Students work with a purpose
If you received the PCC’s July 2005 newsletter, you might remember an article about a Rapa Nui (or Easter Island) elder who visited the Center and the adjoining BYU-Hawaii, Alberto Hotus. As part of that visit, the Center and the university agreed to extend several scholarships to Rapa Nui students.
 |
|
Ito Pakarati (front) and Martin Hereveri, students from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) are now BYU-Hawaii students under a unique work-study scholarship program jointly offered by the PCC and the university. |
Two of those students are currently working at the PCC’s Rapa Nui exhibit: Ito Pakarati and his cousin, Martin Hereveri.
Both young men, each 21, had been studying at a junior college in Los Angeles when they heard of the new scholarship program and let Sr. Hotus know of their interest.
When they’re not working at the PCC, Ito is now a music major and Martin is studying art at BYU-Hawaii. “I hope to graduate in three years and go back to the island to teach music to the new generation,” said Ito. Martin, who said he will also graduate in three years, added he wants “to help our island in any way I can.”
They are among approximately 700 students from Brigham Young University Hawaii, which is adjacent to the PCC, who are beneficiaries of a unique work-study relationship between the two institutions that goes back to the beginning of the Center in 1963:
Every visitor who comes to the Polynesian Cultural Center helps provide jobs for these student workers. In fact, over 500 Asian and Pacific students — almost all of whom would not otherwise be able to afford such a university education — participate in one of the most unique work-study programs in the world, which we call the International Work Experience Scholarship (IWES).
In exchange for working 19 hours per week during school terms and fulltime during summer and other breaks, IWES student-workers and their families agree to:
• Enroll fulltime at BYU-Hawaii
• Observe all university rules and regulations
• Live in campus housing (including married student housing)
• Not own a car
• Return home after graduating
• And families agree to provide some financial assistance based on their local economies.
Under this plan over 100 IWES students graduate from BYU-Hawaii every year, debt-free, and return home to build their careers, families, communities and countries.
By the end of this year, over 32 million visitors will have come to the Polynesian Cultural Center since it opened in October 1963, while providing educational opportunities for over 14,000 student workers.
If you’re one of those visitors, mahalo nui — thank you so very much — for your help. If you would like to provide extra assistance, it’s possible to make additional donations online through LDS Philanthropies, the charitable gift-receiving division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which oversees fundraising for both BYU-Hawaii and the PCC. Or if you would like to learn more about the Center’s unique relationship with BYU-Hawaii, click here.
The BYU-Hawaii Alumni Association issues a free monthly e-newsletter to anyone interested in learning more about our sister institution. In fact, it’s often said that the Polynesian Cultural Center and Brigham Young University Hawaii are “tied at the heart” because of the unique relationship that enables the PCC to provide jobs for approximately 700 BYU-Hawaii students — over 500 of them on our joint international work-scholarship program. A portion of all ticket and other purchases at the Polynesian Cultural Center goes toward supporting this program.
