During last Friday’s cabinet meeting, it was revealed by American Samoa Community College president Dr. Rosevonne Makaiwi Pato that she had met with leaders from the business community on the type of skills needed as the community college plans to open this year its trade center.

The Lolo Administration also plans to expand Nu’uuli Vocational Technical High School into a full fledge trade school and has pushed for ASCC to increase trade courses at the territory’s only institution of higher education. (See Tuesday’s issue for details.)

“I have met with several of our private sector executives regarding what skills are important for our students or our graduates to have,” Pato told the cabinet meeting. “They highly recommend ASCC look at the trades and technology as well as tourism and other areas that provide skills to our students, so right after graduation they can go right into jobs and that we no longer have to import workers.”

“So this is a big area that we will be looking at,” she said and asked cabinet members including heads of authorities to contact her or ASCC staff to provide the type “of highly needed skills” so “we can built the true concept of the community college, where we serve and educate our students so they can walk out and be employable with quality skills.”

She also told the meeting that the ASCC Research Foundation is now revived but its first golf course fund raising that was initially planned for March is not going to happen. She said that after consulting with the golf course, ASCC was informed that the facility was booked until June.

“So we will have our first annual golf tournament on June 10, which is the earliest time available. And we are asking everybody to please support us,” she said adding that ASCC will be putting out ads for sponsorships and donations.

The ASCC Research Foundation is established under local statute as a non-profit, tax exempted public corporation. Among the Foundation’s functions, according to the statute, is to receive and administer grant contracts or agreements with federal, territorial and international governmental agencies; and receive and administer funds from grants, contracts, endowments, individuals, gifts or requests of property and to prudently invest such in a manner that will promote maximum financial growth.

Pato also informed Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga that ASCC have been on cost containment measures since last October and those measures include a freeze on hiring and no travel unless required.