On May 3, 2025, the first annual La’u Samoa Academic & Samoan Cultural Competition took place at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma. Forty students from River Ridge, Timberline, Olympia and Tumwater high schools made up the Laumua Samoan Dance Group competition team, which came home with first place in the academics division.
Started in 2017 by Rj Maae, the Laumua Samoan Dance Group is a high school team that showcases the members’ academics while celebrating Samoan culture through dance. The name, Laumua, means “capitol” in Samoan. “Our goal is for students is to give them the opportunity to showcase their hard work in their academics all while embracing our Samoan culture,” shares Moeshana Maiava, the Laumua Samoan Dance Group lead. She has been with the group since 2019. 2025 was her first year leading the group.
Moeshana says this year groups shows how large they have grown, nearly doubling the number of kids that normally would compete. “That is such a huge difference,” she adds, “yet amazing to see how many students are willing to be here to represent their community and Laumua.”
Students do not need to be Samoan to compete. “With this being a Samoan Arts & Academics Competition, students who don’t carry the culture in them came out to show their love and appreciation for our culture and they danced beautifully,” shares Moeshana.
She notes that along with being one of the biggest, this year’s group was also one of the most diverse. “We had kids come from the backgrounds of Chamorro, Philippines, Mexico, Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands and American students,” Moeshana says. “So, the journey leading up to this competition? It was tough. But all 40 of those students had so much dedication into coming to practices every day and learning and having a great time with each other.”
La’u Samoa Competition in Washington
Before COVID, there was a Samoan Arts & Academics Competition, founded by Leuea Loto and Jersiah Tafia. After COVID, Vince Vaielua brought back the competition, renaming it the La’u Samoa Competition with a vision for youth to showcase their culture outside school while focusing on academic achievement inside the classroom. 2025 marked the first year for the new competitive showcase.
“This competition is important because it gives students the opportunity to express their love for our culture and showing our families and communities that we are capable of [doing well] in a classroom as well,” shares Moeshana. “With it also being Asian Pacific Islander Month, this was a great way to celebrate our month as Pacific Islanders and make our elders proud. Even though we had students who came from different backgrounds, after their performance they did – they will always carry our Samoan heritage in them making our own elders and ancestors proud.”
The competition is broke into two parts, academics, which is how well the students are doing in school, and then their dance performance at the event. The 2025 La’u Samoa Competition had three other groups competing, Mataala, Tautua and Ala Mai from Tacoma and Federal Way areas.
“Out of the four groups, Laumua placed first in the academic portion of this competition!” shares Moeshana. “Once they announced that Laumua won first place, I cried. I had so much joy and happiness in my heart. If anyone has seen the progress these kids have made since the beginning, everyone would agree with me when I say – they truly deserve this! This is what it’s all about, academics. This is what our main focus was, to have these students show how hard they’ve worked in their school before anything else.”
Thurston County High School Students Achieve Academic Success Through Laumua Samoan Dance Group
Moeshana says she learned a lot in her first year leading the group. “With teaching the students their sivas (dances) and making sure these students are on top of their school work, it took a lot of time and patience from not only me, but from our advisors as well, as they also play a huge part in this group,” she says. “Running a group like this isn’t easy. As people may know or may not know Samoans carry a lot of pride and have a lot of expectations and with the progress these students have made, it’s phenomenal. So I know deep down that these students made a lot of our people proud.”
This year was the first time the Thurston County dance group received a first place trophy.
Anyone interested in joining the Lauma Samoan Dance Group can reach out to Moeshana at moeshanamaiava@gmail.com.
“My future plans for my group is to bring light to those who are scared to come out of their shell and give them the opportunity to prove to everyone that we aren’t just about how well we can dance, but how great we are in our academics,” Moeshana finishes. “My future plans is to have these students be seen and have them be heard. So, I highly encourage students to join our Laumua family next year and enjoy the ride. I can say it’s been stressful, but it’s been a fun experience building bonds with these students as well.”
