning is “Community Involvement”. Cadets utilize what they have learned and practiced at the schools and share it with upcoming high schoolers. This is done to encourage more community involvement around Saipan and in schools.
Service learning is a dynamic educational strategy that combines academic learning with community service to foster a relationship of mutual benefit between students and the communities they serve. It goes above and beyond what is taught in a regular classroom since it actively involves students in experiences that address community concerns. The Cadets who participated in service learning not only benefit from teaching but also benefit from learning because they get experience and leadership skills.
“As I’ve done service learning for 3 years, I got to learn the importance of effort, leadership, and especially teamwork. What makes service learning so important is that both the cadets and the audience get something out of it. Each time I’d do a service learning, I got to research and put together material that my cadets and I could gather knowledge from. We learned that the effort put into the projects was important to assure that it was meaningful and correct. I was also able to learn how to lead and work with my cadets and how to be a role model in order for them to be confident in their service learning skills.”- C/CPT Alovera Abigail (Former Head of Service Learning)
“Service learning so far has been great with the number of schools willing to allow us to talk to their students to educate them on how they can get involved in school and in the community. Yeah that the more I went to the service learning projects the more I got used to talking to a crowd of people or students and that there are activities outside of school that could benefit me as a high school mentor and the community.” – C/1SG Castro, Akysha
“My service learning experience, covering the topics of community involvement, was a great step on my part in improving personal and interpersonal skills within cadets, it creates better skills in leadership and communication with others. I personally only took part in two Service Learning presentations (HMS and DMS). I noticed that these students are well informed and were great at responding to our mini-quizzes at the end involving questions from each company. I believe I can strengthen the way service learning projects could be carried out, making sure that everything we do is carefully discussed and planned beforehand to ensure enough statistics for the upcoming CIP of SY23-24.” – C/SGT Delos Reyes, John Paul (Upcoming Head of Service Learning)
Service Learning was ultimately a huge success for the cadets and the students. Again, we thank all the principles for allowing us to be part of their school. And hope to keep this partnership.
