{"id":192745,"date":"2025-12-20T02:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/192745\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T02:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:12:11","slug":"tangaroa-college-deputy-principal-faleata-ualesi-remembered-as-dedicated-teacher-and-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/192745\/","title":{"rendered":"Tangaroa College deputy principal Faleata Ualesi remembered as dedicated teacher and friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students pay tribute: \u2018You saw the potential in me\u2019<\/p>\n

Ualesi was the school\u2019s longtime Head of English, and had recently been promoted to the role of deputy principal.<\/p>\n

\"FaleataFaleata Ualesi was a proud son of \u014ctara, South Auckland. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Many of his students, both current and former, have shared their memories of a teacher who could be stern – and also funny and relatable.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone too soon, sir. You were always such a loving and respectful teacher and role model to your students,\u201d one wrote online.<\/p>\n

Another shared: \u201cI know I wasn\u2019t the best student and always gave you trouble. But I\u2019m grateful that you saw the potential in me when I didn\u2019t see it myself. Always love and respect, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

A flag outside the school flew at half-mast this week, acknowledging the community\u2019s grief at Ualesi\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

A rising Samoan contemporary artist<\/p>\n

As well as being a dedicated educator, Ualesi was also an accomplished artist whose vibrant works were inspired by his Samoan roots.<\/p>\n

Members of the Pacific art world have paid tribute to the emerging contemporary Samoan artist whose inspirations came from traditional Samoan siapo (tapa cloth) and tatau (tattoo) patterns.<\/p>\n

\"FaleataFaleata Ualesi’s Luggage Tags Triptych, pictured in October 2023 on Auckland’s High Street. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

Ualesi\u2019s art has been shown in a number of exhibitions including at \u014ctara\u2019s Fresh Gallery, and in the Auckland CBD two years ago as part of The Heart of the City\u2019s ArtWeek.<\/p>\n

Ualesi\u2019s striking work – dubbed Tribute: Luggage Tags Triptych – was a nod to the migration journey of people from the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Ualesi\u2019s parents – who hail from Vavau and Tulaele in Puipa\u2019a on Samoa\u2019s main island of Upolu – migrated to New Zealand in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

His works are also evident at Tangaroa College in colourful murals around the school.<\/p>\n

Raised in \u014ctara, South Auckland, Ualesi is also remembered by the wider South Auckland community; with many community members paying tribute online.<\/p>\n

The \u014ctara Scorpions Rugby League Club, which Ualesi was involved with, has shared a heartfelt post about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaleata will be missed by his Silverback Masters team mates. But his memory will also live on through the artwork he painted in our netball room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send our love to his family and are here for you. Alofa tele atu, uso. Manuia lou malaga. (Big love to you, brother. Safe journey home).\u201d<\/p>\n

A celebration of Ualesi\u2019s life will be held at Tangaroa College over the weekend and his funeral service will be held on Monday.<\/p>\n

Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald\u2019s Talanoa section<\/a>, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students pay tribute: \u2018You saw the potential in me\u2019 Ualesi was the school\u2019s longtime Head of English, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,95,806,51,12784,1259,634,40869,33092,119943,12632,42,15121,43,10903,29192,15120,4062,24994,119942,7574,40,38,41,39,119944],"class_list":["post-192745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-and","tag-as","tag-auckland","tag-college","tag-community","tag-death","tag-dedicated","tag-deputy","tag-faleata","tag-friend","tag-headlines","tag-mourning","tag-news","tag-popular","tag-principal","tag-remembered","tag-school","tag-sudden","tag-tangaroa","tag-teacher","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ualesi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}