Watch Andre Fa'aoso and his mum's reaction to the news that the West Aucklander was accepted into the Ivy League university. Video / Supplied
A West Auckland teen is officially on his way to Yale University this week - and has some simple advice for rangatahi: “Be bold and courageous.”
Andrew Fa’aoso, 18, arrives in the US on Sunday and will be on campus at Yale a week later.
His departing advice forupcoming young students from New Zealand?
“Be bold and courageous - and take the steps you think are necessary to better yourself, even if they differ from the expectations other people project onto you.
“Have a group of people around you that drive you forward and will be with you throughout the whole process and journey, whatever it is.”
“I’ll be proud of my Tongan and British heritage and share those two key parts of my roots with those around me.
“I think it’ll be interesting to see how accommodating the academic structure of Yale is to vibrant perspectives and cultural knowledge from other places in the world.
“It’s quite rare for someone of Pacific descent, let alone from New Zealand, to experience an Ivy League education.”
Fa’aoso says he has “strong mixed emotions” about arriving on campus soon.
Andrew Fa'aoso has been accepted into an Ivy League college, Yale University, in the US. Photo / Michael Craig
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I don’t genuinely know how I will feel until my feet touch the ground of Yale’s campus and I have the chance to experience the environment.
“Only then will I be able to tell or comprehend how I genuinely feel.”
Fa’aoso is looking forward to the scenery, food and people he will meet while staying in the oldest residential college dorm.
“The residential colleges have such strong history and it’s crazy to believe that I’ll be sharing the stomping ground with previous successful [alumni] who have become respective world leaders - Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett and various politicians, journalists and writers.”
He will be there with three other Kiwis he recently met through The Yale Alumni Association.
Fa’aoso has been volunteering with the United Nations Youth and Netsafe while preparing in in New Zealand.
