If you received the PCC’s July 2005 newsletter, you might remember an article about a Rapa Nui (or Easter Island) elder who visited the Center and the adjoining BYU-Hawaii, Alberto Hotus. As part of that visit, the Center and the university agreed to extend several scholarships to Rapa Nui students.

Ito Pakarati (front) and Martin Hereveri, students from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) are now BYU-Hawaii students under a unique work-study scholarship program jointly offered by the PCC and the university.

Two of those students are currently working at the PCC’s Rapa Nui exhibit: Ito Pakarati and his cousin, Martin Hereveri.

Both young men, each 21, had been studying at a junior college in Los Angeles when they heard of the new scholarship program and let Sr. Hotus know of their interest.

When they’re not working at the PCC, Ito is now a music major and Martin is studying art at BYU-Hawaii. “I hope to graduate in three years and go back to the island to teach music to the new generation,” said Ito. Martin, who said he will also graduate in three years, added he wants “to help our island in any way I can.”

They are among approximately 700 students from Brigham Young University Hawaii, which is adjacent to the PCC, who are beneficiaries of a unique work-study relationship between the two institutions that goes back to the beginning of the Center in 1963:

Every visitor who comes to the Polynesian Cultural Center helps provide jobs for these student workers. In fact, over 500 Asian and Pacific students — almost all of whom would not otherwise be able to afford such a university education — participate in one of the most unique work-study programs in the world, which we call the International Work Experience Scholarship (IWES).

In exchange for working 19 hours per week during school terms and fulltime during summer and other breaks, IWES student-workers and their families agree to:

• Enroll fulltime at BYU-Hawaii
• Observe all university rules and regulations
• Live in campus housing (including married student housing)
• Not own a car
• Return home after graduating
• And families agree to provide some financial assistance based on their local economies.

Under this plan over 100 IWES students graduate from BYU-Hawaii every year, debt-free, and return home to build their careers, families, communities and countries.

By the end of this year, over 32 million visitors will have come to the Polynesian Cultural Center since it opened in October 1963, while providing educational opportunities for over 14,000 student workers.

If you’re one of those visitors, mahalo nui — thank you so very much — for your help. If you would like to provide extra assistance, it’s possible to make additional donations online through LDS Philanthropies, the charitable gift-receiving division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which oversees fundraising for both BYU-Hawaii and the PCC. Or if you would like to learn more about the Center’s unique relationship with BYU-Hawaii, click here.

The BYU-Hawaii Alumni Association issues a free monthly e-newsletter to anyone interested in learning more about our sister institution. In fact, it’s often said that the Polynesian Cultural Center and Brigham Young University Hawaii are “tied at the heart” because of the unique relationship that enables the PCC to provide jobs for approximately 700 BYU-Hawaii students — over 500 of them on our joint international work-scholarship program. A portion of all ticket and other purchases at the Polynesian Cultural Center goes toward supporting this program.

• Over 32 million visitors have come to the PCC since we opened on October 12, 1963.
• The PCC has contributed nearly $150 million toward the education of BYU-Hawaii students.
• Nearly 15,000 BYU-Hawaii students have supplemented their educational expenses by working at the PCC.
• Over 750 BYU-Hawaii students currently work at the Center each semester, augmenting their formal education with practical experience.
• Over 500 of the BYU-Hawaii student workers are on the International Work Experience Scholarship program.

Tala was our host, and she was great. My nine-year-old daughter was not feeling well, and Tala went above and beyond the call of duty to exceed our expectations, and create a wonderful memory my family will never forget. My six-year-old daughter wanted to take her home. Tala entertained the children — something you can’t train someone to have. Congratulations on hiring her, and please recognize her for her special guest service today. My family and I had a wonderful day, and we will visit again and recommend the PCC to our friends and family.

The “Tala” referred to is Josephine Tala Peseta, a sophomore math major at BYU-Hawaii from Samauga, Savaii, Samoa, who has worked at the PCC for about a year-and-a-half. Like Marcia Perret above, Peseta is a work-scholarship student.

“I enjoy the fact we meet a lot of people,” she said. “When I was a tour guide, I looked forward to it every day. I also liked sharing the culture and talking about different things that happen back home.”

Peseta said she actually has learned quite a bit about her Samoan and other Polynesian cultures since coming here. “I first started working in the Samoan village, and that helped a lot, then when I started working as a tour guide, I learned even more. Now I’m proud to answer the questions people ask.”

“I really like helping them, and I like the spirit of hospitality at PCC,” she said.

Perret, who will graduate in June and plans to go on to a master’s degree in Maori studies or anthropology back home, came to Laie on an International Work Experience Scholarship, a unique program fully funded by the PCC and jointly sponsored by BYU-Hawaii. “My family has eight children, and my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford to support me for any kind of university studies, but they knew I could work here on the IWES program,” she said.

“When I graduate, I’ll have no debt at all. Compared to some of my other friends who stayed in New Zealand and studied there, they’ve got student loans that will keep them in debt for ten-to-twenty years.”

