By KAMILIANNAH ESEROMA
Westside Express
This week’s article focuses on the Pacheco High School Polynesian club. This is a cultural-based club that performs, does different activities, and helps out the community. It is a newly started club this year and the participants have done many activities both on and off campus.
PHS has had a Polynesian club in the past but it unfortunately ended, but as I said, they have started the club back up again and hope to keep it going throughout the future.
I am the club’s president, and the vice president position is held by Diamond-Pearl Tuitupou (senior). We also have a treasurer position held by Coreylei Vaifale and a secretary position held by Manaia Letuligasenoa. The advisor of the club is Mr.Siemiller (math department) and we have more than 50 students who are active in the club.
A few different events that the club has taken part in is Pacheco’s annual Multicultural night and the school’s homecoming rally. We have performed many Polynesian cultural dances at both the rally and multicultural night. At multicultural night we had a spam musubi fundraiser as well as a booth where we gave out free samples to the visitors.
The first performance we had ever taken part in was the hoco rally and we performed what is called a Samoan Siva. At multicultural night we performed a series of many cultural dances such as another Samoan siva, a Haka, a Hawaiian Hula, and our senior Diamond Tuitupou had done a solo Tahitian dance. All of these performances were a big hit with the student body and the community of Los Banos.
The club’s booth and fundraiser were also a big hit and we want to thank everyone who came to support us.
Another event that we have taken part in is feeding the homeless for the holidays. We went out around town on Dec. 11 to give out snack bags, hot soup, clothes, shoes, and blankets. We also helped the Community Church of Los Banos with this event, and got many new views on the status of our community. We were very blessed to participate in this event with a local church.
The Polynesian Club has around 50 active club members who are very excited to have such a big turnout. Some of the students around campus have had many positive comments about the club.
Coreylei Vaifale said, “Our club spreads the word of Polynesian Islands and what the difference is between other ethnicities. And how we are not just a costume but REAL people who live in this life”
We are not just a high school club, we are the Polynesian representatives of PHS, and we are here to show that we are here for a reason. I am super honored to be not only the president of this club but to showcase our culture in so many ways for not only my family and me, but also for the ones that are not heard.
Our club is not only for the Polynesians on campus but for many others at PHS, and we are very proud to say that our club is filled with many different ethnicities who spread and learn about Polynesian culture. The Polynesian club members wants to let the community know that we are here to not only show off our culture but to be a big part of the community. We are super excited to have showcased many Polynesian cultural acts around PHS and will continue to do so.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading and can’t wait to share more with you!
