Portland State University
Portland, OREGON — Recently, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) took a look at how the pandemic has changed lives of Oregon college students. And they found that life has changed rapidly for many of them in the past few months, including Motu Sipelii from American Samoa.
Sipelii, 22, is a first-...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In late June, five students from the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) returned from Portland, Oregon, where they had attended an orientation for new scholars in the BUILD EXITO Program at Portland State University (PSU).
BUILD EXITO is an undergraduate research-...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — For the past five years, the American Samoa Community College has been a partner in BUILD EXITO, an undergraduate research-training program that supports students on their pathway to become scientific researchers and aims to increase the diversity of the biomedical...

![Motu Sipelii, a student and resident academic mentor for University Housing and Resident Life at Portland State University, poses for a portrait in the South Park Blocks on the university’s downtown Portland, Ore., campus on Friday, April 17, 2020. [photo: Bryan M. Vance/OPB] Motu Sipelii](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/motu_sipelii_crop.jpg?itok=-xM9p8HD)
![ASCC BUILD EXITO career mentors Derek Helsham (far left) and Tala Ropeti-Leo (far right) joined the five ASCC students selected as BUILD EXITO scholars at the program’s orientation for new participants at Portland State University in late June this year. Tala was a Samoa News intern when she was in high school. BUILD EXITO supports students intending to become researchers in the biomedical fields. [courtesy photo] ASCC BUILD EXITO career mentors Derek Helsham (far left) and Tala Ropeti-Leo (far right) joined the five ASCC students](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/ascc_build_exito_2019.jpg?itok=7wyhrbVO)
