High Marks as Habele Scholars Report on Academic Progress

PHOTO: Second grader Jesebel-Marie B. Fanechigiy attends Saint Mary’s School on Yap with the help of a Habele Scholarship. She lives in Luwech, Rull and earned all “A’s” in her first quarter academic progress report

The US nonprofit Habele, founded by former Peace Corps Volunteers, awards elementary and high school scholarships to students across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The students provide Habele with copies of their report cards throughout the year and other indicators of their academic progress.

There are 152 Habele scholars for the 2024-25 school year, representing a diverse collection of students from the four Micronesian States including a range of Main, Lagoon, and Outer Islanders. As of October 28th, Habele has already received 63 of these student’s first quarter report cards.

“The grades these students are earning are tremendous,” explained Neil Mellen, Habele’s founder. He served as teacher in the Outer Islands of Yap in the early 2000’s. “It is clear that these students, their families, and the teachers are strongly invested in academic achievement and student success. Habele is proud we can play a small role, through targeted financial assistance, to help prepare these children to take up -and even create- their social, civic, political, and business roles in their island communities.”

Habele’s tuition scholarships ensure bright, hardworking students have access to the best elementary and secondary education possible. Based on need and merit, each Habele tuition scholarships is set at a level that maintains family ownership in student achievement while lightening the financial burden. Habele scholars this year are attending fifteen different schools across the FSM.

The scholarships cover roughly 75 percent of tuition and fees. Students must maintain and report high levels of academic achievement every term, applying each year for continued support. Since 2006, more than 300 students in Micronesia have benefited from the program, which started with a single student seventeen years ago.

Summer Break an Opportunity for STEM Development in Chuuk

A team of students and educators from Pohnpei broke from summer relaxation to share their enthusiasm for high school robotics with peers in Chuuk.

Three students and two educators from Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School (OLMCHS) travelled to Chuuk to lead a four-day robotics workshop. Over the course of the training, students from public and private high schools across Chuuk partnered with the Pohnpei team to build, operate and compete their very own robots. For Weipat High School, located in Chuuk’s Northwest Islands, this represented the school’s first hands-on interaction with the new technology.

The building workshop was sponsored by Habele, a US non-profit that designed and implemented a robotics league extending across all four states of the FSM. OLMCHS was one of the first schools in Pohnpei to join in the Robo League in 2018, and has hosted annual Robo Day competitions, in which participating high schools gather to compete for the title of Pohnpei Robo Day Champions. Chuuk Department of Education generously made the Chuuk High School gymnasium available for the week, as well as providing food and encouragement for all the participants.

Teams of all experience levels at the training began with an unassembled robotics kit, and with the help of the team from Pohnpei, worked through each of the parts and their functions. Surrounded by piles of metal and electronic components, each school team tweaked and troubleshot their way to a functioning robot. While beginning students have clear instructions to follow, experimenting and exploring with the equipment is encouraged.

“Creative problem solving is key here,” said Matt Coleman, Habele’s Director of Operations. “Students learn to analyze a challenge, and use the parts they have on hand to resolve it. It is an important skill to develop for any vocation.”

After completing their first robotics build, teams worked on controlling the robots through a variety of simple tasks. As the workshop progressed, challenges became more complex. The culmination of the training was a series of competitive events to test robotics dexterity and function for points. Prior to the final competition, students were encouraged by Dr. Margarita Cholymay, Director of Chuuk Department of Education, who praised them for learning new skills, and urged them to take advantage of the educational opportunities provided. The team from Saruman Chuuk Academy won first place in the competition, with Xavier High School coming in second, and Weipat High School taking third. All teams demonstrated tremendous growth over the course of the training. Students will return to their schools with a working robot, and enthusiasm to share what they learned with their peers.

“Peer to peer training encourages active participation and engagement among learners,” said Russell Figueras, Principal of OLMCHS, and one of the trainers for the workshop. “When students are involved in teaching their peers, they become more invested in the learning process and more likely to grasp and retain the information. This was an awesome learning experience for our students.”

The training workshop is the last Habele-sponsored robotics event in Chuuk. The US nonprofit is sunsetting its involvement in high school robotics across the FSM after over a decade, but hopes robotics education evolves further through support from FSM national and state governments.

Habele will continue to offer tuition scholarships to students attending private elementary and high schools in the FSM, donations to schools and libraries, direct monthly book deliveries to children under the age of five (“Young Island Readers”), and donations of tools to traditional carvers and weavers.

125 Micronesian Students Awarded Habele Scholarships

A US nonprofit, established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, is awarding tuition scholarships to 125 students across the Federated States of Micronesia. Funded entirely by the annual donations of individual Americans, the scholarships help cover tuition costs at independent elementary and high schools within the FSM.

Habele’s tuition scholarships ensure bright, hardworking students have access to the best elementary and secondary education possible. Based on need and merit, each Habele tuition scholarships is set at a level that maintains family ownership in student achievement while lightening the financial burden.

The scholarships cover between 50 and 75 percent of tuition and fees. Students must maintain and report high levels of academic achievement every term, applying each year for continued support.

Since 2006, more than 230 students in Micronesia have benefited from the program, which started with a single student seventeen years ago.

Of the 125 Habele Scholars for 2023-24, roughly 60 percent are female; two thirds are in elementary school, and three-in-five are from neighboring islands. Among the incumbents the average student is entering their third year as a scholarship recipient. Of the 56 students awarded scholarship last year, 52 were awarded renewals for 2023-24, one migrated to the US, two graduated high school and departed for higher education, and only one failed to report or reapply.

