People of the Pacific started in 2021 at Herriman High School, with Troy Jensen as the teacher. It is a class to learn more about Polynesian culture and academics. Herriman High’s POP class has a theme for this year which is “Raising the tides,” Herrrimans POP class have a purpose to strive in everything they do like their grades, sports, cultural dance, actions, knowledge, awareness, unity, religion, showing support for what they can, and so much more. Jensen says, “This class has a purpose to have a social and emotional place for academic and cultural studies and to create a sense of belonging.”
Talen Tafili as a student says, “Pop class gives me time to work on things that I need to work on, it helps me socially as well.” Selu Kinikini another student says “It helps me grow closer to other people and helps me focus on my grades.” POP class has helped students get their grades in check, and learn more about their culture.
November 2, 2024, Herrimans POP and LIA class is combining with West Jordan High to perform cultural dances on the football field for a cultural event with games, food, and more for everyone to get together. POP class is putting together time to get dances on point to respectfully show their culture and be able to “raise the tides.” Polynesian culture values dance, on that note, in Herrimans POP class, dance is very important, it tells stories of their ancestors, their villages, history and beauty of culture.
There are specific movements that tell the story of the ocean, islands, or how people are. In herrimans POP class, there are people from Tonga, Samoa, Micronesia, Hawaii, and other different islands. Polynesian people come from a long line of ancestors. There are alot of mixes in their ethnicity like japanese, british, etc.
Polynesian people take their family and friends very seriously. Family and friends play a huge part in the polynesian culture, especially family; so the POP class takes their future and success as a serious thing, with their mental health and grades as the center point. POP is a very sentimental class, everyone helps everyone, whether it’s inside of school or outside of school, they count on each other to help with knowledge, facts, and their health.
Success is a big thing in POP and Polynesian culture in general. They strive to have better than what their family has had before, they work hard to make their family proud, and themselves as well. Polynesian ancestors come from islands with homes built out of bamboo, wood, and even had a boat as their home; that is what makes the Polynesian culture so motivated to see success in what they have and what they do.
Herriman High’s POP class is entering a competition called “Who Got Roots.” This competition is a competition against other high schools to see who best represents their island. It creates a fun way for each POP class to learn more about different islands and cultures. Herrimans POP pushes to see a win in that as well.
