habele Scholarships

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.

Habele Scholarships

125 Micronesian Students Awarded Habele Tuition 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.”

Habele Robotics

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

habele Robotics

Hands On STEM Brings Micronesian Students Together

This May, students from public and private schools across Pohnpei gathered at the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School gymnasium for the 5th Annual Pohnpei Robo Day. This yearly exhibition of applied Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) allows students to demonstrate their creative problem-solving skills in friendly competition with peers.

Five teams went head-to-head with the robots constructed by each robotics club, maneuvering the machines through a series of timed challenges for points, with the final match determining the Robo Day Champion and runner up.

Pohnpei Island Central School’s team (PICS) entered the 2023 competition with the momentum of having recently competed internationally at the FIRST Global International Robotics Challenge in Switzerland. In 2022, the PICS team represented the entire FSM at the challenge, placing highly among the other small nations competing. This year, however, home field advantage carried the day, and Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School kept the Champion’s trophy.

The team placements were:

First – Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School
Second – Pohnpei Island Central School
Third – Pohnpei Catholic School
Fourth – Nanpei Memorial High School
Fifth – Calvary Christian Academy

A new challenge is already in the works for next year’s Robo Day, requiring all robotics clubs to start from scratch in designing a robot to compete.

The Robo League is uniquely student-driven, allowing students to explore and experiment with complex technologies and concepts in a hands on way. Robo Day challenges give all participants the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to tough problems, and come up with creative and effective solutions. Even students who might not see themselves as “math and science types” can be drawn in to engage a lifelong love of STEM.

“The young people at Robo Day will grow up to help lead the FSM,” says Matt Coleman, Habele’s Director of Operations. “The Robo League is helping them develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in a world driven by STEM innovation.”

The Robo League was introduced to Pohnpei in 2018 by Habele, a US nonprofit founded by former Peace Corps volunteers who taught in Micronesia. Habele first introduced robotics to Micronesia in 2011, and has trained and supported participating high schools across all four FSM states through a technical assistance partnership with the Office of Insular Affairs.

habele Literacy

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.”

Habele Robotics

Students from Pohnpei make a splash at International robotics competition

The robotics team from Pohnpei Island Central School (PICS) returned from the FIRST Global International Robotics Challenge in Switzerland with the title of “First among small countries,” and a story to encourage their peers across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

The FIRST Global Challenge is an international high school robotics competition, in which small teams representing over 180 countries compete olympics-style for the championship. This year’s competition was held in Geneva, Switzerland, with a challenge built around collaboratively using robotics to address climate change issues. After being accepted to represent the FSM in Switzerland, the team of five students spent the weeks before the competition building and training for the specific tasks in the challenges. This meant ensuring that their competition robot was perfectly equipped to carry out particular movements and actions, while fitting into the guidelines required by FIRST Global.

Getting the team and equipment across the world to Switzerland provided a series of obstacles the robotics club could not train for. As the plane prepared to take off from Pohnpei, one of the trainers was unable to board, due to a paperwork mixup on the visa application. Thanks to the quick support from the U.S. Embassy in Kolonia, the corrected forms were fast tracked, enabling the students’ team leader to catch a later flight, and arrive in Geneva in time for the competition. Another key member of Team FSM was not so lucky. The carefully crafted robot, built and customized by the PICS team, was lost in the connecting flights from Pohnpei to Switzerland. Disaster was averted by the determination of the FSM team, who were able to acquire a new robot, and build it up to the approved competition standards the very same day.

Throughout the three day competition, Team FSM battled it out with teams from 180 countries in a high energy arena, complete with live-streamed commentary. As the competition came to a close, Team FSM stood with two wins, one loss, and no ties.

Returning to Pohnpei with the title of “First among small countries,” the PICS Team was greeted by water cannons saluting their plane as it landed, and a cheering group of dignitaries and students waiting for them off the runway. Honorable Governor Reed Oliver welcomed the team back with encouragement and praise. “You represented not only FSM but Pohnpei, specifically. We thank you for representing us and representing us very well. We are very, very proud of you.”

