Judith Won Pat, Melissa Savares, Louise Borja Muña, Regine Biscoe Lee, and Amanda Francel Blas where the five political candidates that participated in the event.

All candidates were asked the same questions, which were about eight to ten questions prepared by students at the university. Each candidate had two minutes to respond to each question. The candidates were guided by student moderators Julianne Hernandez and Norielyn O’connor.

Candidates were asked to discuss their positions on issues such as, the islands political status, the UOG sexual misconduct policy, the LGBTQ community here on Guam, sexual education, and other important issues.

Program director Dr. Elizabeth Bowman said, “Especially issues such as sexual misconduct, those are very important to our students, as well as to myself, and I don’t feel like those types of questions always get asked, so it’s an opportunity for our community to hear more about those particular questions.”

For more information contact Dr. Elizabeth Bowman at ebowman@triton.uog.edu or 735-2885.

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Spooktacular was organized by multiple SOE organizations and classes, for example, UOG’s Gearing Education for Maximum Success(GEMS) and the Physical Education class. Each group had the opportunity to come up with and facilitate their own specific event for Spooktacular, all of which revolving this years events theme, physical fitness.

Kids were able to go into several classrooms and experience games and crafts, as well as play with the gigantic friendly T-Rex who roamed throughout the hall ways.

The children who attended received a passport when they checked in, and after each room they visited they would receive a stamp for participating. Each stamp was worth points that they could use to receive goody bags full of candy and fun little toys.

One of the SOE classes, ED-334 had featured a Harry Potter themed room that had various items and games that resembled the famous movie franchise like witch broom sticks, magic wands, and a replica of the sorting hat from the movie. The main attraction of the room was the quidditch game, where kids had play the famous sporting event from the movie.

“This is a community based event so everyone is invited,” said April Torres, a Junior Education student. “This event was possible because of the joint effort of the various organizations and classes that were involved,” she added.

For more information about the SOE Spooktacular event, contact Dr. Clare Camacho at (671) 735-2410.

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Guided by the program chair Dr. John J. Rivera, the MPA program proudly represented the university at the 2016 Business and Finance Conference, which was held on Sept. 15-16, 2016 at the Saipan World Resort, Royal Taga A. The event is hosted by Bank of Guam, Commonwealth Development Authority, and Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

The MPA students showed great effort and commitment by completely funding their trip themselves. They were able to raise some money through a bar fundraiser prior to their departure.

The purpose of our trip was to attend the CNMI business and finance conference to get a better understanding of CNMI’s economy because our practicum project is to study CNMI’s current status and then

“This was a great learning experience,” says Oreng R. Ngemaes, a prospective graduate in the MPA program, while also adding, “I learned so many things. To be able to sit in and to hear the locals voice out their thoughts and opinions helped me gain a better understanding of CNMI’s major economic issues and it will surely help us put together a good report by the end of the semester to address some of the issues brought up.”

Ngemaes also added that the same group of students will be going back to Saipan in early December to present their studies and policy recommendations to the CNMI legislature, chamber of commerce, and all locals who will be able to attend.

For more information on the UOG Master of Public Administration program, contact Dr. Rivera at jrivera@uguam.uog.edu.

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“Our goal is to provide success and opportunities to Micronesian youth,” says Jasmine Basset, the program’s public relations officer. “Since Micronesian students going to school here at UOG will be the ones tutoring, this program also creates a way for the older generation of Micronesian students to connect with the younger ones,” she added.

Basset also told us that the program targets Micronesian students who are in risk of dropping out of school. By doing this, the program hopes it can help reduce the drop out rates and increase graduation rates.

“Our number one priority is to provide tutoring services in essential academic subjects to the students,” says Basset, “but this is only one aspect of our vision for the entire program.”

Bassett added that, along with providing tutoring services, the program wants to “promote better leadership, life skills and character building for Micronesian youth, also to promote cultural awareness and unity, and to establish a collaborative network to promote program sustainability.”

The program was officially kicked off last year, and after a successful launch, the program wishes to expand. From starting with only a few tutors, Basset tells us that they now want to reach out to UOG students from all Micronesian nations to come be a part of the program. “our goal is to have at least two tutors from each island.”

For more information about the Chain of Knowledge, Micronesia Tutoring, please contact the programs public relations officer, Jasmine Basset at jsmn.bsstt@gmail.com

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“When I first came, I could see that we needed a lot of changes,” says Triplett, while also adding, since then, “Theres been so many changes, some may seem small and some may seem big, but they’re all big to me.”

“One thing I wanted to do is change the students’ experience,” says Triplett, “first by improving their own private space, which is their room, the place they spend most of their time.” With this in mind, Triplett, his staff, and a few student volunteers took it on their own hands to renovate Guma’ta Hall, providing students with newly furnished and painted rooms.

