Dual enrollment consists of concurrently attending both the University of Guam and Guam Community College. General Education courses can be a bit expensive for students who do not have a scholarship and splitting the cost by taking these classes that are available at GCC is one of the methods to deal with this challenge.

Audrey Meno is one such student that this method is effective for. A sophomore majoring in Communications, she stated that a goal of hers this semester is to see the different concepts she can learn between the

“I also go to get my Gen Eds at GCC (the ones that do transfer over to UOG) because it is cheaper”, Meno said.  

Meno feels that this works best for her situation. In comparison to the University, resident students, or those who live permanently on island and pay Guam income taxes/claimed as dependents only have to pay $130 per credit at GCC, compared with $210 that UOG charges per undergraduate credit.

However, dual enrollment does have its challenges.

“The biggest frustration would be having to really coordinate classes that don’t coincide with what is scheduled between the two campuses,” Meno said. “Sometimes I want to take one class at UOG and one at GCC but both are on the same days and same times.”

Meno went on to elaborate that she often makes a decision which class has more priority for the current day. While these decisions can be somewhat of a hassle from day to day, Meno explained that gaining a better grasp of managing it all can prove to be beneficial

Krystal Calvo, a Fall 2017 graduate from the University, recalls her experience early on in her college career dual enrollment.

“I wanted to immediately go into the communications program at UOG when I first started college,” Calvo said. “However, I realized it wasn’t the best choice for myself to take gen ed courses at the University at the time since I was on my own paying for things.” She finished her mathematics and lower level science classes while taking one to two classes here on campus and then transferred over full time.

“Students shouldn’t be too caught up in stacking as many classes in a semester if it’s not most tailored to their budget”, Calvo said. “I split the first couple of courses and was able to finish my Communications degree within a four year period. For those that it applies to, dual enrolling is a big help.”

Noah Austin, a freshman at GCC, added that this method works to his benefit as well. “Although I’m currently not attending, the credits I’m receiving now are for my aspiration for my undergrad degree from UOG.”

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The Sigma Tau Delta had its annual induction on March 30. The event inducted 14 new members into the English Society.

Sigma Tau Delta is an international collegiate honor society that is inclusive of the top 30 students of their class and that maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. The society presently has over 850 chapters in the United States and abroad.

Aubrey Yatar, president of the English Society, devoted time to organizing and decorating for the event.

The new inductees worked hard to decorate, design, and create a great atmosphere for the event,” Yatar said. “We worked with the CLASS Dean’s Office to allocate the tables and chairs as well as to secure the lecture hall for use.”

Yatar was also able to secure CLASS Associate Dean Sharleen Santos-Bamba, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor of Chamorro Studies James Perez Viernes, Ph.D. as keynote speakers.

Viernes, in particular, spoke on his experience as University student and the sense of pride that comes with being in the program.

Since there are only a select few that get the chance to be a part of this experience annually, there is a certain mystique that comes with the opportunity.

Yatar explained that the most appealing aspect of being inducted would be that it is a nationally recognized student honor society.

“I saw this opportunity to be selected to join the society and a great way to develop new connections and meet new people within the same area of interest as myself”,” Yatar said.

Kreeshia Aquino, an English and Communications double major, who will be graduating this Spring, was one of the 14 new inductees.

“I received my invitation at the beginning of the semester and couldn’t help but accept it,” Aquino said. “Being I’ve been double major for over a year as well as a member of the honor society in communications, I feel that it was very satisfying to be able to join another group that recognizes all of our hard work.”

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By David Borja

For the first time, UOG president Dr. Robert Underwood held “Beat The Heat,” a meet and greet with the entire campus held in the School of Public Business and Administration Atrium.

The students who attended the event received free giveaways, like free Pacific Island Mangge’ Popsicles, Triton Apparel shirts and fans.

“President Underwood wanted to host an event this semester to interact and meet our students in an informal setting, just to relax and to just really talk with students”,” said Jonas Macapinlac, UOG director of Integrated Marketing. Macapinlac also said students were welcome to ask any campus- related questions directed to Underwood.

One question that was brought up regarded plans for the construction of a new School of Engineering. As of now, students who are interested in this field on campus can only declare pre-engineering and are encouraged to finish their final two years of undergraduate studies abroad.

“We’ve announced that we are building the new School for Engineering, as well a new student services center. We’re hoping to break ground (on the School of Engineering) some time within the next few weeks actually,” Macapinlac stated.

Matt Miguel, a third-year student, was pleased with the outcome of the event.

