Engineering key Maori, Samoan structures
![Traditional Samoan fare (houses) in 1962.](https://legacy.polynesia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/aoishian-samoa0-1962.jpg)
A Church engineer took this picture of traditional Samoan houses in 1962 to help create building plans for the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Tui Hunt Ikihega: A PCC “baby”
![Tui Kay Hunt was just a baby when she first started "working" at the Center.](https://legacy.polynesia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tui_ikihega090213.jpg)
Tua Hunt’s mother and father were both working at the Center when she was born . . . and she soon joined them, later returning as a student employee.
Huiariki Watene: “It all started here”
![](https://legacy.polynesia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/riki_watene2.jpg)
Huiariki “Riki” Wātene, a Maori from Hastings, New Zealand, parlayed his PCC experience into a career back home.
‘Aunty Val’: A PCC ‘living treasure’
![Aunty Valetta Nepia Jeremiah from New Zealand devoted most of her adult life to her Maoritanga and the Polynesian Cultural Center.](https://legacy.polynesia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/valetta-jeremiah-2013.jpg)
Aunty Valetta Nepia Jeremiah from New Zealand devoted 50 years of her life to the Polynesian Cultural Center, and was revered as a “living treasure.”