Palau Community College
MESEKIU'S
NEWS
Friday, August 10, 2007 Weekly Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 32
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Palau Community College MESEKIU'S NEWS |
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Friday, August 10, 2007 Weekly Newsletter Volume 9, Issue 32 |
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PCC Receives JLPP Donation of Fiction Books
The donation to PCC Library is made possible through the Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center (J-Lit Center), which is responsible for the management and realization of the Project on behalf of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan. Since its inception, the Project has donated numerous publications to over 2000 agencies and institutions around the world. The following books were donated to the PCC Library: Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa- Master of short story, Akutagawa depicts the dark side of human nature with original imagery, ironic humor, and simple beauty; The Cage by Kenso Kitakata- A former gangster remains painfully aware of his violent inner self as he gradually succumbs to the urge to break out of the "cage" of life on the straight and narrow; Bedtime Eyes by Amy Yamada-This graphic depiction of unrestrained sex and raw emotion has completely transformed the Japanese literary landscape; Realm of the Dead by Hyakken Uchida- A collection of fantastic short stories distilled from the author's dreams, evoking an ominous vision of the afterworld and awe of the supernatural; Tokyo Tango by Rika Yokomori- Saya's infatuation with a flamboyant gambler twice her age is played out in the bright lights of Tokyo in the bubble economy of the eighties; Floating Clouds by Fumiko Hayashi- The story of a woman's torturous love affair as she struggles with the harsh realities of postwar Japan. "It is the hope of the Embassy that these books will benefit the students of PCC as well as the community as a whole to further elevate the understanding of Japan's many facets", says an Embassy official. Donations of this kind serve as another symbol of the maturing mutual friendship between Japan and the Republic of Palau and also enhance and enrich the teaching as well as the learning of the Japanese culture, history, and language. |
Second Waseda Exchange Student Chooses PCC Aiko Tanaka, a sophomore at Waseda University, arrived Monday night to attend the College for a year as an exchange student. Tanaka chose to attend PCC out of five-hundred (500) other university/college choices. Even though she has never heard of Palau nor PCC before, she chose the College so that she can pursue her studies independently and be on her own. Tanaka will be majoring in Tourism & Hospitality and while studying here, she hopes to learn as much as she can about Tourism as well as Palau. She also plans to take diving lessons, visit and enjoy Palau's natural beauty, and make new friends. "I would love to teach Japanese to anyone who's interested", says Tanaka. So, if anyone wants to learn Japanese, Tanaka is more than happy to help. Tanaka is the second exchange student from Waseda to attend PCC through the exchange program between the College and Waseda University. Manami Fukuda was here a couple of years ago to study Tourism & Hospitality as well. The College not only has exchange programs with Waseda, but with seventeen other universities/colleges within Asia, Pacific, and the United States.
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First Graduating Student Exit Survey Results- Part II |
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Last week, we featured the introduction of the survey and its highlights, this week we will feature the results of student's satisfaction by department/major; educational experience; and overall experience. For the satisfaction with the department/major, about 84% and 89% of the graduating students are "very satisfied"/ "satisfied" with the openness of the faculty and staff to assist students; and proper opportunity for the students to evaluate instruction in their major respectively. The statement with the lowest level of agreement (67%) is "Friendliness and helpfulness of the office staff in your department". |
An ambush interview was conducted to validate the question to at least thirty (30) respondents consisting of fifteen (15) office staffs and fifteen (15) regular students. The actual survey showed that 80% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the friendliness and helpfulness of the office staff. As for educational experience, more than 80% of the students also agreed that instructors made use of computers or advance technology as aid in instruction; adequacy of classroom facilities and computer resources; and participate apprenticeship, community involvement and outreach programs. The statement with the lowest level of agreement (75%) is "Improve my ability to utilize computers and other technical equipments". Based on the survey, when the graduating students were asked about their overall experience at PCC-whether it helped them develop their career for advancement or not, about 89% of the students say that their experience in PCC is really helpful (combining "very helpful" and "helpful"); 7.9% and 3.2% |
