The Commonwealth’s education system has undergone changes and redirection from the days of the first documented beginning of public schools on Saipan at the turn of the 20th century.
One of the major developments was the establishment of the first public high school offering a full-time high school program in the Northern Marianas. Marianas High School was established in 1969 to meet the demands of the community and provide for expanded learning support and opportunity for the residents of the Northern Marianas.
Its creation came also at a time when the islands’ economic and political map began to change at the end of the mid-20th century– the transition that was part of the government’s development plans buoyed by both natural and economic factors.
Back then, after completing elementary education, students attend Saipan Intermediate School which was founded in 1949. Between 1962 and 1965, Hopwood began enrolling students in grades 10 through 12 (which became Hopwood Junior-Senior High School in later years).
The strongest typhoon to strike Saipan at that time nearly flattened Hopwood Secondary School on April 11, 1968. The 190 mile-per hour winds of Typhoon Jean destroyed the “Quonset huts of the high school”, according to historical accounts in a 1991 edition of the History of the Northern Mariana Islands.
A more detailed description of the destruction was captured in the 1968 edition of the Micronesia Report:
“Typhoon Jean smashed into the Marianas on April 11, 1968. The damages to Saipan and Tinian were incredible. A few figures tell part of the story. Sixty-four percent of the private homes on the island were damaged in excess of a loss of roof and scrambled interior partitioning.
Thirty-three percent of the schoolrooms on the island were destroyed. Another 64 percent were so damaged as to require major repair.
Survey teams estimated a preliminary total of $8.5 million worth of damage to government facilities alone.”
As a result, the work accelerated f or the construction of a new high school.
Funds were appropriated by the UN-Administration Northern Mariana Islands Trust Territory government to build a new high school, and it was named Marianas High School.
Marianas High School was built at its current location.
It opened in the fall of 1969.
Marianas High School’s establishment was also part of the island government’s plan at that time to expand Saipan’s education system.
In the December 1, 1967, edition of the Marianas Bulletin, it published a story, “Hawaii Architects and Engineers Release Proposals for Saipan Master Plan”. The article mentioned several alternatives that were presented for urban development of the island, with Garapan as the main residential center.
One of the proposals was to include public schools facilities, including and particularly, “Hopwood High School would be best relocated in Garapan”, said the planners. The proposal states that the present site is somewhat restricted and is directly on the major highway which serves the southern end of the island.
In addition, the proposal call for the establishment of “consolidated middle schools” in Garapan and Chalan Kanoa and neighborhood-oriented elementary schools in San Vicente and San Antonio.
The plan was put forward four months before Typhoon Jean battered Saipan and left a heavy infrastructure toll in its aftermath.
Historic First batch
During the spring of 1970, Marianas High School produced its first senior class.
The historic first batch of Marianas High School graduates was the Class of 1970 and produced 122 senior high school graduates. The MHS pioneering graduates doubled the number of the last cohort of Hopwood Junior-Senior High School’s senior class before MHS opened in 1969..
Hopwood Junior-Senior High School produced 67 graduates in 1968.
The MHS Class of 1970 valedictorian was Bernardita Palacios Reyes.
The Class of 1970 salutatorian was Jose Iglecias Sablan.
The population of Marianas High School during the early 1970s was around 750. High school at that time was only three years: 10th, 11th, and 12th.
MHS will grow as the largest public school in the CNMI in terms of student population over the course of the last 55 years.
According to its pioneering teacher who went to become the longest serving school principal, Victorino Sablan Cepeda, it was mid-1980s that the school population began to increase.
By 1986, student population for MHS breached the 1,000-mark.
By 1992 MHS expanded its program by adding a new grade level – 9th grade, becoming a four-year high school.
The said first batch of 9th graders became the first MHS cohort (Class of 1995) to graduate after having able to complete a full four-year high school program.
The Principals
In the 55 years of its history, there were only about a dozen educators that served the MHS community as school administrators. They were very notable in their own right, and, to this day, are remembered for advocating the missions and goals of Marianas High School, which continues to serve the community to this day.
It’s what these school leaders did, by exhibiting commitment, passion and dedication that speak to the hope, opportunity and purpose that defines Marianas High School 55 years later.
Five decades on, MHS continues to distinguish itself as an institution of learning that provides optimum learning opportunities for every student.
Marianas High School and the community are honored to have been served by these school administrators in the last 55 years:
David Miller (1969 ); Luis Benavente (1971-1972); Victorino S. Cepeda (1973-1979); (1980, 1981) Antonio Quitugua; Victorino S. Cepeda (1983-1988); Joe A. Bermudes (1989); Herman DLG Sablan (1990-1992); Doris T. Thompson (1993); Victorino S. Cepeda (1994); Doris T. Thompson (1995); James W. Feger (1996); James Denight (1997- 2005); Karen Borja (2006- 2010); Craig Garrison (2010-2011) Cherlyn Cabrera (2011-2017); Eric Evangelista (2018), and the current administrator, Jonathan Aguon, who assumed his post in 2018.
Building A taken betwen 1970s to early 1980s
One of the earliest photo of MHS students captured in the early 1970s
MHS 1980s
MHS in 1980s
1975 MHS Year Book earliest recorded
