Yap Upward Bound Program Graduates Nine Students

COLONIA, Yap (August 3, 2012), The Yap Campus Upward Bound (UB) Program held a ceremony today in honor of nine Yap High School students who have completed four years of college preparation through the UB program. The ceremony was held at the Yap Campus and was attended by more than 200 people.

In his remarks to the graduates, former UB counselor and Yap State Senator Jerry Fogolimul cautioned the students that challenge will come before them but the students must face them head on and to always strive for excellence. He encouraged the students to succeed in their education in order to be in a better position to give back to Yap.

Yap Upward Bound graduates.

Director of the Yap State Department of Education, Mr. Vincent A. Parren, also took part in the celebration. He thanked the UB Director, Ms. Teresa Filepin for her hard work and expressed his appreciation that the program will continue to be funded until 2017. Director Parren invited everyone to share the limited resources available to make the best use of them for the benefit of Yap.

On behalf of the graduates, Ms. Prescilla M. Mangarfir thanked her fellow UB students and college staff for putting together a good celebration and the parents for their support. Ms. Mangarfir also thanked Ms. Teresa Filepin for being a good director, counselor and friend to the students. She also invited the other UB students to motivate themselves to shine and to show the greatness in them. She cautioned her fellow UB students to never consider giving up in their education to avoid becoming quitters.

The Yap High School Principal, Mr. Domingo Techur was also at the celebration. He invited the students to be “smart” with their lives. He encouraged them to set specific, measurable and realistic goals to achieve, to work toward attaining those goals, and to understand that goals also time bound; should be completed in a specific timeframe before taking on new goals. Principal Techur reminded the students to never settle for less and to never forget who they are as Yapese.

At the end of the program, Ms. Filepin thanked everyone and reminded them that the ultimate goal of the Upward Bound Program is to put students through college.

All the graduates were accepted by many colleges and universities. However, most of them will be attending the college of Micronesia-FSM at the national or Yap campuses.

The nine UB graduates were Ms. Felliscia M. Garbuwaath, Ms. Rhonda Ann Gilmatam, Ms. Shawntrish O. Lukan, Ms. Prescilla M. Mangarfir, Ms. Lina Ruwaath, Ms. Melantha Ruwemidil, Ms. Lynn L. Tharngan, Ms. Eustracia Wes, and Ms. Sunny G. Yinnifel.

The remaining students were also recognized during the ceremony for their academic performance. The following students were recognized for achieving 4.0 grade point averages: Jeffrey Falag (freshmen), Vivina Tinmad (junior), Andrea Rrog (junior), Kapiolani Gregorio (junior), and Dyanna Keiji (junior).