“I’ve enjoyed the work part. The majority of my time here has been in the New Zealand village. I’ve also worked in Museum Stores and danced in the evening show, but those two jobs didn’t really compare to my experience in the village,” said Perret, who is the oldest child in her family. Her sister, Nataria, also recently started studying at BYU-Hawaii.

“This feels like home. I’ve been able to meet a lot of people from New Zealand who know a lot more about the culture than I do, who approve of the program and what we’re trying to do here at PCC. That makes me feel a lot better about what I do, especially since we’re so far away. My knowledge of tikanga Maori [customs and traditions] and my appreciation for it has grown a lot.” “For example, ever since I got here I’ve been participating in Whakataetae, and for the last two years I’ve been under the direction of Seamus Fitzgerald in the group Te Hokioi. This year, because I’m graduating, I’ve been able to incorporate some of it into my senior project. Part of it is to compose a waiata ringa [action song] and whakawatea [group exit], and to instruct the group. I’m working with Seamus, who’s supervising my senior project and helping me.”

Byron ‘Pailogi’ Tenney, a hospitality and tourism management major at BYU-Hawaii, is one of the young students working with Kap in the Samoan village. He’s also going to compete for the first time in this year’s World Fire Knife Dance Competition.

Tenney is originally from Pesega, Upolu, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which founded BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, maintains the Samoan equivalent of a large 7-12 school and a temple. He came to Hawaii in 1994 to attend nearby Kahuku High School, and after graduating, enrolled at BYU-Hawaii for two years. Tenney then served for two years as a Latter-day Saint missionary in Fukuoka, Japan. Consequently, he speaks fluent Japanese as well as his native Samoan and English.

He says he’s been preparing for the past year-and-a-half for the upcoming knife dance competition. “I’ve been learning from a lot of people, including Kap, and just watching the power of their motions.

“Nowadays there are a lot of moves more like baton twirling. Some of these are very nice, I admit, but like Kap and the others, I’m going to try to keep it traditional, and keep that part of the dance going.”

Tenney also admits he’s nervous. “They’ve been trying to get me to dance for a while, but this is my first competition. I kept saying I’m not ready, but I figured we’ll try it this year and see what happens.”

Tenney adds he has learned other aspects of his native culture at PCC, even though he grew up in Samoa. “The chief’s language, for example: Because my grandmother raised me, I didn’t have the opportunity to go out and learn that part of our language or the ‘ava [kava] ceremony… until I came here. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to work in the Samoan village. I love the learning experience and sharing my culture with others.”

Kapeneta ‘Kap’ Te’o-Tafiti, the PCC’s “ambassador” in the Samoan village, thinks this link to culture is very important.

“Knife dancing is a powerful way for Samoans, especially those who have been away from home for a long time, to become connected with our culture again. It’s also a powerful instrument to introduce Samoan culture to those who don’t know about it,” he says.

“When we share our culture in its pure form, people understand what we’re about,” he continues. “I love helping people understand who we truly are as Samoans, and the way we live and do things.”

Kap, who is extremely personable,  originally comes from Saipipi, Savaii —   the largest island in Samoa, but one with strong ties to centuries-old Polynesian customs. “We lived in a fale [house] just like this one,” he says, pointing to the family dwelling in the PCC’s Samoan village, “and I had to help cook the food and work in the plantation, just like we explain in our demonstrations here.”

Kap came to work at the Center in 1988 as a BYU-Hawaii work-scholarship student and, following a three-year break during which he taught in Samoa, graduated in three dimensional art in 1995. His creative pieces are for sale in the Center’s Kaha Ki’i Art Gallery.

He entered his first PCC World Fire Knife Competition in 1996 and started working fulltime at the Center in 1997, the same year he started to seriously learn knife dancing. He has competed every year since. “This will be my eleventh year. My best finish was second place in 2004.”

“When I graduated from BYU-Hawaii, I realized that was a very good thing to get into,” he says, adding that his older brother, Ah Chew Tafiti, a professional knife dancer, had taught him a few things when he was a child in Samoa and also helped train him in Hawaii. “My brother started dancing in 1974, and he’s still going,” he says, also crediting former PCC fire knife dancers Sielu Avea and So’o Tufaga for their help.

He explains his own style of knife dancing is very traditional. “There are a lot of baton twirling techniques that are entering into the dance, and it’s very exciting, but I think we should draw the lines between the traditional and creative forms. I’m going to help keep the traditional form alive,” he says, admitting that the addition of fire, which dates back to the 1940s, is one of the most exciting about the modern Samoan knife dance.

Kap, who is 39 and a very healthy near-vegetarian (like most Polynesians, he loves seafood), says he will “give the younger competitors a run for the money. I’ve always been physically fit, but when I met my wife, she was a vegetarian, so I changed. Within two weeks I could feel my breathing and my insides changing.”