of the students feel that it "help moderately" and "help a little" respectively. Very high percentages of students (95%) indicate that the overall quality of their department/major is either "very effective" or "effective". Pate is now preparing the next assessment- Freshmen Student Entrance Survey. Other up-coming assessments include: Student Instructional Response and Satisfaction Survey; Faculty and Staff Perception Survey; and Administrative Survey. Further information on this survey is available at the Development Office. More Creative Writing from EN95-1a Below is another writing by a
student in Midori Mersai's English summer class who also submitted a paper
for the in-class creative writing contest that was held in class. Good
work, kids. Look for additional installments in next week's
Mesekiu's News. The thing that makes me happy and special is my son. I think he's the only one in the world who makes me smile. He is still 11 months old and everytime I see him, I feel happy and also feel like the luckiest father in the world. Everytime when my son sees me, he cries and it makes me sad and I want to hug him. Even when I'm with my girlfriend, it makes me happy but not as happy as when I'm with my son. I really, really love my son because he is my first child. When people see him, they say that he looks like his father and that makes me so proud. I didn't know that having a child was going to be like this but now I know and I'm happy about it. To All New PCC Students: |
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OMIP Offers More Training to Nine CIP Workers |
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Three weeks has gone by and nine (9) Capitol Improvement Project (CIP) workers are busy, devoting two nights a week for two hours to participate in the Hot Mix Asphalt Paving Inspection Training sponsored by the Operations & Maintenance Improvement Program |
(OMIP). An eleven-week course, the participants learn the inspection of hot mix asphalt; plant inspection; asphalt testing; and asphalt paving inspection. Alex Apostol, an Environmental Engineer from EQPB, began teaching the course middle of last month. For more information about this training and other OMIP programs,
please contact Don Hanser at 488-2470/2471 ext. 254. |
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BITS AND PIECES... ANNOUNCEMENT CE Offers Basic and Intermediate Mandarin... Registration for the Basic and Intermediate Mandarin classes is now open. Classes will begin in September. However, in order to ensure your spot, it is best to register now as space is limited. For registration or for more information, please do not hesitate to contact Taruu Nakamura or Leona Blaluk at Continuing Education (CE) office at 488-2470/2471/ 6223. ANNOUNCEMENT Apprentice Training Concludes Today... Five (5) participants of the 4th Apprentice Training from Yap are receiving their certificates of completion this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at Continuing Education (CE) training room. Gregorio "Gorong" You and Philip Paiy both completed their Computer Aided Drafting training; Joseph Tutu and Mark Googag completed their Food Processing; while Lorenzo Saremaliyang completed his Auto Mechanic/Small Engine training. All the participants will be returning home on the 16th of this month. For more information about the Apprentice Training, please call CE office at 488-2470/2471/6223. |
Xavier Presents at the 3rd EMS Student Symposium |
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Before leaving earlier this week to Pennsylvania, Wililah Faungy Xavier, an Environmental/Marine Science (EMS) student, presented her SC271 field study at the 3rd EMS Student Symposium last Friday at Baderirt building. Xavier presented her field study Long Island Water Quality Monitoring Project to her fellow colleagues, instructors, and fourteen (14) program review participants from both public and private agencies. To kick-off the symposium, Associate Dean Sherman Daniel, on behalf of President Dr. Patrick U. Tellei and Dean Alvina Timarong, welcomed and thanked all for their continued support to the EMS program. Working as an intern at Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB), Xavier with the guidance of her instructor, Sherry Ngirmeriil, and mentor, Kimmie Ngirchechol of (EQPB), was interested to find out if there really is bacteria at Long Island Park caused by the overflow of the waste water pump near CIP office in Medalaii, the only one of the 48 pumps around Koror that carries all the waste water to the main plant in Malakal. Xavier researched for |
a month, monitoring Long Island for fecal bacteria, taking water samples everyday for a month at two sites, Site A (near Long Island summerhouse) and Site B (the middle of Long Island). Everyday, she would collect water samples, bring to EQPB lab for analysis, culture the bacteria, incubate for 24 hours, and then count the bacteria. She also conducted one 24 hour-day current assessment. Unfortunately, throughout the time of her research, the waste water pump near CIP office was closed; therefore, Xavier could not determine whether or not the pump has a direct affect to the sometimes contamination at Long Island. However, she was able to determine that during the month she was conducting all these tests, the highest count of bacteria was 145; average was 18; and the lowest was zero. The recreational standard level of safety is less than 200; therefore, proving that for the duration of her research, the water at Long Island was safe. On the other hand, Site B had the higher count of bacteria compared to Site A. Her theory on this result is that Site B was surrounded by more land mass thus, if there is runoff, it would have more chances of contamination; whereas, Site A is closer to the channel where strong current flows, pushing bacteria further away from Long Island. Based on her research, Xavier recommends further study, perhaps duplicating her research with more advanced technologies; study sediments in and around Long Island; (Continued on page 4) |
