PICED - Pacific Islands Center for Educational Development

PICED recognizes the need to prepare the student not just within the academic arena but in a wide range of areas. With the YES! Project, made possible by a grant from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), PICED has expanded its services to include student personality and career aptitude assessments, leadership and social development seminars, and summer internships.

Each student going through the YES! Project will have a Personal Education Plan and Portfolio (PEPP) including the results of their personality and career aptitude assessments, personal mission statement, information from leadership and social development seminars, standardized test scores and copies of their best work from PICED and from school.

Phase 1: Personality Assessments
Selected students grades 8 to 12 have the opportunity to enhance their self knowledge by taking a number of personality and career aptitude assessments. These assessments will be used by students to identify individual strengths and weaknesses in order to outline a self improvement plan and to develop a mission statement for their future goals.

Phase 2: Leadership Seminars
Students meeting selection criteria may participate in leadership and social development seminars covering topics from public speaking, time management, financial management, and effective decision making. These are scheduled thought the year for student’s grades 8 to 12.

Phase 3: Summer Internships
During the summer breaks, an estimated 20 juniors and seniors participate in PICED’s ongoing Internship Program. These students are not paid but get the opportunity to apprentice at a diverse work sites throughout the island. Based on the results of their career inventories, students apply for internships within their field of interest. All qualified juniors and seniors receive counseling about applying for summer programs off-island. These internships include the NASA Sharp and the Upward Bound Science and Math programs.