Gregorio Sablan: “The America COMPETES Act makes landmark investments to ensure our people, research, innovation, and manufacturing remain…”

“The America COMPETES Act makes landmark investments to ensure our people, research, innovation, and manufacturing remain competitive globally. The legislation includes several of my bills supporting these goals: by providing Marianas students pathways to well-paying jobs through access to STEM courses and apprenticeships, by ensuring math and science teachers in the Marianas are recognized at the national level along with their peers in education, and by protecting the ocean life that has always been so important to the people and culture of the Marianas. To be specific the America COMPETES Act includes my bill, the Outlying Areas Apprenticeship Expansion Act, which provides $2.8 million to establish an apprenticeship program. Our school systems already equip students with the skills employers seek. Now we need to build a connection between that classroom learning and the real-world workplace. Apprenticeships provide that link. And with our economy still struggling to recover due to the pandemic, that link is needed now more than ever. We also need to recognize the teachers who are giving those students the skills they need. My bill, the STEM Educator Awards Equity Act, has also been incorporated in the COMPETES Act and expands the annual Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching so a teacher in each of America's insular areas can be recognized.…”