Following the outcomes of the interscholastic youth forum held in February of 2024, the Sons of Sureor worked with high school principals and Koror-based elementary school principals to establish the Interscholastic Student Body Association (ISBA). The meeting to elect ISBA’s first officers and to establish a committee took place on April 4 at the Palau High School Student Resource Center and was attended by students from Belau Modekngei School, Mindszenty High School, Palau High School and Palau Mission Academy, who were nominated by their peers in the 2024 gathering.
After the establishment of its officers, ISBA’s first order of business was to develop an agenda for an interscholastic youth forum next fall – a process that will involve engagements with the larger student body.
Building on a forum that first convened on the campus of the Palau Mission Academy in 2023, the establishment of ISBA aims to provide an interactive space for students to expand on opportunities for development and growth and to establish a mechanism that fosters an integrated approach across programs that benefits all students. The forum has continued to adopt recommendations that came from students’ discussions and consultations with school principals – one of which was the inclusion of 8th grade students from Koror-based elementary schools.
As a strategic focus under this initiative, students will continue to take on more responsibilities in planning and organizing future forums, giving them additional opportunities to lead and coordinate activities and collaborate across different schools.
This meeting was made possible through generous support from the Non-Communicable Diseases Grant funding administered through the National Coordinating Mechanism and the Ministry of Health and Human Services. The Sons of Sureor is a community-based organization that strives to create a platform to engage in regular dialogue and develop programs that equip and strengthen youth groups to improve their overall wellbeing and development.