TALK STORY
MOST RECENT STORIES
Tui Hunt Ikihega: A PCC “baby”
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.
Aunty Kela: So much history since we first started
Aunty Kela Miller was born in Laie, learned hula from her ‘ohana, danced at the Hukilau, then became an original Hawaiian Villager and dancer at the PCC.
Huiariki Watene: “It all started here”
Huiariki “Riki” Wātene, a Maori from Hastings, New Zealand, parlayed his PCC experience into a career back home.
Haunani Kaanaanā Nash: “The best place to work”
Haunani Kaanaanā attended Church College of Hawaii in 1956, but didn’t join the PCC until 10 years later. She soon become one of the Center’s first female managers.
James Brague: PCC/BYUH Brass Band 2
The PCC/BYU–Hawaii Brass Band, which previously last played in 1995, held a reunion during the Center’s 50th-anniversary celebration in 2013.
‘Aunty Val’: A PCC ‘living treasure’
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.”
Tivakno Ieli Sievinen: “Truly grateful”
Tivakno Ieli Sievinen was originally from the small, remote island of Rotuma, a political dependency of Fiji with its own language and culture. (She passed away in July 2020.)
Vi’iga Fuimaono Jr: “My second home”
Vi’iga Fuimaono Jr. worked his way through college as a Polynesian Cultural Center’s canoe guide, and has held a number of important positions since in Samoa.
Brent Malolo: Canoe dancer, night show performer
Malolo grew up in a small village on the Samoan island of Savai’i, and went to school in the capital and near Wellington, New Zealand, before attending BYU–Hawaii and working at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
