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.”

New Scholarship Honors Late Micronesian Chief Justice

Habele, a US nonprofit established by former US Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Micronesia, has established a new tuition scholarship honoring the late FSM Supreme Court Justice Martin G. Yinug of Yap.

Since 2016, Habele’s K12 tuition scholarships have helped students across the FSM attend independent elementary and high schools by offsetting a large portion of the out-of-pocket fees and tuition needed to enroll. Several of the Habele scholarships are named to honor the legacy of specific individuals who either embodied the US-FSM partnership, and or played a significant and positive role in the development of the Federated States.

The newly announced Martin Yinug Memorial Scholarship aims to celebrate and perpetuate the legacy of the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Honorable Martin G. Yinug.

Chief Justice Yinug was born on October 18, 1949 in Guror Village, Gilman Municipality on the Island of Yap. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at the San Francisco State University in 1972 and his Juris Doctor in 1980 from the Catholic University of America Law School.

His four decades of public service included working as an Administrative Assistant for the Yap Delegation to the Congress of Micronesia, as an interpreter to the State’s delegation to the Micronesian Constitutional Convention, leading the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation in Yap, as legal counsel for the Yap State Legislature, and serving as an Associate Justice on the Yap State Supreme Court.

In 1992 Martin Yinug was appointed and confirmed to lead the FSM Supreme Court as it’s Chief Justice, a role which he held until his death on August 31, 2014. In September of 2013, Chief Justice Yinug had been elected by the members of the Pacific Judicial Council (PJC) to serve as the President of this regional judicial organization.

Justice Yinug was widely praised for his selfless commitment to the public good. FSM Vice President Alik L. Alik described him as “a humble man of high principles, of few but eloquent words, and of impeccable integrity and high morality.” Vice Speaker of the Micronesian Congress, Paliknoa K. Welly, pointed to Yinug as “an excellent role model—a high achiever with a colorful career history and education who showed many that ‘it can be done.'” Beauleen Carl-Worswick, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, observed that Martin Yinug was “a dedicated public servant and leader who championed the Rule of Law.”

The Martin Yinug Memorial Scholarship was made possible through the support of Roger Gale, an American with a long personal commitment to the People of Micronesia, and a former professor of Yinug’s.

Yapese students attending or enrolling at an independent high school on Yap are encouraged to apply for the Yinug Memorial Scholarship. The scholarships award provides approximately seventy-five percent of the student’s tuition each school year.

Any Micronesian student looking for financial assistance to attend a private elementary or high school within the FSM is encouraged to visit habele.org/scholarships to learn more about the nonprofit’s scholarship offerings.

 

Tuition scholarships highlight American-Micronesian ties

Individual Americans have pooled private donations to help promising students in Micronesia attend the island nation’s top performing independent schools.

Habele, a US nonprofit established by former Peace Corps Volunteers, has awarded merit and needs-based tuition scholarships since 2006. It is the only US nonprofit exclusively focused on serving students and schools within the Federated States.

Thirty-seven complete, on-time applications from across Micronesia were received ahead of the June 30th annual submission deadline. Based on the money raised from individual donors Habele was able to award twenty-five tuition scholarships to students attending eight different elementary and high schools in three FSM states.

Checks for the scholarships have been mailed to the schools, and families will be also be notified by mail.

“We are tremendously proud of the scholarship recipients, and take great satisfaction to report that scholars’ grades in 2020-21 were some of the highest since we started the program in 2006,” explained Habele founder Neil Mellen. “There were also four 2020-21 scholars who completed their secondary studies this spring. Those students were Cassandra Hagiltaw at Pohnpei Catholic, Crystal Ruerngun Loochaz and Shereeca Pairui at Yap SDA, and Maselyann “MC” Suemog Yangr at Yap Catholic High School.”

In the spring, Maselyann, a Habele scholar since 2016, wrote to Habele about the importance of the program. “I am grateful for your help in achieving my goals. You have helped me to stay in school, and now I am only two months away from graduating high school. I am very thankful to have gotten the chance to make it this far with a great education and a school community that has become my second family and home.”

Maselyann graduated YCHS with nearly all “A’s” on her final report card and is now headed to the University of Guam, where she will pursue a degree in chemistry.

Among the twenty-five scholarships awarded are three Memorial Scholarships. These are a special type of Habele K12 tuition grant. They honor the legacy of Americans whose life or work demonstrated exceptional commitment to the people of Micronesia, and embodied the best of the longstanding US-Micronesian partnership. These include the Lee Huddleston, Dr. Marshall Wees, and Leona Peterson Memorial Scholarships.

“I saw first-hand the amazing results of Habele’s efforts throughout Micronesia, reaching students at the grassroots level, even on the most remote of the outer islands,” observed Ambassador Robert A. Riley, formerly the US Ambassador to Micronesia and now a Director at the East-West Center, a think tank in Hawaii. “Habele fulfills a unique and critical role in FSM’s development.”

