Samoana Integrated Learning Initiative - SAILI

We had a wonderful time at Pacific Heritage Academy Official Site. Your voyagers are amazing! Faafetai to all your administration, staff, and teachers for helping us create a wonderful space for learning. ❤️

Our Mighty Voyagers were able to learn so much from Wayfinders Celeste Ha’o and Fani Bruun! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! Thank you Representative Jake Fitisemanu, Laneta, and Nu’u from SAILI for making this happen! We hope to have them back again! #WeAreMightyVoyagers #PacificHeritageAcademy #PHA #PHAOhana #Wayfinders #Hokulea #Gaualofa #Hikianalia @jakefitisemanu @celestehao @fanibruun

To kick off Utah Wayfinding Week, we highlighted some of the early Samoans who made the voyage to Utah, including young Samoans who came in search of educational opportunities. One of them was Ida Mae Thorn (Fa’ateaina Tamasepani), the first Samoan nurse to graduate from the LDS Hospital School of Nursing in 1918.

Charles Schwenke, the son of Charles Schwenke of Apia, Sāmoa, and Tilesa Taefuafua Tofilau, arrived in Utah in May 1905. He became the first person of Samoan ancestry to graduate from college in Utah, earning a degree in Zoology from Brigham Young Academy, now Brigham Young University, in 1914. In 1915, Roy Purcell graduated from Brigham Young University. He was a talented orator and vocalist and served as a student body officer.

Coming to a new land and succeeding in these ways was no small feat. Their stories remind us that the spirit of voyaging and wayfinding lives on, not just in canoes, but in classrooms, careers, and communities. These early Samoans navigated new worlds with courage and purpose, just as our ancestors did across the Pacific.

Photos were sourced from the Brigham Young Academy Banyan yearbooks and the Ida Mae Thorn folder in the Mary Hooper Blood Linford Photograph Collection at the J. Willard Marriott Library.

When not in active use, an outrigger canoe was pulled onshore and propped up to dry on wooden support beams, where it could be inspected for damages and prepared for its next expedition.

A person who is reliable and always ready to help and serve is compared to a proven canoe that is propped up and ready to sail at any time.

Join us for Utah Wayfinding Week rsvp for our free events at saili.org.

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