Palau Community College

MESEKIU'S

NEWS

Friday, October 19, 2007                               Weekly Newsletter                                    Volume 9, Issue 42

PCC Aquaculture Team Succeeds in 1st Coral Trout (Tiau) Breeding in Palau

PCC-CRE Aquaculture Extension Agent, Irving Dwight counting the harvested 60 days old Tiau.

PCC Thanksgiving Fundraiser Set

Palau Community College (PCC ) will hold it's eighth endowment fundraising to be held on November 21, 2007 at the PCC Courtyard from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Tickets are now on sale for $10.00 each. The College is proud to announce that as of mid-2007, the Endowment Fund has reached $1.5 million. In addition, the PCC Board of Trustees have and continues to make personal contributions to help build up the Endowment. At the same time, more than 100 PCC staff has enrolled in the program whereby they contribute on a bi-weekly basis, along with over 800 employees of the Palau National Government, semi-governmental agencies, and private sector.

While the College is grateful to see such support, it realizes that additional support and much greater contributions are needed in order to reach the critical goal of $30 million. Therefore, the College is approaching all who share in our belief that education is an important factor in the quality of one's life, and society as a whole. Please join us in our efforts to secure Palau Community College's continued existence and financial stability in the future. We are counting on your valuable support and contributions to help us so that we can strive to Guarantee Quality and Excellence in our programs and services. The College President, staff, and especially students once again thank all the contributors and donors of this year's PCC Endowment Fundraising. To purchase or donate to the 2007 PCC Endowment Fundraising, please call PCC Development Office at telephone number 488-2470/2471.

For the first time, fingerling production of the high priced Tiau commonly known as coral trout has been a success. So far, a total of 620 pieces of Tiau Plectropomus spp. fingerlings, about 1-2 inches in body length, have survived the larval stages 60 days after hatching from eggs. These fingerlings are currently kept inside the Bureau of Marine Resources (BMR) hatchery facility for further nursery until they are ready for release to fish farmers who wish to grow them in fish cages.

Natural spawning of Tiau has been on-going annually in the hatchery facility of the BMR in Malakal Area. However, success in larval rearing of this species has never been recorded yet. Until recently, the PCC-CRE Aquaculture Division in collaboration with the BMR have finally brought a record in achieving this breakthrough. After collecting the eggs that were spawned naturally during the new moon of August 2007, the newly hatched larva that have very small mouth were stocked inside the 10-ton tank and were fed with SS-type rotifers that were sourced locally in Palau.

Greenwater Nannochloropsis sp. was pumped into the larval tanks daily to maintain suitable water quality and nutrition for the larvae. Due to having very small mouth, the survival of larvae usually dropped significantly after 4-5 days. These days are considered the critical period since these are when the larvae shifts their source of nutrition from their own yolk to external source such as the rotifers that are available on the rearing water. Efforts to address and improve the survival at this critical stage is now being undertaken in the succeeding runs.

In most Asian countries, Tiau or coral trouts are believed to have aphrodisiac
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Larval development of Tiau from newly hatched larvae (D0) to 40 days old.

CSO Meets Chuuk State Education Officials
By: Ador Shirai, CSO President 


Last Friday, Chuuk State Organization (CSO) met with Chuuk State Education officials, Harvey Fritz (standing 2nd from right) and Mekioshi Williams (standing center-left back) along with CSO Advisor, Rose Aliven- Kohama (standing right) to discuss financial assistance available for the Chuukese students here at PCC.

Tourism & Hospitality Club Elects New Officers

New Tourism & Hospitality club officers (l-r): Dilway O. Ngemaes- Treasurer; Ikertang Tellei- President; Uchellas Yobech- Vice President; and Tiphanie Ngirachelsau- Secretary.

The PCC Tourism Club started this semester by electing new officers for SY 2007-2008. They held their election on September 28, 2007 and elected Ikertang Tellei as President; Uchellas Yobech as Vice President; Tiphanie Ngirachelsau as Secretary; and Dilway Orchid Ngemaes as the Treasurer. On behalf of the PCC Tourism Club members and its Advisors, we extend our invitation to all those students who are interested in becoming a member. If you want to join the club, please come and see the Club officers or Advisors Vicky Maui and Soledad Garcia or call the Tourism & Hospitality office at 488-6008.

On the evening of October 12, 2007, the PCC Chuuk State Organization (CSO) met with representatives from the Chuuk State Department of Education. Mekioshi William, Vice Chairman of the Board of Chuuk State Scholarship and Harvey Fritz, Technology Administrator for the Chuuk State Department of Education, attended the special meeting called by the association. The main topic discussed in the meeting concerned the Chuuk State Scholarship.