“The name “HABELE” is a wish come true for our children,” explained Lazarus Ulith in a note sent in with a student’s report card last month. He observed the nonprofit’s name is itself a play on words meaning both the future tense of “to be” and more figuratively “to achieve an ambition.” “You make it a reality which is why you make a difference in their future” said Ulith.

Those interested in learning more can apply, or support the program online at www.habele.org
###

Habele Awards Scholarships, Celebrates US-Micronesian Partnership

Sheridan Giltamag of Yap, one of twenty-two Habele tuition scholarship recipients.
She will be a freshman at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Pohnpei in the fall.

Twenty-two students from across the four states of Micronesia were awarded tuition scholarships this week, making it possible for them to attend faith-based independent elementary and high schools in Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei.

Habele tuition scholarships are funded entirely by the individual donations of American citizens who share a love of Micronesia and the belief that high quality education can unlock the incredible personal potential of some of the world’s most remote students.

Each tuition grant is set at a level that maintains family ownership in student achievement, while lightening the financial burden. Often scholarships cover between fifty and seventy-five percent of school tuition and fees. Students must maintain and report high levels of academic achievement every quarter, applying each year for continued support.

Habele is a US nonprofit established by former Peace Corps Volunteers who lived and taught in Micronesia. It first issued tuition scholarships in 2006. This year 30 individual Americans from 16 different states donated to fund the 2020-21 tuition scholarships.

Donors included former Peace Corps Volunteers, tourists who had visited Micronesia, and the sons and daughters of Americans who served in Micronesia in the US Armed Forces.

Three of the twenty-two scholarships awarded this year were memorial scholarships.

“Memorial scholarships honor the legacy of Americans whose life or work demonstrated exceptional commitment to the people of Micronesia,” explained Habele’s Founder, Neil Mellen “They embodied the best of the longstanding US-Micronesian partnership.”

The Lee Huddleston memorial scholarship, established this year, honors the life of Lee Joseph Huddleston of Eugene, Oregon. Lee lost his life in February of 2020, rescuing a group of children caught in a rip tide while swimming off Moch island, where he was working for the Chuuk State Department of Education. Lee had also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, teaching in Weno.

The Leona Peterson Memorial Scholarship provides tuition assistance to a young woman in elementary or high school high school attending an independent school in either Yap or Pohnpei. It honors the work of Mrs. Paterson, who led Department of Aging in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands during the late 1970s and early 80s.

The Marshall Paul Wees Memorial Scholarship is named for a US Navy doctor who served the people of Ulithi Atoll during the War in the Pacific. Dr. Wees, working with limited supplies and assisted only by a pharmacist’s aide, stamped out the terrible scourge of yaws, a debilitating disease that was ravaging the Ulithian population.

“At this time of so many challenges across the globe, I hope these modest tuition scholarships will be a subtle reminder of the deeply personal, decades long and historically unique partnership between the Micronesian and American Peoples” explained Mellen.

Lee Huddleston Scholarship Established for Micronesian Students

 

Each year, in the first week of June, Habele announces the award of its K-12 tuition scholarships. These small grants help ambitious students across Micronesia attend independent primary and elementary schools, paying a large portion of their tuition and fees.

This year, one deserving student from Chuuk State will receive a special, named, scholarship: the Lee Huddleston Memorial Scholarship.

Lee Joseph Huddleston of Eugene, Oregon lost his life in February of 2020 while rescuing a group of children caught in a riptide while swimming off Moch island, in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Lee’s first experience in working with people of nations other than his own was in the years 2012-2013 as a volunteer in Peru, where he worked with at-risk youth at the Instituto Mundo Libre in Lima. He then served the people of Chuuk state as a Peace Corps Volunteer on the Island of Moch from 2014 to 2016.

Lee’s adventuresome spirit took him to Kazakhstan in 2018 where he worked for Yessenov University as a teacher trainer. Following that position he returned to work for the Chuuk State Department of Education as Instructional Support Coordinator for the mid-Mortlocks.

He was a graduate of Willamette High School in Eugene and from the University of Oregon where he obtained baccalaureate degrees in International Studies and Spanish as well as a Masters Degree in Language Teaching Studies.

The Lee Joseph Huddleston Memorial Scholarship provides tuition assistance to a student from the Outer Islands of Chuuk attending either elementary or high school anywhere within the FSM. Preference is given to deserving applicants from the Mortlock Islands.

As with all Habele scholarships, the Lee Huddleston Memorial Scholarship will help ensure bright, hardworking students have access to the best education possible. Based on need and merit, these scholarships focus on remote outer island, rural village, and female students.

Each Habele tuition grant is set at a level that maintains family ownership in student achievement while lightening the financial burden. Often scholarships cover between fifty and seventy-five percent of tuition and fees. Students must maintain and report high levels of academic achievement every term, applying each year for continued support. Details are online at habele.org/scholarships.

Memorial Scholarships are a special type of Habele K12 tuition grant. They honor the legacy of Americans whose life or work demonstrated exceptional commitment to the people of Micronesia, and embodied the best of the longstanding US-Micronesian partnership.

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