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CORRECTION Correction to Last Week's News.... Last week's article under the heading College to Participate in Veterans Affairs Education Programs, it stated that Ms. Dahlia Katosang submitted an application to Veterans Affairs Education Service in March 2008; However, it should have stated that she submitted an application in March 2007, not 2008. |
Former PATS Peace Corp Volunteer Visits College |
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While visiting the islands, Bob Levitan, father of former Student Body Association (SBA) President Ramon Manny Adelbai, decided to pay a courtesy visit to President Dr. Tellei. Levitan was a Peace Corp volunteer assigned to Pohnpei and taught Building Trade at Pohnpei Agriculture Trading |
School (PATS) from 1983-1984. During his one year tenure at PATS, Tellei was the school's Principal. Levitan praised Tellei's leadership style as "comprehensive and involved", saying that he was a principal who genuinely cared for the well-being of his students as well as staff, and this made him a pleasure to work for. "In addition to being the ideal principal, Tellei was a craftsman and enjoyed teaching students the art of making traditional spear-gun", Levitan said. Levitan, in fact received one of Tellei's hand-crafted spear-gun as a gift upon completion of his teaching assignment. "It is still in good shape after all these years", Levitan says of his gift. "I live in Montana and so I don't spear-fish as much as I used to when I was in Pohnpei". |
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ALUMNI NOTES: Class of
2004 (PCC) Class of 1999 (PCC) Class of 1984 (MOC) Alumni Notes showcases MOC/PCC alumni who contribute to the quality of life in their local community and are postive role models for other PCC students to emulate. If you are that alumni or know someone who is, please contact the PCC Development Office at telephone number 488-2471. We would like to feature you in future issues of the Mesekiu's News.
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Attention PCC Students PCC in association with the Asia Pacific Association for Fiduciary Studies presents the 7th Annual Pacific Region Investment Conference Student Competition, October 18-19 in Manila, Philippines. The winner of the competition will represent PCC in this upcoming competition and will get a $100 dollar cash prize, a round-trip airfare from Palau to Manila, airport-hotel transportation, lodging at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and $75 per diem for food and other expenses. Applicants must be a full-time PCC student over the age of 18, and must submit a paper with a topic selected from one of the following: 1). Student Experience in Stock Market Investment; 2). Management of Trust Funds; 3). Regional Economic Issues. Deadline for submission is Monday, September 10, 2007 by 5:00 p.m., to the Academic Affairs Office, at Temekai Bldg. For further information about evaluation criteria and technical specifications about submission of paper or for any other questions, please contact Robert Ramarui, at Business Ed. Office, Temekai Bldg. at 488-2471 ext.240. FALL SEMESTER
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(Continued from page 3) Xavier concluded her presentation by thanking EQPB for contributing to her field study; PCC for assisting by providing a grant of $1,000 to fund her project; instructors, Vernice Yuji and Sherry Ngirmeriil, for their guidance; and to her family and friends for their support. She also encourages others to join the EMS program as Palau is in great need of local environmentalists/scientists. For those interested to join the EMS program, there are scholarships
available to PCC EMS majors as well as PCC alumni at 4-year institutions majoring in
related fields. For more information, please contact Vernice Yuji or Sherry Ngirmeriil
at 488-2470/2471. Managing Employees "Personal and Leadership Style" Workshop Presented by: Global Resources Synopsis: The first step in managing employees is to know who you are and the different types of people you are working with. This session is an exercise to find "OUR" personality type; leadership style that comes with that personality! In this process you will learn the many different types of people and various leadership styles; where you can begin to adjust your managing style when managing your employees. Managing Employees Pre-registration for the workshop is available now and seating in LIMITED. Please call the Palau SBDC at 488-6004 or email us at palausbdc@palaunet.com to reserve your seat. |
