Aumua Amata has accepted an invitation from Hui-O-Aloha, Boise State's Polynesian Student Organization, to visit their campus on February 7, 2004. Boise State is also home to the 2002 and 2003 Western Athletic Conference Champions and the 2003 Forth Worth Bowl Champions. The university is located in Idaho's capital city of Boise.
Organizers of the event were Florence S. Reupena Clarke, an American Samoan native and Advisor to Hui-O-Aloha, Jannette Lowe and Cynthia Toyama-Budell, native Hawaiians and Advisors to Hui-O-Aloha, and Uyen Dihn, native Vietnamese and President of Hui-O-Aloha.
Aumua Amata is the only Pacific Islander on President Bush's Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs and a leadership staffer in Washington DC. She was recently honored with the "Woman of the Year" award by the National Association of Professional Asian American Women (NAPAW); a Washington DC-based non-profit organization established in 1987 to promote the social status of Asian American professional women by providing better educational and training opportunities.
Hui-O-Aloha's purpose is to encourage education amongst Polynesians and to provide educational and community resources to them. This year, the club's vision is to enhance leadership skills, and to provide leadership training and resources to its club members and community. Hui-O-Aloha selected Aumua Amata to fulfill its leadership goals.
Although Hui-O-Aloha is a Polynesian club, its doors are open to all the students on the Boise State campus. The club is home to several Polynesians, Micronesians, Asians, African-Americans, and American students. Because of Aumua Amata's position on President Bush's Advisory Commission, organizers of the event felt Aumua Amata would be the most appropriate to fulfill the club's leadership goals and to deliver a message that would make the entire club feel included.
Aumua Amata delivered a powerful message addressing leadership and breaking through traditional barriers to Boise State students and the community. She drew her message from several sources, including inspirations from her father, the late Governor Peter Tali Coleman and her Aunt Mabel. After the event, several students talked about her impressive role in Washington DC and feeling of empowerment to become leaders themselves after listening to how she broke through traditional barriers to excel to a leadership position. Organizers of the event said that Aumua Amata is an excellent role model and inspiration to this female dominant student organization.
Aumua Amata also had a chance to meet with the Samoan and Hawaiian community at an off-campus toana'i (feast) sponsored by the community while she was in Boise. She shared intimate conversations with many of them regarding issues facing the Pacific region, specifically issues concerning American Samoa. Although she was in Boise to discuss leadership skills, her concerns about American Samoa's affairs were evident in her conversations.
Aumua Amata's visit to Boise State empowered many student members of Hui-O-Aloha to take on leadership roles within their own student organization and they have done so voluntarily as they gear up for their annual fundraising luau in April. Hui-O-Aloha was very honored with Aumua Amata's visit and plan to keep in touch with her now that a relationship has been established.