Fresh back from representing Pohnpei and the FSM on the international stage, the students from PICS will bring fresh encouragement and enthusiasm to their peers in the Pohnpei Robo League. This league is part of the larger Habele Robo League, which equips and supports robotics clubs at high schools across the FSM. Beginning in 2012 at a single school on Yap, the Habele Robo League began as an opportunity for students to participate in hands-on STEM learning, using equipment donated by private partners in the US. Beginning in 2018, a partnership between Habele and the Office of Insular Affairs expanded the Habele Robotics League across the FSM, allowing schools in all four states the opportunity to participate in the only regional STEM program of its kind.

“The Robo League encourages students to become problem solvers who can think on their feet,” said Matt Coleman, Habele’s Director of Operations. “The team from Pohnpei confronted and overcame challenges before they ever got to the competition floor. In my mind they won before it started.”

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

habele Robotics

PICS High School Robotics Team visits Governor Oliver ahead of trip to Geneva, Switzerland for the First Global Robotics Challenge

Press release from Pohnpei State Public Information Office. October 7, 2022

Governor Oliver welcomed the PICS High School Robotics team to the Governor’s Office on the morning of October 7, 2022.

The PICS High School Robotics team will be participating in the First Global Robotics Challenge in Geneva, Switzerland representing the Federated States of Micronesia.

 Governor Oliver congratulated each student for their hard work and dedication and expressed his pride in their accomplishments, especially in the field of robotics. He thanked the advisor/teacher Mrs. Tekaeto Diopolous for her guidance and hard work with the students. Governor Oliver wished the students all the best, expressing his gratitude and pride for the team, as they will not only represent their families and their school, but also the State of Pohnpei and the Federated States of Micronesia abroad.  He encouraged the students to continue with their interest in Robotics, and look towards finding solutions through robotics for the challenges we face in our islands. 

The PICS High School team is compromised of Advisor Mrs. Tekaeto Diopolous, Education Specialist Darla Ladore, Chennelle Cantero, Eberhard Salons, J.C. Curley, Einstein Halbert, and Norman Pedrus.

The First Global Challenge is a yearly Olympics-style competition in Robotics, that was created to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. 

 The 2022 First Global Challenge will be held in Geneva, Switzerland from October 13 – 16, 2022.  Over 180 countries will attend in the spirit of global purpose, unity, and collaboration, for the first time since 2019, because of the global pandemic.  

 https://pohnpeistate.gov.fm/2022/10/07/pics-high-school-robotics-team-visits-governor-oliver-ahead-of-trip-to-geneva-switzerland-for-the-first-global-robotics-challenge/

habele Scholarships

Habele Announces 54 Tuition Scholarships for 2022-23

US nonprofit continues to expand access to Micronesia’s highest performing private elementary and high schools.

(Colonia, Yap) Fifty-four promising students across Micronesia have been awarded tuition scholarships to attend the nation’s top-performing private elementary and high schools across three Micronesian states.

The K12 tuition scholarships are provided by Habele, a US nonprofit serving students and schools across the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Established by former Peace Corps Volunteers who lived and taught in the Islands, Habele has been granting tuition assistance to Micronesian students since 2006.

“These investments in individual students highlight the deep personal connections between the United States and our allies in the Freely Associated States,” observed US Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa. “Though our governments are united by formal alliances and treaties, it is the personal ties of our peoples, over decades of shared history, that make the relationships truly vibrant. My family lived in Micronesia for almost 17 years, both on Majuro and Saipan and I also lived on Guam while attending the University of Guam, while I have nieces and nephews with Marshallese and Chamorro heritage through marriages of my brothers. As a former Peace Corps employee in the Pacific, “I’m also pleased to see the scholarships were established by former Peace Corps volunteers”

The Compact of Free Association (COFA) allows Micronesian students to come to the United States for college, where they are eligible for generous federal grants that pay for their higher education. However, many young people in Micronesia -particularly from lower income families- aren’t able to take advantage of these opportunities because, they don’t complete high school prepared to succeed in American higher education. Habele’s K12 tuition scholarships help place such students at high achieving, independent schools, and on a path towards ultimately obtaining a college degree.

