Twenty-two-year-old Miss Samoa USA Tusisaleia Hope Pomele left the island yesterday on her way to Samoa to be crowned the new Miss Samoa, after Jacinta Bourne, who was crowned Miss Samoa Sept. 4, this year, resigned for personal reasons. Pomele, a dancer for Tihati Productions, in Hawaii, was first runner-up this year during the Miss Samoa pageant themed: “Humility Elegance Purity— Celebrating the Tama’ita’i Samoa.”

Bourne’s resignation as Miss Samoa was accepted by the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) Tuesday this week.

Before she boarded the plane for Apia, via telephone, Pomele said she received the news from the STA about three days prior. She arrived from Honolulu, Thursday night and was staying with family in Leone.

STA local office representative Seiuli Salamasina Von Reiche Ripley was there to see off the new Miss Samoa yesterday.

“It’s sudden news. I’m excited,” Pomele told Samoa News via telephone from the airport. “It’s a blessing from God and I’m looking forward to serving Samoa and promoting Samoa and the culture. It’s going to be a new step, a new direction for me.”

Pomele says after being crowned she will get right into preparing for the Miss South Pacific Competition that will be hosted in Fiji. Pomele will depart Samoa next Thursday for Fiji, she says.

“I’ll be practicing and doing some research... to be prepared for Fiji,” she said. Poumele is being accompanied to Samoa by Miss Samoa USA President Roleni Tasi from Utah.

Pomele, a nursing major at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, is from Aunu’u; Ta’u, Manu’a and Falefa, Samoa. She is the daughter of the late Tom Tausinio Vaimanino and Malae Aua Tuivaiave Pomele. For now, of course, her studies are on hold.

She is an EMT in the US Army Reserve and plans to enter the nursing program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Pomele told the News she was in Samoa recently as a volunteer who helped in tsunami relief efforts following the Sept. 29 tragedy. She was volunteering at Motootua Hospital. She was also in American Samoa for the funeral of the late Fa’atamali’i Sooto, whose life was claimed in the tsunami.

She is a former Miss LelaleleioSamoa, winner of the scholarship pageant hosted by the United Samona Organization of Hawaii (USOH). She won the Miss Samoa USA title unopposed last year and represented the US in the Sept. 4 Miss Samoa competition.

“I never thought in a million years I’d go to the Miss South Pacific Pageant...it started from the Miss Lelaleiosamoa scholarship pageant and now this chance,” she said. “I get the chance to meet the other contestants, taste the food there...it’ll be exciting. I’ve never been to Fiji before.”

Pomele thanks everyone, all her families in American Samoa and Samoa and all her friends for their support.

As Miss Samoa she plans to work with the youth and find ways to help Motootua Hospital. After the Miss South Pacific pageant she plans to return to Hawaii to handle some school and military matters and will move to Samoa to serve out her reign.

“I’ll do my best and have God guide me in this journey...I will serve to promote Samoa and the culture of the islands throughout the whole world,” Pomele says. “It’s a new exciting challenge.”