American Samoa is being represented by Matafao Elementary School teacher Charity Porotesano during the Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW), a three-day conference that runs from June 10-12 at the Newseum Knight Conference Center in Washington DC.

Charity, 23, is the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa’s 2014 Volunteer of the Year, who began her work in community service many years ago when she was a third grader herself, volunteering at the Feleti Barstow Public Library where she shelved books and helped with arts and crafts on Saturdays until her junior year of high school.

_The conference, according to an email correspondence from Charity, “is where policymakers, government officials, marine professionals, and advocates of ocean conservation come together to discuss ongoing work to preserve the ocean and to plan further means of preventing harm to the ocean.”

Tonight, on the opening night of the conference, an awards gala will be held to honor leaders, volunteers, and those who have dedicated many years (life time achievement awards) in  promoting the cause of ocean conservation.

Among those who will be honored are US Senator Carl Levin and the Honorable Norman Y. Mineta, the former US Secretary of Transportation. Charity will also be accepting an award for her volunteer work with the NMSAS.

Charity is being escorted on her trip by Tanimalie Letuli, the NMSAS Volunteer Coordinator and Sanctuary Superintendent Gene Brighouse, all of whom departed last Friday, June 6.

The conference is being hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary. “The conference seeks to bring together all the different sanctuaries to discuss what's going on in each respective Sanctuary, so it's very much a community building experience for the Sanctuaries,” Charity told Samoa News.

“I am looking forward to the Conference, to learn new ideas about the work needed to be done to keep our oceans and ocean life clean and healthy. As a young person, I appreciate very much the opportunity to interact with policymakers and experts because it's not every day I can attend a talk like that here in American Samoa,” she added.

“One thing I've missed about being in college or in a big city like DC is the open classrooms that these places offer. College and cities host conferences and talks about all issues from education and health care to environmental protection. I think we need to have more of these types of forums because they provide the space for dialogue and critical thinking on complex issues,” Charity said. “We, as an island, need to become more critical thinkers, especially the young people, because our island faces many problems.”

Charity said that as a teacher, she’s personally aware of the fact that young people “are just so wary of asking questions. So, we definitely need to establish a culture of engagement and learning here by creating more forums and talks.”

Charity said she loves the work she does for the NMSAS “because it is from a volunteer angle.” She explained, “As a volunteer, I have more flexibility with my time. My main passion is working to improve educational opportunities in American Samoa. I am where I am today because of education and I want to try my best to make sure that opportunities are made available to all students here in our territory.”

Charity was the main force behind the first ever Youth Science Workshop that was held at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center two weeks ago.

“Education is a means to personal, social, and economic development,” she said. “We need to invest more in students and one way to do that is to collaborate with agencies, especially community engaged entities like NMSAS, to provide education to students. As a volunteer, I can be both an educator and an ocean advocate.”

Charity has been teaching since August 2012 but this will be her last semester of teaching. She had planned on teaching for only two years before traveling off island to pursue policy experience in DC and graduate school.

She will be working as a year long Truman-Albright Fellow at the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in Maryland near the DC metro area. “My passion is education but I'd like to go into education policymaking one day, and the fellowship provides the experience to learn how policy is done,” she said.

“Teaching in the classroom, I see the difference I can make in a student’s life. I think policy can create broader change. So, after my fellowship I will pursue my masters in public policy with an emphasis on education,” Charity said.

She will be applying for graduate school this summer. Charity is from Fagatogo, Iliili, Futiga, Matatula, Aunu'u, and Faleasao. She grew up in the territory and left only when she attended college.

“Sometimes, living in our isolated islands, we are disconnected from the world. But I encourage students to explore the world because only then will your beliefs be challenged and you will find yourself asking questions and learning,” Charity continued.

She said she tries to bring the world to her classroom. In fact, last week, her third grade students had a tentative Skype date with her friend who is in animal conservation in Madagascar.

Charity is a 2008 graduate of Tafuna High School who went on to receive her bachelors degree in political science from Grinnell College, Iowa in 2012.

She said her future plans include working in education here in American Samoa from the policy side. “I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done to help make our education system better and to help teachers especially.”

In addition to the being the NMSAS Volunteer of the Year, Charity is also the youth representative to the Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC) where she’s raised the issue about the need for the community to have more collaboration with the NMSAS and to create programs for the younger students (K-5 to Level 4).

Currently, the NMSAS offers Ocean Star which targets students in levels 5-7.

When asked if she had any words of advice for the territory’s young people, Charity said, “I encourage students to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions, for how else will you get the information you want to know? Don't be normal either. Be weird and yourself. I think true leaders are those who challenge the status quo and you can't challenge anything if you are trying to conform and be ‘cool’.

“We need shakers and unique thinkers, not zombies who follow the same old routine.

Lastly, I encourage the youth to be respectful. It is such a shame that our culture is rooted in the idea of respect but unfortunately, the youth are not respectful people, especially to their teachers. We are all humans and what should define us is our ability to care for one another.”