On Friday 11th April Vilfred Crawley 12YT, Astella D’Souza 13SA,  Fabian Fabricius 12HA, Maatai Galiga 12GZ, Telua Galiga 12FN, Mafa  Levi 12NN and Keleni Tupou 12NN, attended the TULA’I 10 week Leadership Programme that is a Mana enriching Mentoring Project aimed at developing the confidence and the leadership abilities for Pasifika Students. One of the Youth Leaders is Ex-Rutherford student from 2024 Tiana Poliko

The TULA’I program was a really cool experience because we got to make up our own  skit and work together as a group to come up with ideas. It was really fun being able to come up with our own ideas and then produce something cool from them.

I enjoyed meeting new people and seeing what everyone had to contribute to the program. I also enjoyed participating in the different activities that they had to offer such as the singing competition and learning about the tula’i values of respect, love, humility and reciprocal relationships. This was important to me because those are basic values that everyone should aspire to. 

I really liked how they encourage people to stand up for themselves and have the courage to learn new things and answer questions. It was really cool how they taught us how to show courage through different lessons . 

I enjoyed the leaders and how friendly and inspiring they were, I thought it was really cool how they went through the tula’i program and are now going through the program again, this time as leaders to help the next future tula’i leaders.

Fabian Fabricius 12HA

Going into the TULA’I program was a great experience because I participated in many activities involving singing competitions, charades and group skits. There were a couple speakers who introduced themselves and said a small speech which uplifted myself and everyone there. I learned my top two attributes of myself which were family and faith. The next step was to communicate with the team on how to use those two attributes into a skit. This took some time but benefited me because it taught me patience and bravery because I had to step up and say my ideas to everyone then apply it. Overall the experience was great and I felt very welcomed. 

My leaders were always active and making sure no one felt left out and always brought the team together.  I’m really grateful for Mr Talamavao for driving and organizing us students to the program and back. 

Thank you. 

Mafa Levi 12NN

I enjoyed TULA’I, because meeting new friends and also getting to know each other. 

I enjoyed TULA’I because it helped me stand on courage. 

I enjoyed TULA’I mostly because of the nice food they provided. 

TULA’I also had some other schools which some of the old boys were there too. I also loved TULA’I because of the skits, they were crack up and good for us, because most of the groups were referring to the reality of Pasifika Youth. 

Telua Galiga 12FN

TULA’I was a good experience because they were nice and very welcoming. The leaders were good and courageous. We played games with the other schools and got to know each other and where they come from. I learned about respect, humility, reciprocal and love. What the program taught me was to not be shy and speak with confidence. My favourite thing about the program is how they provide great food for us and encourage us to go for seconds which is thoughtful of them. Because of how young the leaders were they understood where we were coming from when explaining about our generation. The whole program was good and it's nice to be a part of that experience.

Keleni Tupou 12NN