“Everyone -parents, teachers, and community members- want young people who are prepared to meet the challenges of the future” explained Neil Mellen, Habele’s Founder. “These targeted scholarships provide support to engaged families who are making sacrifices to provide educational opportunities for their children. Habele wants to help ensure these ambitious hardworking students are prepared to sustain and improve quality of life for their islands.”

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Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele is a 501(3) nonprofit supporting Micronesian students and schools.

Habele will spinoff Robo League, aims for full localization of funding and operations

High school-based robotics in Micronesia has always been student centered and student driven. Now Habele, the US nonprofit that initiated the Robo League, looks to make that local ownership official. The NGO is sunsetting its role as steward of the Robo League after more than a decade.

Habele’s introduced high school robotics to the FSM in 2012 when the charity initiated a two-school pilot project in Yap, funded entirely by private individual donations. From 2017 through 2023 the Robo League expanded across the all four FSM states through the generous support of an Insular Affairs technical assistance grant, growing into a scalable demonstration project, serving students at two dozen public and private high schools throughout Micronesia.

 

The basic unit of the Robo League has been school-based clubs at the high schools. Students worked to design, build, test and refine simple robots capable of navigating obstacles and accomplishing tasks.

With training and benchmarks along the way, the students worked over the course of the school years toward multi-school, annual statewide robotics exhibitions. Schools’ robots were pitted against one another in friendly competition. Habele provided equipment, in-person and online instructional opportunities, and facilitated organization of schools to make it possible. The real work was done by the eager and ambitious Micronesian high schoolers themselves.

This model, evolved and refined over a decade with state specific adaptations, was educationally effective and economically efficient. Because students learned and mastered skills through hands-on problem solving themselves, the Robo League did not require costly spending on new buildings, the hiring or retraining of additional school staff, or a particularly large outlay on equipment and supplies.

With each passing year the role of the school staff, and more significantly the student themselves, in overseeing instructional and administrative aspects grew. Through a “peer-to-peer” model, experienced students and staff provided instruction and support to new league members. Robo League teams also represented the Micronesian nation in international robotics competitions in 2017 and 2022. A group of “robo ambassadors” even flew to the Marshall Islands in 2019 to introduce robotics to students on Kwajalein.

“A decade ago, we set about to see if Micronesian students could be excited and educated about Science Math Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in effective ways that didn’t rely heavily on existing personnel, equipment and infrastructure,” explained Neil Mellen, Habele’s Founder and Executive Director. “At the time I could not have imagined it would grow to involve two dozen schools across Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae States.”

If Micronesia’s state and national leaders see value in what was done and learned, they may choose to sustain and further evolve the Robo League through localization of the funding and operation of the league. It would be exciting -to see this moved from practice to policy- but certainly that is their choice to make, not mine,” continued Mellen. “Either way, I’m tremendously proud of what so many students and educators have accomplished over the last decade through the course of this endeavor.”

Though winding down its role in the Robo League, Habele will continue to offer tuition scholarships to students attending private elementary and high schools in the FSM, donations to schools and libraries, direct monthly book deliveries to children under the age of five (“Young Island Readers”), and donations of tools to traditional carvers and weavers. Learn more at www.habele.org

Matson, Habele keep books flowing to Yap’s Youngest Readers

“Young Island Readers” is a book-a-month donation program that provides children from birth to age five a new age appropriate each and every month.

A generous investment from the Matson Foundation will cover the cost of providing over 400 such books to children across Yap State this coming January and February.

The Young Island Readers process is simple. When a child is born in Yap State, the mother is provided a sign-up form at the hospital. She writes the child’s name and the post office mailing box their family uses. If she lives in the Outer Islands she indicates on which Atoll or Island they reside.

Sign up forms are offered again when a child is baptized or inoculated, ensuring newborns don’t slip through the cracks. These sign-up forms are collected by students at Yap Catholic High School, where the details are entered into a book ordering system. Mothers or other family members may also obtain forms directly from the Yap Catholic High School as well as submit completed forms there. They can also sign up online at www.habele.org/yir.

Monthly, each enrolled child is sent a new book. The specific title is based on their age and phase of development. The books, sent at USPS media mail rates, arrive individually wrapped and addressed to the child. Those going to children in the Outer Islands are received by the Neighboring Island Coordinators at the Yap State Department of Education. The books headed to children in the Outer Islands make the last leg of the journey on either the state field trip vessel or aboard a Pacific Missionary Airline flight.

The backbone of Young Island Readers is Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL). The Imagination Library was founded and created by songwriter, musician, actress, author and business-woman, Dolly Parton, in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee in 1996. She envisioned a community-based program providing children with free, home-delivered books from birth to their 5th birthday.

Habele is the “local champion” or on-the-ground partner for DPIL in Micronesia. Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, Habele is a US nonprofit, invested in the future and potential of Micronesian students since 2006. Though the program is both effective and efficient, there are still ongoing costs borne by Habele. A generous donation from the Matson Foundation in late 2022 will help with that.

Matson’s generous donation to Habele will cover all the costs for Young Island Reader books mailed in January and February of 2023,” explained Neil Mellen, founder of Habele. “We are grateful for Matson’s continued support of our -and others’- work in Micronesia and across the Pacific in addressing community needs.”