SOE Alumni Newsletters

Check out the following SOE Alumni Newsletters:

SOE Fañomnåkan 2023 Newsletter · Volume 1 · Issue 1
SOE Fanuchånan 2023 Newsletter · Volume 2 · Issue 1
SOE Fañomnåkan 2024 Newsletter · Volume 3 · Issue 1

315 earn degrees at UOG commencement

The University of Guam conferred degrees Sunday to 315 graduates at its Fañomnåkan 2024 Commencement Ceremony in the Calvo Field House.

Of 269 bachelor’s degrees conferred — a 15% increase from last spring — the largest programs were business administration, biology, primarily in the bio-medical track, and nursing, the latter with a near-record number of 31 graduates. Of 46 master’s degrees conferred, the largest program was the Master of Arts in Teaching for secondary education with 17 graduates.

UOG President Anita Borja Enriquez acknowledged that this graduating class endured Typhoon Mawar, the pandemic — many who missed out on their high school graduation ceremonies — along with personal struggles. “But we exercised our island cultural strengths of community, faith, and resilience — our minesgnon — to ensure comfort and safety across our flotilla of canoes to get us through these challenges,” she said.

Scholarships for Fanuchånan 2024 to Fañomnåkan 2025

 

SOE Alumni Webmaster/Treasurer Presents at the 53rd NABE Conference

Dr. Matilda Naputi Rivera, SOE Alumni Association Treasurer, shared her presentation titled Fostering Language and History through Storytelling.

The National Association for Bilingual Education is the only nationwide network of professionals dedicated to serving English language learners in the United States via education programs and legislative advocacy. For the past four decades, NABE has been committed to excellence in bilingual and biliteracy education for all students through enriched educational programs and intensive professional development for teachers, administrators, professors, policymakers and parents. Additionally, NABE provides extensive research in the field via its Bilingual Research Journal, NABE Perspectives, NABE Journal of Research and Practice and the NABE eNews. NABE is committed to promoting programs and innovations that prepare our nation's students to be fluently bilingual, technologically creative, globally competitive and well-rounded world citizens by advancing legislation and policies at both the state and national levels that best serve language minority students.

Source:  NABE.org

SOE Newsletter - Fañomnåkan 2023

Click here to view the SOE Newsletter - Fañomnåkan 2023 · Volume 2 · Issue 1.

Congratulations Newly-Elected SOE Alumni Officers!

Congratulations to the newly-elected SOE Alumni Officers who were officially elected on December 9, 2023!  They include the following:

President:  Martha Sudo
Vice President:  Margaret Beem
Secretary:  Rose Castro
Treasurer/Webmaster:  Dr. Matilda Naputi Rivera

UOG, families celebrate Fanuchånan 2023 graduates

 Family members, friends, and dignitaries from across the Micronesia region gathered to celebrate 220 graduates during the University of Guam’s Fanuchånan 2023 Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, December 17, at the UOG Calvo Field House.

The commencement speaker, a former high school dropout who grew up poor, and became an internationally known motivational and keynote speaker, shared some of his most life-changing lessons. 

Dr. Samuel Betances said before he got accepted into college, he volunteered for jobs that no one else wanted, and in doing so received mentorship that encouraged him to read. 

“Read memoirs about people who had it tougher than you that bounced back and managed to excel,” said Dr. Betances, who holds a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in education from Harvard University. 

He urged the graduates to continue learning, become someone’s mentor, and be part of change for a better community. 

“The fires are raging, and it is your turn to hold the hose,” he said, receiving an enthusiastic response from the graduates, their family members, and friends.

UOG President Anita Borja Enriquez encouraged the graduates to share the University’s “values of respect, compassion and community.” 

“Give back in your capacities as new professionals, as value-added critical thinkers and problem-solvers, be represented in all industry sectors, and work collaboratively and in harmony with and through others as Triton alumni,” the President said. 

Aspiring psychologist Haley Mae M. Carreon is the valedictorian. Born in Guam and the daughter of Filipino immigrants Andy Carreon, an electrical engineer, and Shirley Carreon, an accountant, Haley Carreon credits her family’s strong support of her education since childhood. She said she practiced good time management, a solid work ethic, and the humility she learned from home. She studied psychology as her major and sociology was her minor. 

“We gather here not just as graduates but also as people who have experienced a transformative journey, molded by the obstacles we have overcome, the knowledge we have gained, and the connections we have created here at UOG,” the valedictorian said. “Today is not just a culmination of four years of hard work, it is a celebration of resilience and growth.” 

The graduates overcame almost three years of the pandemic and the devastation caused by Typhoon Mawar.

The commencement also celebrated 22 graduates who comprise the first cohort in the Master of Accountancy Program at the School of Business Administration.