“It was nice to see all of our student body voice their concerns and what they thought was good with the programs,” Miguel said. “It also didn’t hurt that they gave away free Mangge’ Pops.”

Although some attendees were pleased with the plan to construct new buildings, one of the concerns  were brought up was the potential that there would not be enough parking spaces to accommodate a larger influx of students.

“Parking is always a concern and the new school will take additional slots but with combination of the overflow parking and planning of alternate parking is still enough space to include all the students and faculty”,” said Macapinlac said.

Other issues that were covered included campus security and the possibility of hiring of a new nurse.

“Although there is currently no nurse on campus, we are looking into contracting with local health service providers such as clinic or urgent health care center to help fill this need ”, Macapinlac said.

As previously mentioned, the event also gave the first 50 students early access to the Triton’s Online Store to grab clothing made in partnership with Hafaloha. Students are urged to lookout for similar events coming in the next months.

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Triton’s Call Staff

The creation of a Regional Public Policy Center was announced in the School of Business and Public Administration on Thursday, February 16.

John Rivera, Ph.D., assistant professor and chair of the SBPA board, stated that there is an opportunity to affect change with this plan.

“More than lacking, we prefer to see the opportunity, potential, and what this can mean for our island communities,” Rivera said.  Aside from the obvious work that the Regional Center can foster, as the President has stated, we have the potential to “pool expertise and research and provide robust, meaningful, and non-partisan information.”

Over the course of the past two years, SBPA has hosted various events addressing pertinent issues such as the Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking and the anti-sexting campaign focused Project Foresight.

The idea itself is the brainchild of what the SBPA look at as an asset to island.

According to Rivera, it took almost two years to come to fruition. An initial discussion occurred months before the first official proposal was given.

Rivera said, “the first official proposal was transmitted to the SVP on Sept. 28, 2015. On October 31, 2016 the President officially endorsed the center.”

For now, the formation of tasks is the primary focus of the Regency Center.

“We are currently setting an agenda for priorities of our policy focus” Rivera said. “In particular, one of the main reasons the Regional Center was started was that SBPA saw community engagement and the creation of relevant policies as an need for the island.”

Stated within the rationale of the RCPP is the University of Guam’s “responsibility to examine and research the economic, social, and cultural issues that affect Guam and the region.”

The opening of this Regency Center for Public Policy calls upon the roster of professors and faculty with the requisite knowledge in UOG to improve issues such as education and healthcare.

Rivera explained that “the formation of tasks is the primary focus of the Regency Center.  The Center is currently setting an agenda for priorities of with a certain policy focus.”

When asked about whether the RCPP will work with schools such as the University of Hawaii to develop policies, Rivera said “We are certain that such collaborations will be in the near future.

Rivera only sees more growth in the center. “In the next 5 years we envision that we will continue the good work we started with the same veracity and passion as that when we first brought this Regional Center to life.”  

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   Trump proposed to establish a Territory and Commonwealth Advisory Committee to keep in contact with Guam and the rest of the territories.

   UOG President Robert Underwood gave his thoughts on Trump’s proposal.

   Underwood explained that, “this is really for the Republican Party leaders on Guam to navigate. They should be explaining to us as a general rule what the Governor has heard about this and the status of the people that are appointed to this planned committee. Other Republican leaders should be alerting us to that because I certainly don’t have a special pipeline to the president himself.”

   President Trump has also promised that there will be a special assistant to keep day to day interaction with the TCAC and that the committee will comprise of representatives from the territories such as Guam and American Samoa.

   Underwood also expressed the likeliness of this coming into fruition.

   “Invariably, whether it was Obama or George Bush, every last year of their term they would issue a report about the status of the territories stating how they wish they could’ve done something,” Underwood said. “If President Trump wants to be the first to break that cycle, I wish him well for us to get in on the front end of the conversation but right now I don’t see that happening.”

   Another part of this TCAC plan is to perform a holistic review of all federal regulations affecting the territories and commonwealths. Having a department to answer to and a process for problems that concern the territories and to have an is the main concern to address in Dr. Underwood’s eyes.

   “They’ve tried to solve this during the Clinton administration by creating IGIA (Intergovernmental Insular Affairs Office) but it isn’t really an office in the White House to raise issues to,.” Underwood said.

   Around campus, the student perspective is focused on how President Trump will affect the curriculum that will be available in the general education system and to University students in the upcoming years.

   “Trump is taking the previous administration’s policies and flipping most of their policies but I’m concerned as to whether his decisions will benefit certain programs within school such as fine arts programs,.” Paulino said.

