- [Pierce] So, I'm from Hawai'i.
Everyone always asks me if I can surf.
But I don't surf, I do
play with fire though.
My name is Pierce Salave'a,
and I am a first
generation college student.
So, my culture means a lot to me.
I'm Samoan, Japanese, Swedish, and Irish,
and I've grown up in Hawai'i.
I started the Pacific Islanders
Club of Cultural Arts,
also known as PICCA.
I started PICCA,
because I wanted to be
able to bring to SPU,
the different cultures
that are represented,
throughout the Pacific,
and I wanted students
to be able to learn about
these different cultures
and what make each culture
different and special.
During our PICCA meetings,
I teach a lot of things,
from singing, songs and
dances, we'll do games,
I'll make them cultural foods,
or we'll do cultural cooking food days,
so I teach them how to make certain foods.
My sister recently graduated
in May from college,
and she's the first one
in our family to graduate,
and it meant a lot to us as
a family, because my parents
sacrificed so much, just
to get us into college.
She has been such a role model to us,
and just the way that she
goes about doing her life
and just how humble she is
in everything that she does.
Seeing her graduate,
it's been an inspiration,
that we can do it, and
my brothers can do it,
and I'll be able to do it.
(music)
For my parents, seeing
us graduate from college,
it's kinda like confirming with them,
that they did a good job.
Us being able to graduate from college,
I feel like that's just
small way of us saying,
"It was worth it, we did it,
thank you for everything that you did."
And hopefully, in the long
run, we'll be able to pay them
back for everything that
they've done for us.
(music)
