SAIPAN — Four CNMI high school students spent the week Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck the Marianas presenting to federal agencies in Washington, D.C., representing the Commonwealth at the 2026 National 4-H Conference while checking on their families back home between sessions.
Isa Nishitani, Jesse Lin, Jeongbin “Celine” Park and Danica Malaborbor, youth delegates from Saipan and Rota, attended the April 10 to 15 conference, the USDA’s flagship youth development event hosted by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The conference ran on the same dates Sinlaku made landfall over Tinian and Saipan.
“In daylight, I fought to represent our islands within the walls of [Washington] D.C.; at night, I was a child on the phone, making sure my family and friends made it through Super Typhoon Sinlaku,” said Park, a Saipan delegate. “Through bringing my perspective to the table in D.C., I wanted to ensure our community’s current struggle becomes a documented part of the American story that is never forgotten.”
The delegates worked alongside more than 200 youth leaders from across the country, engaging with federal agriculture agencies and congressional committees, developing solutions to policy questions and presenting Youth Perspective Briefings to 18 federal agencies at the close of the conference. Roundtable topics included AI, apprenticeship pathways and family engagement around substance use.
“Working with 200+ fellow 4-H’ers, I realized that the history of America is often told as a single story, leaving out the unique voices of territories like the CNMI,” Park said. “I learned that true leadership means securing the resources to archive our island’s resilience within the national story.”
The CNMI’s presence extended beyond the delegation. Rosabelle Surla, a longtime 4-H Marianas member now studying at Western Oregon University, helped run the national conference itself as Lead Collegiate Facilitator, her third year in a facilitator role. After serving as a Collegiate Facilitator in 2024 and 2025, Surla spent more than seven months helping design curriculum, plan the event, train facilitators and oversee delegate roundtables, while serving as a liaison between chaperones and conference staff.
“I have learned how truly blessed I am to come from such a close-knit community in the Mariana Islands, and the support I continue to receive from them, even if they are across the world from me,” Surla said. “I hope to one day expand 4-H on all three islands and inspire the youth to take their voices and education further to later bring it back home and shape the CNMI into a better place for all generations to come.”
“True leadership was shown by the youth who stepped forward to represent their fellow youth amid the uncertainty of ST Sinlaku,” said Tayna Belyeu-Camacho, Family, Community, and Youth Development State/Territory Program Leader. “Even as their community was still finding stability, they chose to fully engage in the conference, carrying the voices, hopes, and resilience of their peers and schools.”
The National 4-H Conference convenes 4-H members from across the country annually for professional development, networking and direct engagement with federal officials on national issues.
