St. Joseph’s College and Marist Brothers Primary School has received a windfall of $155,000 thanks to proceeds collected during the College’s 70th Anniversary celebration last month.

The Marist Brothers Old Pupils Association (M.B.O.P.A.), led by the President Tuatagaloa Aumua Leung Wai, presented the money to both schools last week. The Association also presented donations worth $5,000 each to the Little Sisters of the Poor at Mapuifagalele and the Sisters of the Carmelite Monastery at Vailima.

President Tuatagaloa acknowledged the sponsors and those who supported the anniversary celebrations.

“I give praise to God for his never-ending love and favour upon us,”  Tuatagaloa said in a statement issued by the Association.

He added that despite the pandemic, the Marist fraternity was able to come together for the anniversary and raise much needed funds for our Marist schools.

In addition, the pandemic has adversely affected the Marist schools as seen by the poor payment of school fees and the high number of students who have dropped out from school.

Tuatagaloa also mentioned that such adversities strengthened their resolve to push on with the anniversary celebrations.

“Our plan is to take our Marist schools to the next level, but we cannot do that without money and the right people.”

Part of St. Joseph’s 70^th anniversary celebrations included the Vodafone Marist Fautasi Regatta which drew hundreds of spectators at the Apia seawall on race day. 

The regatta was made popular by the inclusion of the first ever longboat rowed by an all-female crew led by renowned skipper, Vaimasanu’u Zita Martel.

The all-women’s crew called Fautasi o Toa [Longboat of Legends] came second despite racing against four other fautasi rowed by old boys of St Joseph’s College. The Fautasi o Toa heralded a new era of fautasi racing in Samoa, which was once a male dominated sport.

Another special feature of the anniversary was the involvement of the members of St Mary’s Old Girls Association (S.M.O.G.A.) who came out in full force to support M.B.O.P.A. 

As for the M.B.O.P.A. agenda for next year, Tuatagaloa relayed that there were a few exciting ideas that we were not able to feature during our anniversary because of the pandemic.

“So we may pursue them next year. This is addition to our main focus to really help improve our Marist schools.”

The closure of M.B.O.P.A. activities for the year was marked by a thanksgiving mass on Wednesday 16th December 2020 at St Joseph’s College.