Pre-Thanksgiving Update

Even with internet out here, as you can see, there's just no guarantees for regular updates. Sorry, I've been busy. The 37 12th graders here at Moch High School have just finished their first quarter at school. Our total enrollment is at 180 HSers, which is HUGE by island-standards. (The other HS, on Satowan, is down to around 110 or so, but it looked even smaller when I visited recently).

Still, the Chuuk Dept of Eeducation (DOE) hasn't pulled through and delivered on the school's priority needs. We're 9 weeks down, and we have no regular meal service for the boarding students - save riceless lunch 5 days/week. Because the DOE's money comes from the US government's Compact Funds, there are countless restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles designed to ensure accountability and honest acquittal of the money. Because of Chuuk's less than honest past, today's result is a system stymied by red-tape and inefficiency. With a brand new Director of the DOE, and some staff rearrangements having taken place, it would appear that some things just got overlooked this summer.

Cruelly, it at first seemed, the school here took the brunt of that "overlooking." No rice for meals, unfulfilled additional teachers (red-tape office shuffling resulted in the amended DOE budget being lost, which included new staff positions for several schools and salary/staff actions - raises, etc), lack of construction and renovation supplies for student dorms and showers, and still no computers or router. These last electronics were supposed to come to us under the unspent portion of the DOE's budget; since those funds don't roll over into the next year, we were going to spend $30,000 on a computer lab and equipment. Regrettably, the staff at the DOE bungled that up, too, and with more red-tape to hamper the process, by the time everything was straightened out, it was already past October 1 - the new fiscal year. Still no action.

It is hard to remain optimistic at times, but the students are doing a HECK of a job overcoming the obstacles that this developing nation keeps throwing at them. We are practicing for the College of Micronesia Entrance Test (COMET), and so far, I've got a handful of students who are showing real promise. More than anything, by exposing them to the format early, we can cut down on their frustration and confusion when day-of-test comes. Unfortunately for us, there's no way to prepare in 12 more weeks what 12 years of education failed to impart - a fuller vocabulary, more refined grammar and usage, and critical thinking/reading comprehension skills.

That said, they are going to do their best. One thing that has stood out recently for the 12th graders specifically, is the "Senior Seminar" class they have 7th period. Instead of construction for the boys and vocational education for the girls, we are doing a combined one section model. Quarter 1 was devoted to setting up their 12th grade fundraisers and school store, brainstorm how we will spend our money (and budget it), and then, for the past 4 weeks, work on a public awareness campaign to deal with mental health and suicide prevention. Styled on American PSAs, we've made a skit, video taped it, prepared posters, and they even wrote a song in Chuukese to draw attention to suicide and how our youth can prevent it. It's truly remarkable.

So, as we get close to Thanksgiving, I am saying Thanks to my students who remind me daily, that even in the midst of some really trying and inefficient upper-level processes, at the ground level, our relationships and our attitudes, and our work continue to speak for themselves. And that's what's most important.