WILMER JOEL
The College of the Marshall Islands has a new director overseeing operations at the Upward Bound program.
With a master’s degree in Curriculum Studies, Pam Kaious began working in May and is now in charge of managing Upward Bound’s planning, execution, and accountability in addition to making sure that all grant requirements are fulfilled. In addition, overseeing the program’s sixty students, eight faculty, five tutors, and two staff.
She received her primary and secondary education exclusively from public schools, attending Delap Elementary, Majuro Middle, and Marshall Islands High Schools. Despite becoming a mother at a young age, she said it did not deter her from finishing her education.
She started working for the program back in 2017 as a counselor after returning from school abroad. Kaious said that the program’s mission is to enable high school students to complete postsecondary education and become exemplary citizens.
Compared to her previous position, she said internal management is new for her. “You have to look at all angles: finances, recruitment of teachers, tutors, and students,” she said. The director also needs to work with the students and community leaders to do community service, work with scholarship providers and attend numerous college meetings. “Compared to before, I just sit and wait to be instructed,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to give the instruction.”
Since taking over as director, Kaious has made it a top priority to clear the program’s findings in the college’s 2021 audit. “I would say when I first got into the position, the program was under audit,” she said. “So I was under a lot of pressure trying to keep up with the audit, trying to find some ways to support the findings that they got on us. Finding those supporting documents is very hard. There were times that I had to stay up late just to meet the deadline of submission.”
She confirmed to the Journal that all missing documents were found to address the findings.
Under her leadership, Kaious claims communication and cooperation between parents, staff, and students is improving. In the past, parents were not very cooperative or engaged, despite signing a promissory note to support their child throughout the program. She said that recent efforts to engage parents through parent-teacher meetings and updates on student progress have proven successful.
Kaious is also working to improve the financial accountability at the program. These measures include collecting copies of contracts, memos for every employee and logs of the students.
Her major goal as director is to make UB a “productive environment for our students.”
“You know what? We’re not fully equipped with computers, electronics, and school supplies,” she said. “I should find more ways to accommodate their needs.”
She also aims to improve students’ attendance and progress. “I want the students that we have right now to excel on every subject they have at their schools,” she said. “So how will I do that? I will try to work with the schools, get their report cards, and bring them over here. And then have them, or have tutors work with them, try to boost their grades.”
She added that the program will work closely with parents.
One of the objectives of the program is for 55 percent of the UB graduates to gain a college degree.The program will track them for six years to see if they have completed an associate or bachelor’s degree within six years.
The Journal asked the new director why the program should remain open. “Well, first of all, this is for underrepresented students of the country,” she said. “It’s for students who have the potential but don’t have the financial support or financial means. Also, not only will the program help them with finances, but also it will get them to college.”
She added that one benefit of participating in the program is that all college entrance exams, such as the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Test of English as a Foreign Language, are paid for. Other benefits include assisting low-income families, providing tutoring for students, and meeting their social and academic needs.