'Against the grain': the young man taking the Pacific to Yale

Yale scholarship recipient Andre Fa’aoso wants young Māori and Pacific people to know “the sky's the limit” and anything is possible.

The West Auckland-based student who has taken social media by storm in the five days since his Tiktok video documenting his acceptance went viral, says that he is wanting to change the narrative for “minority communities”.

Fa’aoso says he hopes he can “contribute to the narrative in a way that's positive for minority communities.”

“I think it's really important to get my story out because as a Pacific person who's succeeded, it goes against the grain of the narrative that's currently being perpetrated against Māori and Pacific in the media mainly.”

This comes after media giant Stuff apologised in 2020 for the way that it treated Māori and Pacific people in its past reporting.

He says that he wants to “go against the grain that has been perpetrated by society today for a lot of brown people throughout the country.”

“I want to take my community, my identity as a Pacific Islander and my pride," he says.

“I will go to Yale, with the experiences that I've had here in Aotearoa, and take them with me and hold them close to my heart.”

Fa’aoso says that he feels it's “really hard for rangatahi,” who are faced with so many distractions in life.

“I think if young people prioritise what will benefit them in the future, and also what really, truly excites someone, I think we'll generate a generation of young brown people that are all brilliant.”

Fa’aoso was awarded a scholarship to AUT and is planning on jetting to Yale in August, set to graduate in 2027