Sister Malia Losalia Mulipola knows this much. In her 20 years of teaching, the greatest satisfaction is seeing how she has had an impact on so many young lives, simply by sharing what she knows.
“If you excel in what you do as a teacher, it is a development of the whole person not just what you think but how you teach and how you relate to them (the students),” she said.
At 73-years-of-age, Sr. Malia’s calling has seen her standing at the front of classrooms at both St Mary’s Primary School and St Mary’s College.
“And I’m still teaching,” she said. “I love teaching. I feel the call to enlighten and share my knowledge with them (my students).”
Not only has this special woman stood in front of the class, she also happens to be a former student of St. Mary’s College.
Last week when the Missionary Sisters of the Society Mary (S.M.S.M) celebrated its 150th Jubilee Anniversary, it was an opportunity to Sr. Malia to take a trip down memory lane.
Sr. Malia said she has many fond memories of her time at the College, saying she loved to learn and gain knowledge which opened her eyes to the “world that we live in and the God that we study and love.”
She also believes that one of the strongest aspects of being a student at St. Mary’s College was the “relationship among the girls.”
“We had fun and joy in learning because it was not so strict and there was a joy in relating to people,” she said.
Sr. Malia also remembers that when she first entered the College they were not allowed to speak Samoan.
She said as a result, they learnt little tricks to identify when a teacher was approaching so that they could quickly revert to reciting an English poem, or speak in English so as not to be caught speaking Samoan.
They would learn to look out while gathered in a circle for footsteps or a white veil, she said.
She laughed as she told this story and said that if they were caught, well then detention was weeding the vaofefe out in the lawn.
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“When we came to school here, it had only been established three years earlier so the lawn was covered with weeds,” she said.
She said at the time she didn’t realise then that, years later, she would be in the position that her teachers were in.
However, it taught her to be mindful of all the tricks by her students over the years.
She said the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (S.M.S.M.) had a huge influence on her own teaching skills.
This experience gave Sr. Malia a strong belief that teaching should not just be about sharing skills and the knowledge, that it relies heavily on a teacher’s attitude and how they teach their students.
She said her motto that she shared with her students was “not to be satisfied with 50” and to “strive for the best and do your best in whatever you do”.
“You expect quality work from the students,” she said.
“No matter how weak the child is now you know that what you do is going to help them develop in the future.”
Sr. Malia said her technique “is to stretch their abilities and motivate them enough to be their highest point” and that she believes that every child is intelligent, the problem is that often many of them “sit on their intelligence”.
With S.M.S.M now celebrating 150 years she hopes that the schools will continue to provide the excellent teaching that it has to cater for the learning needs of the students.
She said she appreciated this about her profession more after spending time teaching in Rwanda and Tanzania.
“There is beauty in coming back and meeting the student at a different level,” she said.
“This time you gather and speak to them as equals and it’s been beautiful to find the girls – you feel so small that they are so grateful for what you taught them.”
With hundreds of past students making the pilgrimage to Samoa to celebrate S.M.S.M.’s 150th Anniversary this week, Sr. Malia is celebrating a milestone of her own.
September marks 50 years since she professed to be a nun.
“It’s symbolic and I’m very happy about it,” she said.
This means that the S.M.S.M was 100 years old when she heeded the call to give her life to the Church and to Jesus.
Sr. Malia is still coming to terms with the joy of meeting old schools friends and reuniting with her former students.
“I say to myself you do your part and the Lord will fill in your completeness.”
She is amazed and so proud of how far her students and other former Saint Mary’s Old Girls Association (S.M.O.G.A) members have come in life.
“It’s beautiful to see those girls and see them doing well in their lives.”
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