After a long two and half hours, many of the students' questions were resolved. However, there were still some issues that could not be answered, but the guests gave words of encouragement to the students. A list of all the students were submitted to the guests along with their contact addresses as a promise that their requests will be looked into. The long meeting ended with refreshments and smiles all around.

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effects, creating high demand for this fish in international markets. When sold live in the restaurants, these fish species usually commands a high price. Thus, in turn has led to overfishing and fishermen have reported difficulty in catching this fish over the past 1-2 years. Preliminary success in Plectropomus spp. breeding is still considered to be at an early stage of research and development and promising results have been archived in Indonesia and Thailand. Plectropomus maculatus has been reported to be produced in Lampung and Gondol, Indonesia while Plectropomus leopardus has been produced in Trad, Thailand. Both places are government research facilities and the number of fingerlings produced is still relatively low, about 100 and 49, respectively. Many research institutes in Asia are also targeting Plectropomus spp. as part of their grouper breeding programs (Ref: Marine Finfish Aquaculture Newsletter No. 1, April- June, 2004). Thus, Tiau has long been considered as


one of the "holy grails" of marine fish culture. In Palau, Tiau has been a favorite fish both for local consumers and the tourists. And to prevent overfishing of this valuable fish species, the government has implemented restrictions in catching similar species of fish starting the month of April until July of each year.

For more information about coral trout breeding, please contact Thomas Taro, Vice-President, PCC-CRE at CRE office at 488-2746.


PCC-CRE Aquaculture Extension Agent, Dannies Uehara and Researcher, Miguel De Los Santos harvesting the 60 days old Tiau fingerlings.

Purchase a Ticket!

The following PCC Board of Trustee (BOT) members and staff are selling tickets for the 2007 Endowment Fundraiser:

1. Trustee Bilung G. Salii
2. Trustee Masa-Aki Emesiochl
3. Trustee Buk Emil Ramarui
4. Trustee Dr. Emais Roberts
5. Trustee Valeria Toribiong
6. Student Trustee Leena Muller
7. PCC President, Dr. Patrick U. Tellei
8. VP Jay Olegeriil
9. VP Thomas Taro
10. Dean Alvina Timarong
11. Dean Willy Wally
12. Todd Ngiramengior
13. Dir. Armstrong Debelbot
14. Dir. Deikola Olikong
15. Dir. Kuye Belelai
16. Dir. Dahlia Katosang
17. Dir. Vernice Rechebei
18. Dir. Tzuchie Tadao
19. Researcher/Consultant Nino Pate
20. Manager Koyungil Kebekol

BITS AND PIECES...

REMINDER

Withdrawal Deadline Today...

Reminder to all students: today, October 19th, is the last day for all withdrawals. If you want to withdraw any of your classes, do not forget to stop by the Registar's office. If you have any questions, please contact Lourdes Reksid at Registrar's office at 488-2470/2471.

Oct. 24th, Holiday...

In observance of the United Nations (UN) Day, there will be no classes on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007. All PCC offices will be closed and only essential services will be provided on this day. Have a Safe Holiday!

ANNOUNCEMENT

Clinical Counseling Starts Oct. 29th...

The Clinical Counseling class, sponsored by the Ministry of Health in association with PCC-Continuing Education (CE) office, will begin on October 29th. Registration is still open, so if you want to enroll in the class, please call Taruu Nakamura or Leona Blaluk at CE office at 488-6223/2470/2471 or call Alex Ngiraingas at Bedochel Substance Abuse Center at 488-1164/4711. For more information, please call Alex at the above said number.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Basic Tagalog Will Begin Soon...

Continuing Education (CE) office would like to announce that the Basic Tagalog class is set to begin this October. Registration is still open so if you want to take the class, please call CE office at 488-6223/ 2470/2471. For those who have registered and have not paid their fees, please stop by CE office and make payment.

Procrastination
Taken from Study Tips.com at www.how-to-study.com

What is Procrastination?
Procrastination is putting off or avoiding doing something that must be done. It is natural to procrastinate occasionally. However, excessive procrastination can result in guilt feelings about not doing a task when it should be done. It can also cause anxiety since the task still needs to be done. Further, excessive procrastination can cause poor performance if the task is completed without sufficient time to do it well. In short, excessive procrastination can interfere with school and personal success.

Why Do Students Procrastinate?
There are many reasons why students procrastinate. Here are the most common reasons:
Perfectionism. A student's standard of performance may be so high for a task that it does not seem possible to meet that standard.
Fear of Failure. A student may lack confidence and fear that he/she will be unable to accomplish a task successfully. Confusion. A student may be unsure about how to start a task or how it should be completed.
Task Difficulty. A student may lack the skills and abilities needed to accomplish a task.
Poor Motivation. A student may have little or no interest in completing a task

because he/she finds the task boring or lacking inrelevance.
Difficulty Concentrating. A student may have too many things around that distract him/her from doing a task.
Task Unpleasantness. A student may dislike doing what a task requires.
Lack of Priorities. A student may have little or no sense about which tasks are most important to do.

