Kia orāna, mālō e lelei, tālofa lava, fakaalofa lahi atu, ni sa bula vinaka, taloha ni, halo olaketa, kia orana, ko na mauri, tālofa, aloha and warm Pacific greetings. For many of us with roots in the Pacific, imua or words like it are familiar to us. In te reo Māori, i mua atu means “before”. In Samoa, muamua means “to advance”, and also “before” and “unprecedented”. In Tonga, laka atu ki muʻa means “go forward”. In other places, the words also translate. In Kiribati, tere means “to go forward” while waki can mean “to go forward” but also “to realize”. In Hawai̒i, imua can also mean “before” but often means “forward” or “go forward”. In Hawai̒i, it is a famous battle cry and motto. When you come to Waikato, we want you to imua. Wherever you are now – whether honours student, first-in-family, school leaver, mature learner or not – we want you to go forward, to progress and strive. We also want you to lead from the front, to set an example and to help lift others to do better too. For this reason, we have a great team of dedicated staff and various resources in place to assist your journey.