Habele Scholars come from villages across the hundreds of islands and atolls that comprise the Federated States of Micronesia. Students from Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei, as well as their lagoon and outer islands, will be attending eleven different schools in 2022-23, including Xavier High School, Saint Mary’s, Faith Christian Academy, and SDA Schools in Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei.

The K12 scholarships are entirely funded by donations from individual Americans who support Habele. Most are themselves former Peace Corps Volunteers, civil servants, tourists or contractors who spent time in Micronesia.

This is the seventeenth year Habele has awarded merit and needs-based scholarships, which average between 50 and 75 percent of the total tuition families owe. The nongovernmental organization also provides book donations, support for traditional skills mentorships, and organizes high school-based robotics clubs. Habele remains the only US nonprofit exclusively focused on serving students and schools within the Federated States.

Among the 54 scholarships awarded are several Memorial Scholarships. These honor the legacy of specific individuals whose life or work “embodied the best of the longstanding US-Micronesian partnership.” Introduced this year, the Martin Yinug Memorial Scholarship, honors the late Chief Justice of the Micronesian Supreme Court, and his outspoken commitment to public service, rule of law and judiciary independence. Another, the Marshall Wees Memorial Scholarship, honors a US Navy doctor who battled an outbreak of yaws that was ravaging the native population of Federai Island during the War in the Pacific.

“Being one of the Habele Scholarship recipients for the past two years is a tremendous honor and a joy,” said Sheridan Giltamag. A rising junior at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School, Miss Giltamag earned a 3.9 grade point average over the course of last school year. She and her family have also been involved in WeavingConnections, a Habele program to support mentor-based preservation of traditional weaving skills.

“The scholarship indeed helps my parents with tuition obligations at OLMCHS in Pohnpei. In addition to the financial support, Habele Scholarship has motivated and helped me in many ways, which include keeping up with my grades, spending more time with my school work, and the importance of education and my future.”

habele Robotics

Yap schools lead way in collaborative robotics

Yap Catholic High School, the most veteran of participants in the FSM-wide Habele Robotics League, has been promoting robotics to other high schools across Yap State for a decade. This year, the school pioneered a new model for the annual “Yap Robo Day,” a public exhibition in which robotics clubs from across Yap and its Neighboring Islands demonstrate their STEM accomplishments in a series of competitive challenges. In past years, participating schools gathered in a central location for a single afternoon, maneuvering their robots through rounds of timed challenges until a champion emerged. 

This year, Yap Catholic invited other public and private high schools to their campus for “Yap Robo Week,” an intensive five-day exercise in training, creative robotics design, and collaboration between staff and students from different schools. 

Teams pooled spare parts, tools and knowledge over the course of the week to build personalized robots equipped for the final challenge. The final competition was an arena filled with small plastic balls, and baskets of varying heights, each bucket representing different point values. Teams had two and a half minutes to score as many points as possible, by maneuvering their robot to place as many balls as possible in the various buckets. No design restrictions were placed on the size of the robots used, and teams spent the days leading up to the competition adjusting designs to focus on maximizing scores. 

When the dust settled on the Yap Robo Day 2022, the champions spot was awarded to Yap Catholic High School, with second place going to Outer Islands High School, and third place to Yap High School. The 2022 Robo Day welcomed a new participant in Pacific Missionary Aviation’s homeschool students, who laid the groundwork for strong performances in competitions to come. 

