5 weeks of learning, 5 weeks of late practices, 5 weeks of hard work for 20 minutes of spotlight. This year’s Polyfest campaign is definitely a memory that I will cherish for a long time.

I was part of the Samoan Group last year and this year has definitely been challenging. Last year we were a much older group and this year we were much younger as many of the 2017 seniors have left. It took us a while to get going as there was a lot of distractions. Practice till 6pm every night and also a Saturday practice. We were working hard and we would not stop until our campaign was over. There was a lot of bumps along the road but we stuck to it. I’ll be honest I didn’t know if our group was going to pull through, but we did.

We performed at FiaFia night in front our friends and families and nothing can replace the feeling of making your family proud.

We polished and polished for our performance at Polyfest and when we went on stage, we rocked it the only way we could, the ‘Rutherford Way’. We performed a Sasa that surprised the crowd and we left our mark. Besides some drama with the judging tent we did our best.

A huge thank you to our tutors for all their time and commitment  – Toeoletitooaana Falealili Matafeo, Joash Fahitua, Kerry Taula and Vesi T.

I am proud of our group. I am proud of our school. I am proud to be Samoan. However, we are no longer a group, we are a family. I am grateful for this experience and I wouldn’t change it a bit.

Don’t forget your roots and be proud of where you come from.

Tofa soifua.