How Do I Know if I Procrastinate Excessively?
You procrastinate excessively if you agree with five or more of the following statements:
• I often put off starting a task I find difficult.
• I often give up on a task as soon as I start to find it difficult.
• I often wonder why I should be doing a task.
• I often have difficulty getting started on a task.
• I often try to do so many tasks at once that I cannot do any of them.

• I often put off a task in which I have little or no interest.
• I often try to come up with reasons to do something other than a task I have to do.
• I often ignore a task when I am not

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Chuukese Students in Action
By: Ador Shirai, CSO President


CSO members and Student Service Supervisor Ismael Anastacio (3rd from right) during their clean-up on Saturday.

On Saturday, October 13th, members of Chuuk State Organization (CSO) participated in a clean-up activity held in Ngermid Hamlet in Koror. This project was requested by a landowner who donated $100 dollars to help the

Chuukese students for their educational cause. "This kind of activity is healthy and in a sense it helps promote good relationships between the College and the community people", says Kes Salvador. If anyone needs help in a weekend community project with minimum donation given to our organization for our educational project, please contact Ador Shirai at PCC Dorm at 488-3074 or 779-7550.

          ALUMNI NOTES:

Class of 2000 (PCC)
Koriang Clarence - 2000 PCC graduate with a Certificate of Achievement (CA) in Office Administration (OA). Clarence worked at Maris Stella School as a Teacher for 7 years. She is now working at Koror Elementary School as a Teacher and has been working there since August of this year.

Class of 1994 (PCC)
Madeline Tengeluk - 1994 PCC graduate with a Certificate of Completion (CC) in Occupational Home Economics (OH). Tengeluk works at Palau Community Action Agency-Head Start office as a Family Service Worker and has been working there for the past 9 years.

Class of 1984 (MOC)
Elizabeth Keptot - 1984 MOC graduate with a Certificate of Achievement (CA) in Food Service (FS). Keptot works at Koror Elementary School as a Cook and has been working there for the past 20 years.

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.

Previous Mesekiu Issues:

October 12, 2007
October 5, 2007
September 28, 2007
September 21, 2007
September 14, 2007
September 7, 2007
August 31, 2007
August 24, 2007
August 17, 2007
August 10, 2007
August 3, 2007
July 27, 2007
July 20, 2007
July 13, 2007
July 6, 2007
June 29, 2007
June 22, 2007
June 15, 2007
June 8, 2007
June 1, 2007
May 25, 2007
May 18, 2007
May 11, 2007
May 4, 2007
April 27, 2007
April 20, 2007
April 13, 2007
April 6, 2007

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certain about how to start it or complete it.
• I often start a task but stop before completing it.
• I often find myself thinking that if I ignore a task, it will go away.
• I often cannot decide which of a number of tasks I should complete first.
• I often find my mind wandering to things other that the task on which I am trying to work.

What Can I Do About Excessive Procrastination?
Here are some things you can do to control excessive procrastination.

* Motivate yourself to work on a task with thoughts such as "There is no time like the present," or "Nobody's perfect."
*Prioritize the tasks you have to do.
* Commit yourself to completing a task once started.
* Reward yourself whenever you complete a task.
* Work on tasks at the times you work best.
* Break large tasks into small manageable parts.
* Work on tasks as part of a study group.
* Get help from teachers and other students when you find a task difficult. Ö Make a schedule of the tasks you have to do and stick to it.
* Eliminate distractions that interfere with working on tasks.
* Set reasonable standards that you can meet for a task.
* Take breaks when working on a task so that you do not wear down.
* Work on difficult and/or unpleasant tasks first.
* Work on a task you find easier after you complete a difficult task.
* Find a good place to work on tasks.

Above all, think positively and get going. Once you are into a task, you will probably find that it is more interesting than you thought it would be and not as difficult as you feared. You will feel increasingly relieved as you work toward its accomplishment and will come to look forward to the feeling of satisfaction you will experience when you have completed the task.

Celebrating Birthdays

 Helene Moros                October 20
Samantha Bells              October 21
     
       Happy Birthday To You!

Tutors Wanted!

Talent Search (TS) office is looking for individuals to fill the following tutor positions:

(2) Tutors- Maris Stella School
(2) Tutors- Meyuns Elementary School
(2) Tutors- Palau High School

Interested individuals may stop by at PCC Human Resources office or Talent Search office located at the 1st floor of Baderirt Building and pick up an application form.

For more information, please call Talent Search Office at 488-3926.