This was the final competition for some Yap Catholic students, after years of participation. “With my two years of joining the Robotics club, I have come to learn that you can do so much more when you are in a team, “ says Chastity Minginug, a 2022 graduate of Yap Catholic and Habele Scholar. ”Team work is an essential part when we work together and I believe that Robotics will be a fun experience for everyone if given the chance.” 

Habele, a US nonprofit enables and equips high schools in the Robo League across all four of the Federated States of Micronesia. Habele was founded by former Peace Corps volunteers who taught in Micronesia. The nonprofit first introduced robotics to Micronesia in 2011. The Habele Robo League provides students in some of the world’s most remote island communities the opportunity for hands on learning and problem solving with today’s technology. 

Support from the US Government comes through the Office of Insular Affair, which provides technical assistance funding for development projects in Micronesia. Habele’s Robo League is growing the knowledge and skills of future island leaders, and deepening the historic bonds of the US-FSM partnership.

habele Weaving

Charter School in Chuuk Aims to Revive Loom Weaving

An innovative Charter school is reintroducing old cultural skills to local students on Weno, capital of the most populous state in the Federated States of Micronesia.

A distinctive form of backstrap loom weaving was once ubiquitous across the Caroline Islands, today’s Federated States of Micronesia. Now the intricate work of crafting these textiles endures only in the small outer islands strung distantly between Chuuk and Yap. The Akoyikoyi School is looking to change that, hoping to bring loom weaving back to Chuuk Lagoon.

The effort was made possible in part by the donation of a handcrafted warp board, backstrap looms, peripheral weaving tools, and thread from Habele. Funding was generously provided by the Matson Foundation of Hawaii.

Akoyikoyi is a tuition-free charter school accredited by the Chuuk State Department of Education. Community involvement is an important component of Akoyikoyi school so parents are required to attend PTA meetings to stay informed and involved in their childrens’ education. The school combines both Chuukese and English native speaking staff who are needed for proper bilingual instruction and cross-cultural awareness.

Habele is a nonprofit, established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, that works across Micronesia to serve students and schools. Habele’s support of cultural skills developed in Yap from its sponsorship of after school mentorship programs using traditional techniques, such as carving and weaving, to imbue students with a sense of accomplishment and community participation.

Young woman loom weavingin the Outer Islands of Yap, where the practice remains common.

Aware of Habele’s WeavingConnections program, which supports Outer Island weavers who have migrated to the United States, Akoyikoyi asked Habele for a loom of the sort still used in the Western Caroline Islands.

“This school year we started a traditional skills class,” explained Clark Graham, of Akoyikoyi. “The students are learning to weave coconut fronds for roofing. Plans call for them to learn how to weave other things, including coconut baskets to carry food and also the round basket used to carry breadfruit.

Portions of looms and tools designed by Outer Islanders of Yap, fabricated by Habele and sent to Akoyikoyi School in Chuuk.

He explained that having “a tyr (Chuukese for ‘loom’) would be another step in the learning process allowing participating students to get more in touch with their traditional arts.”

A personal connection adds further significance to the project. Graham’s son Curt’s “paternal great grandmother was the last woman in Penia to use a tyr. “When she died, the loom was placed in her grave,” recounts Graham “That marked the end of such weaving. “

Penia is a village on the northeast shore of Weno. This timeline of weaving’s decline in the Chuuk Lagoon appears consistent with published reports. In his widely cited “Material Culture of Truk,” American Anthropologist Frank M. Lebar observed that by his 1947 fieldwork “weaving had all but disappeared on Truk.” LeBar identified only eight older women among his interviewees on Romonum, a lagoon island, who “knew some or all of the processes of weaving.”

“Its great to be a small part of this,” explained Habele Founder Neil Mellen, himself a former Peace Corps Volunteer who taught in the Outer Islands of Yap. “The credit goes to the educators at Akoyikoyi, the weavers from Yap’s Outer Islands who worked with Habele to document the weaving equipment, and the Matson Foundation who had the generosity to pay for the raw materials and shipping.”

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