78th ASCC Commencement this Friday at Kanana Fou Gym

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Community College (ASCC) will hold its 78th Commencement Ceremony this Friday, May 19th, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Kanana Fou Gymnasium. This marks the first occasion an ASCC graduation will take place on the Kanana Fou Gymnasium.

As with all ASCC graduations, the Division of Student Services (DOSS), on behalf of the Board of Higher Education, has invited Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga and other dignitaries to attend. DOSS has also invited a distinguished member of the community to provide the Keynote Address to the graduating class. She is Lisa Tautalatasi Tuato’o, currently the Director and Chief Petroleum Officer of the Office of Disaster Assistance and Petroleum Management (ODAPM). Ms. Tuato’o, an ASCC alumnus, has enjoyed a long and varied career, mostly in the public sector, and is sure to have a wealth of valuable insights to share with the graduates and other guests.

Ms. Tuato’o, from the village of Alofau, describes herself as “a homegrown daughter of American Samoa”. Her parents are the late High Talking Chief Tuato’o Milo Young Tautalatasi and Apomatagi Faamausili Lepoga Tuato’o from Alofau and Masefau on Tutuila, and Ofu and Fitiuta, Ta’u in Manu’a. She has six sisters and five brothers, as well as her own children, who she calls “two halves of my heart”.  Ms. Tuato’o began her early childhood education with her favorite teacher, the late Mrs. Titi Alaimaleata at Alofau ECE and at the ECE Center in Fagatogo. Her seven elementary years were spent at the Tuato’o Tautalatasi Alofau Elementary School before she completed eighth grade at the Coleman Pago Pago Elementary School. From there, Ms. Tuato’o became a Shark for four years at the Samoana High School.

In two years at ASCC, she earned an Associates of Arts degree in Liberal Arts while also active in the Student Government Association, with whom she served as Secretary. Next, she pursued a Bachelors degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Justice Administration, from the University of Hawaii system. Continuing on her educational journey, she earned a Masters degree in Homeland Security with a concentration in Criminal Justice from the American Public University in Charlestown, West Virginia.

Ms. Tuato’o first worked for the American Samoa Government was as a substitute English teacher for one semester at Fagaitua High School. After her years off-island, she returned home in 1999 to work as the Criminal Justice Analyst at the Office of Territorial and International Criminal Intelligence and Drug Enforcement. Following that chapter, she spent the next few years helping a family business, Continental Transport Corporation, before returning to ASG in 2008 as a Grants Coordinator. Soon after that, she became the Grants Administrator for the newly created American Samoa Department of Homeland Security (ASDHS).

Within the ASDHS, Ms. Tuato’o also served as the Administrator of the Office of Homeland Security, Deputy Director and Acting Director when delegated, before she began her current position with ODAPM, which she has held for almost two and a half years now.  In this capacity, she was selected to be a member of the FEMA Mitigation Framework Leadership Group. She also serves as American Samoa Coordinator for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted by President Biden in 2021 to make once-in-a-lifetime federal funding opportunities available to states and territories.

Her community service began in 2000 and includes serving in various positions with the Lions Club of Pago Pago, among them Secretary, Treasurer, Director, Vice President and Past President. For some time, she also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of American Samoa, before becoming its secretary under the leadership of the Chief Volunteer Officer and Chairman of the Board, Mrs. Maryann Tulafono. Ms. Tuato’o is a lifetime member of the Alofau Methodist Church, and also worshipped at the Tula Assembly of God for seven years while living in that village. For the last five years, she has attended the Firm Foundation Worship Center Christian Church of American Samoa, which has conferred upon her the position of deacon.

Ms. Tuato’o’s hobbies are reading, dancing and roller skating. She sees herself as “a survivor of life’s turns in the valleys who has experienced a fair share of hurts and pains alongthe way, but has refused to give up and has just kept her faith in the Almighty God, who is the only reason I am alive today.” This Friday’s graduation ceremony promises to be an especially poignant occasion for Ms. Tuato’o, as the ASCC Graduating Class of Spring 2023 will include her daughter, Ms. Heranihilani Togia’i.

 “We are genuinely proud to have Ms. Tuato’o as our Commencement speaker,” said ASCC Dean of Student Services Dr. Emilia Le’i. “Her range of experience is far wider than what most people accomplish, and I’m sure she has a lot to share about what our graduates can expect as they begin their own journeys through life. We look forward to hosting her at this Friday’s ceremony.”