Episode Details

Auro Sosi:
This is competition season for us. The "People of the Pacific" are involved annually in the annual Who Got Roots competition.

Carl Talanoa:
So we do dances and we even do sometimes we practice our languages and even music.

Auro Sosi:
The idea of their identity through their culture, cultural practices and rituals so that way they can still stay connected even though they're far away from their motherland.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are sharing culture and building community in a class that's also a club called "People of the Pacific" at West Jordan High School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out how students are unleashing tons of talent and taking to the stage in dance competitions to showcase their rich cultural traditions from various Pacific Island nations. They are students proudly supporting one another on a path to greater academic success.

We are here at West Jordan High School talking with Auro about the competition that's coming up. Will you introduce yourself? Tell us about your position here and what the "People of the Pacific" group has been up to these days.

Auro Sosi:
Yes, so my name is Auro Sosi. I'm the "People of the Pacific" teacher and advisor. I also run the Reset and Restore room here at West Jordan High School. Just students who are assigned mostly by admin to come into the room who need additional help whether it's with classes, Edgenuity, packets, and things like that.

So right now this is competition season for us. The "People of the Pacific" are involved annually in the annual Who Got Roots competition. It's a statewide competition that involves all of the high schools who have either "People of the Pacific" or Pacific Islander clubs or classes in their schools. So it's a dance competition.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's what they're practicing in the background. That's what we hear. Tell us a little bit about how that competition is judged and what they're working on today.

Auro Sosi:
So there is a panel of judges. They pretty much judge off a lot of criteria. Most of it is off synchronization, presentation. A lot of it has to do with cultural rituals and practices involved in the dance scenes and performances. So like this one that they're performing now is the traditional Tongan Lakalaka. It's performed by all of the Tongan men. So it's just a male-only dance. But there's a lot of criteria depending on what the judge who the judges are. But it's been pretty, pretty fulfilling these last couple of years that West Jordan has been able to participate. Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. How many different numbers will there be?

Auro Sosi:
So the way this particular competition works where we choose, we select two islands that we wanted to perform as our main islands. So this year we've selected Tonga and Samoa. And then a month prior to the competition, they go out to all of the schools, meaning the organizing committee, go to all of the schools that are participating to draw what is called a wildcard island. So each school will be given the same amount of time to work on this wildcard island. And it's mostly an island that's maybe overshadowed or overlooked, not necessarily performed every year. So this year we selected Tokelau as our wildcard island.