Triplett then renovated the common spaces, such as the study halls, lobbies, and including reopening a computer lab for residents. “The common spaces are the second place that students spend most of their time, so improving on these places was a great way to make their experience better” says Triplett.

Another thing that is on Triplett’s agenda is to open a new convenience store on campus. The store will be located at the main lobby of dorm 1. “Opening a convenience store would make it so that the residents can get everything they need right here where they live,” says Triplett, “it would also make it a lot safer for them because they wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the nearest store anymore.”

Joanna Kumaichi, a Senior Criminal Justice major, and a resident at the dormitories explained to us that, life in the dormitories “has definitely become more comfortable,” while also adding, “I have been here for more that three years, and I can honestly say that I can that the dorms have never been better.”

Triplett went on to mention that another thing that they needed to improve on was the programs that were offered to the residents. Whether it was programs that were designed for activities or ones that were for educational purposes, he wants to improve on all of it, and even add new ones.

“We are exited to say that we have just recently launched our brand new, bike share program with our 10 brand new bikes,” says Triplett. He explained that the bike share program will allow dormitory residents to rent out bikes for free whenever they want. Triplett also added that this is only the beginning for this program, and that his plan for the future is to increase the amount of bikes to about 60 and offer it to every student in the university.

Another program that was recently launched at the dormitories are the shuttle services. After getting two new vans, the residence halls can now shuttle residents to any destination on island, whether it is for activities off campus, or for taking the day out shopping.

Triplett went on to say that his plan is to have a diverse set of programs that offer as many opportunities to the residents. Programs that include athletics, recreation, education and conveniency.

“Yes we have done a lot, but there is so much more to improve on,” says Triplett, “it does not matter how, but we will get these things done.”

Triplett also added that “one of the things that I admire most about this place is that, we have a lot of different students from a lot of different places, and all of them get along very well.”

For more information about the residence halls, contact the residence halls office at www.uogresidencehalls@gmail.com or call them at (671) 735-2260/61.

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The Tritons Athletics program officially kicked off at the beginning of this semester. Now the university has a variety of three different varsity sports to offer for it’s students, a men’s basketball team, a women’s volleyball team, and both a men’s and women’s soccer team.

Each team is available for any eligible university students to try out. To be considered eligible, student-Athletes must have proof of health insurance to play/practice varsity athletics at the University of Guam, students most have an athletic physical prior to beginning play/practice for the Triton Athletic Department, students must be full-time at the university (minimum 12 credits for undergraduates and as defined by program requirements for graduate students) to play/practice.

The university has appointed Douglas W. Palmer as the director of the Tritons Athletics program. Douglas W. Palmer has a large and broad history as an athletic administrator, coach and public servant. Mr. Palmer has won a college national championship as a coach and has hosted multiple national championships as an administrator.

Mr. Palmer has high hopes for the Tritons Athletics program and believes that the program will continue to grow as time goes by. “We are trying to have eight sports in two years time,” says Palmer “but really depends on the money”.

Mr. Palmer also expressed his views on how important it is for any university to have a good athletics program. “it gets the University of Guam’s name out there and gets people who didn’t know about the university ask questions about it,” says Palmer. While also adding that it can help bring some money to the university.

“We are going to try to make a homecoming soon so that the entire school, including alumni can get together for a basketball game,” says Palmer. He also expresses that he plans to use athletics to bring the University of Guam community closer, and bring back the alumni that have lost touch with the university.

“It’s about time,” says Wells Earnest, a Sophomore here at the University of Guam, “I think this will definitely bring the UOG community closer together.” Earnest also added his views of how it is “a great step forward” for the University of Guam.

The Tritons Athletics program was crafted by a select group of staff here at the University of Guam. Known as the Athletics Compliance Committee, this committee helps with ensuring that the program runs smoothly. The committee members are, Randall Wiegand, Vice President of Administration & Finance, Douglas Palmer, Athletic Director, Dr. Michael Gunn, Dean of Enrollment Management & Student Success Dr. Michelle Santos, Assistant Professor, Secondary Education, Remy Cristobal, Associate Dean of Enrollment Management & Student Success, Mark Duarte, Director of Financial Aid, Jonas Macapinlac, Director of Integrated Marketing Communications.

For more information about the Tritons Athletics program, visit their web site, www.uog.edu/athletics/ or contact Douglas W. Palmer at palmerd@triton.uog.edu.

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From their very first day, new students from Palau are able to immediately notice RPSO’s presence because it uniquely represents their nation. This helps the individuals interest as Palau is something familiar to them, compared to everything else in their new surroundings.

O.J. Blailes is a freshman at the university who recently moved to Guam for educational purposes, and is described by his peers as hard working and congenial. His upbeat personalty and great sense of humor makes him such an approachable guy, and his compassion for his friends is one of the greatest traits he possesses.

