The Marist Brothers Old Pupils Association (MBOPA) in conjunction with the Marist Brothers Governance Board have successfully launched their inaugural Marist Mentoring Program 2026.
More than 30 students with old pupils of St Josephs College, Alafua, gathered on Saturday, 2 May 2026, to start it off.
More than five years in the making, the program is the first of its kind to formally connect senior Marist students with old pupils across a wide spectrum of professions.
Marist Brothers Trust Board Coordinator, Br Siaosi Ioane, described the launch as a long-awaited milestone for the school community. The purpose of this mentoring program is to build young men of
character equipped with the values, mindset and goal-setting skills they need to lead in their families, communities and chosen careers.
“The key word here is together,’ says Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai, President of MBOPA and Chair of the Governance Board.
“Together, we can make this school the number one school again.”
The mentors who generously gave their time, represents a remarkable breadth of professional experience, including doctors, teachers, business owners, engineers, builders, media and
graphics specialists, accountants, lawyers, and finance professionals.
Together they offered the students a rare and powerful glimpse into the variety of pathways available to them after school.
The College, Principal and Coordinator of the Mentoring Program, Lilomaiava Anne-Marie Tauiliili-Lia, greeted the mentors on behalf of St. Joseph’s College with gratitude for returning to give their time, ideas and guidance.
“We want our students to have role models — old boys and girls coming back to the school, giving their time, their ideas, their thoughts and their mentorship — so they can lead good
lives and step into the careers they want to pursue,” Ms Lilomaiava Anne-Marie Tauiliili-Lia said.
Afioga Tuatagaloa Aumua Ming Leung Wai, in his welcoming remarks emphasise two key themes: setting goals and a positive mindset.
He recounted how, as a 15-year-old student at St Joseph’s, his teacher Br Damien Shutt asked the class to write down their goals — a task he completed in his Religious Education exercise book, which he still has 38 years later.
Among the goals he had written down as a teenager: to top his class, study law in New Zealand, return home to work in the Attorney General’s office and one day serve as Attorney
General, marry the perfect girl, be the best husband and father, buy a house in NZ and give back to schools — especially St Joseph’s. Most of those goals, he told the students, came true.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish,” he reminded the students, citing Proverbs 29:18.
“What you focus on grows.”
He encouraged students not to worry if they have not yet decided what they want to be —noting that he himself had once dreamed of becoming a pilot, then a doctor, before eventually pursuing law — but to begin the discipline of writing their goals down, focusing on them, and revisiting them often.
He urged students to treat goal-setting as a lifelong habit, paired with a positive mindset rooted in the Marist spirit.
What stood out most on the day was not only the wealth of knowledge and experience the mentors brought, but the warm and collaborative spirit in which they shared it.
Many were seen exchanging direct phone numbers and email addresses with their students, encouraging them to make contact whenever they need support, guidance or advice.
The students, in turn, were eager to learn and connect — asking thoughtful questions and engaging openly in the kind of intergenerational exchange the program is designed to foster.
An important message threaded through the morning was that setbacks are part of the process.
Speakers and mentors alike reminded students that failure is a normal step on the road to success — not something to be discouraged by, but something to learn from and move through with persistence.
Each mentor is assigned 2 to 3 students to mentor in the coming months.
At least 3 interactions are required to enable the mentors to share their knowledge and expose the students to their field of work.
The mentors and students will reconvene as a full group in November or early December 2026 where the students will present on what they had learnt.
One of the students, Theodore Ropati Paulo is interested in law and has been assigned with 2 others to Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, Senior Supreme Court Judge.
He shared that, “The program is a wonderful opportunity and initiative to guide us through our journey and to be successful in the future. It is also a great opportunity for us to experience and communicate with the Old Boys and to hear their way of being successful.”