   Kristina Blaz, a Spring 2016 graduate and recent attendee of the 2016 Republican National Convention offered a more optimistic view on his presidency.

   “As of right now, people should remain positive because the full effect of his decisions have not come into play. When I went to the Republican Convention,   I had the opportunity to learn a good deal about the presidential process and it was interesting to see Trump speak and his family speak on his behalf to show a different standpoint rather than what is frequently shown in the media.   As a president, I feel sometimes we need an outsider and the fact that he is a successful businessman makes me think he can to bring a new perspective for change in this position.”

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UOG Chief Planning Officer David S. Okada, one of the founders of the policy, provided insight on the how the policy came into fruition.

According to Okada, “the smoking policy is an initiative, that’s within the nation. There has been a drive for universities to support no smoking on campus. We wanted to be part of that initiative, especially since we have oversight of the cancer grant, which is a big part here of our support and research so we recommend that is better to use products like e-cigarettes from iqos heets uae and others. So to help support and complement the things that we research and do, the smoking policy was in line with all those things within the community and to better the health of individuals.”

When asked on his opinion on the effectiveness of policy thus far, Okada explained the difficulties of enforcing the policy on campus.

“For enforcement purposes, the best we could do, like say if you were the smoker is, ‘can you please not smoke on campus?’ If you choose not to do so, the best we can do is have you removed from campus if you continue to smoke at that time.”

Guam Public Law 30-63 prohibits smoking within 20 feet of any public entrance or exit. If individuals are caught violating this law, they may be liable to pay fines up to $500. UOG falls under this category with the aforementioned policy, but only law enforcement can make citations.

Okada expounded on the enforcement dilemma: “The challenge is even though this is now public law and if a GPD officer came on campus and I’m smoking, he can cite me. But the question now becomes is this the best use of an officer’s time?”

Okada explained that this particular enforcement issue can be resolved if G4S, the company which provides security around campus, can be enabled to give the same type of citations to those that are caught smoking.

UOG Integrated Marketing Communications Director Jonas Macapinlac, who worked with Okada in creating the policy, ushered sentiments towards the student body on campus to help add to the cause.

“I would like to see students taking the lead with promoting no smoking on campus,” Macapinlac said. “Now I know there are a lot of students that smoke and vape but there are a lot that don’t. So to put it all on the University administration to kind of police this, it’s tough, so we have to do it as a community.”

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Mangilao,  Guam – As she looked across the room at all of the new inductees, Mariah Ramos reflected back on her similar situation a semester earlier.  “It was a pretty cool experience to be inducted like this last semester because this recognizes all the work that I put in for Communications.”

Mariah now sees Lambda Pi Eta through a different lens, as she would be helping honor seven new students. Lambda Pi Eta  Alpha Beta Eta Guam Chapter held its 2nd induction ceremony on Oct. 23 to the delight of parents, supporters, and most of all, it’s new members.

Lambda Pi Eta was brought into fruition by students of the Department of Communication at the University of Arkansas and promptly founded by faculty member Stephen A. Smith in 1985. The ceremony name stems from letters out of the Greek Alphabet which are L (lambda), P (pi), and H (eta) for their representation of the philosopher Plato’s 3 means of persuasion: “Logos for logic, Pathos for emotion, and Ethos for credibility and ethics.”

She said her experience to be a chance at something fresh. “I’ve been a member of Comm Society for awhile now, so I’ve always been involved in helping our major grow.” When she heard that Lambda Pi Eta was going to be implemented, she wanted to be apart of it because, it not only recognized her work in the classroom but also that it was situation she could be apart of to do something new.

As they stood in line to receive their certificates, a lighting of three candles took place (the three candles representing the modes of persuasion); One could listen and hear that the current members exhibited a sense of prestige.

In order to be part of  Lambda Pi Eta, one must have completed the following: 60 semester hours in an undergraduate credit course, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0, completed the equivalent of 12 semester hours in courses in communication, maintained a grade point average of at least 3.25 in these courses, and be in the upper 35% of their graduating class.

In addition, they must be in good standing with their institution. Just hearing these prerequisites alone, one could tell that you’d have to be the cream of the crop.

The seven new members included: Kreeshia Aquino, Eric Bacarella, Swetha Kotwal, Yvonne Manglona, John Mugol, Erica Pangelinan, and Rianne Peredo. Mariah admitted it was a “weird but funny feeling” that she now oversees new inductees for the fact that she is younger than most of them.

“As a Vice-President now of Lambda Pi Eta, I can see that the new crop of members will do a good job in continuing to do well in their courses while contributing to the honor society.”

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