Blailes was born in Palau and raised in the state of Airai, which is located at the southern most part of the island of Babeldaob, the largest island in the entire archipelago.

He moved to Guam in the spring of 2014 and has been an active member of RPSO since the day he discovered it existed.

He did not know what to expect when he heard about the organization, but when he became a part of it, he found something way more than just simple fundraisers and activities. He found a family that supported him in almost all aspects, one that was there for him when he needed someone.

“When I first came to Guam I was very clueless, I did not understand the way the university worked,” said Blailes. “I was very lucky to have found such a great group of people like RPSO because they all helped me out so much when I first got here.”

Blailes expresses the great value of the organization and how it provides Palauan students with a voice in the community, he also urges all Palauan students who have not heard of the organization, or have not had a chance to join it to go and see what it is like because, “it is worth it,” Blailes said.

Clifford Kyota, the organization’s advisor shared his story about when he was still a student at the university and how he was the organization’s president for four years. He talked about how RPSO really brought all of the Palauan students together and gave them a voice.

The current president of the student organization, Shilwitt Quichocho said, “We are here to represent our nation and our people here at UOG and to provide our members with a back-bone to all of their needs and to be their number one resource.”

With almost 40 plus members, the student organization is also well known for being very active in the community. “We are proud people,” said Quichocho. “We want to make sure that not only the Palauans know we are here, we want everyone to know that we are a contributing part of the community.”

RPSO is dedicated to participating and helping out in as much school events as they can, they are widely known for providing great entertainment like singing and traditional Palauan dancing to many school events.

RPSO is a student organization that has the right set of values. They are here to represent their nation and their heritage, and to provide their people with the necessary resources to accomplish what they desire.

The post UOG’s Palau Student Organization (RPSO) provides helping hand appeared first on The Triton's Call.

This was the third year the organization hosted this event and over 150 people participated, making it the most successful one so far.

The event is well-known amongst the students at the university as one of the most anticipated events of the year and is one of their overall favorite school events.

It’s ability to draw in so many participants makes the event one to look forward for because it gives students the chance to mingle with their peers and it promotes the idea of meeting new people while having fun at the same time.

During the event, the large group was split up into a 14 teams who were given 10 missions distributed throughout the campus that they had to complete while on the run from “zombies.”

The teams were mostly dressed up in athletic attire. Each team exhibited pride, making it a bit competitive, but also friendly atmosphere.

The zombies were mostly students at the university who were decoratively covered with fake blood and torn-up clothes, making their zombie “look” realistic. Their objective was to try to prevent those teams from completing their missions.

The event kicked off in the late afternoon and continued on till sundown, and as the sun slowly set, things definitely got a bit more eerie.

The campus looked like a scene from the “Walking Dead” with participants prowling through the halls.

Students were captivated with fear as they ran around the campus completing their missions.

The distant screams from teams being chased by the zombies served only as a frightening warning for other teams around campus.

Most of the people who were zombies were students who volunteered.

Ardel Tumbaga, 21, and a junior at UOG, had the opportunity to be one of the zombies and volunteered immediately after seeing one of the event’s fliers on campus.

Tumbaga was dressed as a terrifying zombie with his bloodied shirt and torn up face.

“This was my first time being part of the Zombie Pandemic Challenge,” he said. “But I know for sure that it will not be my last”.

“It was a lot of fun! It was exiting and thrilling and it is a great event that gives us the opportunity to make new friends.”

“The best part about it was seeing the faces of frightened people when we run after them.”

“The event seemed like a great success and we really need more of these types of events here at UOG because they really bring us together.”

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Alan is a a busy Palauan politician and private business owner who still makes it a point to set time for spending with his family.

Alan has always been an active politician throughout most of his adult life.

After spending a few years out of congress to focus more energy on his private company, Micronesia Investment and Development Corporation, he has recently decided to run for Senator during the up coming 2016 general election.

His quest to improve Palau and its peoples greater good has always been his motivation to develop the nation. For him, the people and their livelihood are the top priority.

Alan was born in the Republic of Palau in 1957, a time when Palau was still under American rule. He explains that it was a very confusing time period for all Palauans. Being that it had only been a little over a decade since WWII, Palauans, who were just getting used to the Japanese’s influence on their culture now had to adjusting to the Americans and their way of life.

Alan was the eldest of son of Rafaela Sumang and his father, Sidney Seid passed away when he was only eight-years-old. His role as the oldest child out of his seven sibling was what really made him the strong independent man he had became. “I had to feed them, make sure they were showered, put them to sleep, and wake up the next day and do it again”, says Alan. “I complained all the time and did not understand why I had to be the responsible one, but I am certain that taking care of my siblings and looking out for my mother made me the man I am today.

His earlier days of looking after for his siblings also did make him a very caring person. He always wants to make people happy, whether it is making sure his kids have what they need or looking for ways to make the citizens of his country happier.

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