Video Transcript – Boise State University Hometown Community Challenge 2020
Video Transcript
[Music]
[Summer 2020]
[Edson Valdisimo, student, Boise State University]: Howdy Broncos, my name is Edson Valdisimo, a student at Boise State University. I’m reaching out all the way from Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S territory that is about 6,000 miles away from Boise, Idaho. During this pandemic, Boise State University Career Services Department provided opportunity for Boise State students to create a hometown project that will have a positive impact on their community. This summer, I had the opportunity to work with Nick Van Santen and Debbie Kaylor in constructing the project that I proposed: The Marianas Generational Scholars. It is an organization that amplifies the stories of our CNMI alumni who are current college students or are college graduates who are willing to be a source of connection for students of the CNMI, assisting them in their college enrollment process or with any college questions they have in general. The purpose for our platform is to navigate success through higher education, with the mission in mind to propose a platform for students in the CNMI as an accessible resource and connection with accredited institutions. With a vision in influencing younger generations to obtain high education and return to the CNMI to make a change in the islands for the better good of our society. In order to be a scholarship recipient, we had to attend several zoo meetings with our advisors, as well as career counselors to get supportive feedback about our career plans, resumes, and other career aspects. We had to complete several workshop programs like Pathway U and resume strategies that provided us with other options of accommodating future goals. The Marianas Generational Scholars: a multi social media platform filled with inspirational and motivational stories featuring our CNMI alumni. For instance, Josepha Cabrera, who is a Carmen High School 2016 alumnus, a Gates Millennium Scholar, and a recent graduate from Highlands University, whose goal is to gain further knowledge about public health and allow her to make a difference in our society and to return one day back into CNMI to use her skills and knowledge to make an impact for her community. Our Facebook page also provides websites or links that students can check out, ranging from SAT or ACT practice tests, college applications, tips on how to prepare for college, and in general anything that will support them in taking this new stepping stone in life. With the help that I received from Boise State colleagues and leaders of the Million Dollar Scholars, I want to make a social impact by cultivating collaboration through engagement of both private and public school systems here in the CNMI with a means of increasing college enrollment rates for high school students, along with boosting the likelihood of individuals pursuing college degrees, and hopefully, to return to the CNMI to give back to the community. This is Edson Valdisimo bleeding blue and orange all the way from Saipan, CNMI.
[Music]