Of those young people he now works with in the Samoan village, Kap adds he sees “a lot of potential in them. This is a great place for them. It’s really important for them to learn who we truly are in a Samoan cultural sense.”

“We’ve had thousands participate by the first weekend, and several news outlets have picked it up as a story of interest,” mentioned Ray Magalei, PCC’s Director of Marketing. “It’s successful because it’s a fun way to reconnect with old friends.”

Three hilarious Rapa Nui Moai, one of which is called “Tiki”, will try to help participants guess a secret friend’s name. Hopefully, the clues and hints they give will help remind the participants of their secret friend, who previously filled out a brief questionaire that included some information about themselves. If the participant can’t guess their friend’s name, they at least should be entertained as they learn about Polynesia and their secret friend. All Winners will be entered to win a trip to Hawaii, sponsored by the Polynesian Cultural Center and Get Away Vacations.

Remember, participants need to be invited to play, so tell some friends to invite you, or invite a bunch of your friends secretly to see how they do. For more information about this game, please visit www.polynesia.com/tiki-wisdom-game.html.

Kids — and adults — can learn some ukulele chords at the Hawaii Mission Settlement

Over the past several months each of the island villages at the Polynesian Cultural Center has been encouraging guests to “go native.”

“We want our guests to get involved in a series of new, hands-on activities,” explains Pulefano Galea’i, PCC artistic director in the islands. “For example, in Samoa some of the guests will put on a lavalava and help prepare the food to be cooked in the umu [ground oven]. After the food is cooked, another group will help uncover the umu and taste the food.”

Galea’i says some of the other new activities in Samoa include learning how to twirl the nifo ‘oti — similar to the ones the fireknife dancers use. “We’re also doing some coconut husking and firemaking competitions.”

“In New Zealand, we’ve expanded our weaponry practices by adding more games that anciently were used to help warriors learn dexterity and battle skills. In Tonga we have well-supervised tolo [spear] throwing competitions for the kids, and we get some of the guests involved in ancient fashions.”

“Come check it out. Each island has something to try,” Galea’i says. “When you’re here, we want you to think you’re at home and part of our family.”

The Polynesian Cultural Center is so good at what it does that some visitors are not even aware of one of our most unusual objectives: We work very closely with the adjacent Brigham Young University Hawaii to help students finance their education.

In fact, since we opened in October 1963 over 15,000 BYU-Hawaii students have “danced” (and guided, served, etc…) their way through school at the PCC. During those years, the Cultural Center has also contributed over $145 million to the university.

We currently have over 700 student employees at the Center, and of these over 500 participate in our unique International Work Experience Scholarship (IWES) program which enables almost all of them to graduate debt free. In fact, U.S. News and World Report magazine, in its America’s Best Colleges 2007 survey, recently ranked BYU-Hawaii as the number-one value among comprehensive bachelor’s degree-granting universities in the western United States, number three for the “least debt,” and number four overall.

If you’ve visited the Center before, you undoubtedly met many of our IWES students.

Yup, when you listen to Liolita Hola, a BYU-Hawaii IWES student worker in the Tongan village, you will definitely hear a bit of Alabama coming through. That’s because the tall, smiling young Tongan recently served her LDS Church mission in Birmingham and would love to go back some day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors both BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, and has a history in the Pacific islands dating back to 1844.

Of course, she recalls many “Bama folk” didn’t quite know what to make of a Tongan, but her big smile and island charm — that she now shares with PCC guests — helped them realize why the Kingdom of Tonga is also called the Friendly Islands.

Lita, a sophomore accounting major who is originally from Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital, graduated from Liahona High School — which is also sponsored by the LDS Church, after which she completed Form 7 [similar in British-oriented schools to freshman year at a U.S. university] at Tonga High School and then attended the Tonga campus of the University of the South Pacific. Acquiring an IWES grant, she came to the PCC in 2003 where she first worked in the Gateway Restaurant. Lita started working in the Tongan village shortly before leaving on her 18-month church mission in 2004.

“I love meeting people and I love working at the Polynesian Cultural Center,” Lita says. “One of the things I love is meeting people from all over the world, but since I served in Alabama, I really love to talk to them, because they speak with a Southern accent.”

“In the Tongan village, I love working with the others and also learning how to perform. I didn’t really know how to dance and be a narrator in front of people before, but now I do. I learn something new every day.”

“I also love going to BYU-Hawaii, because it helps to strengthen my [Christian] testimony. Their standards are my standards,” Lita says, explaining the joint BYU-Hawaii/PCC International Work Experience Scholarship program has made it possible for her to study here because her parents, who were divorced, have 13 other children. “Only my sister, who’s also a student here, and I were raised in Tonga. The IWES program is helping me achieve the goals I made when I was a kid.”

Lita adds that after she graduates in 2008 she wants “to go back home and teach accounting, and then hopefully come back and further my education.” She also notes, with an infectious laugh, that she’s still “single and available.”

“Without the Polynesian Cultural Center, I wouldn’t be able to do this,” she says.