Motu Sipelii has always been passionate about helping people. As a young person growing up on the island of American Samoa, he often dreamt of becoming a doctor, until an opportunity to do biomedical research was presented. It was during his Freshman year at American Samoa Community College (ASCC) when he heard about the EXITO Undergraduate Research program and his interest was piqued. “I was drawn to PSU due to EXITO, and Dr. Crespo really left a good impression on a lot of the young folks back home”, he says.
He readily admits that he was a shy person when he first arrived at PSU. Through the program and his experiences in his lab, he noticed that mentors were very encouraging of his participation. “EXITO helped me to talk”, he muses. “In the real world you have to do more self-advocacy and in EXITO, I learned how to speak publicly”. The program also allowed him to step out of his comfort zone, to explore many career options, and encouraged him to be himself.
“EXITO really prepared me, helped me become the person I am today in terms of confidence and coping, and provided the initial network to branch off from.”
When it came time to choose a research experience, Motu picked Jason Prodrabsky’s lab, which studies Killifish growth and adaptations, and how their systems could help us better understand biomedical treatments or prevention in humans for things like heart attacks, cancer or stroke (Learn more about Dr. Prodrabsky’s lab). “I chose his lab because there were a lot of other BIPOC undergrads in the lab, and a lot of literature and research he was doing was something I already kind of knew from the island (American Samoa). His research reminded me a little bit of home”. As a research project, Motu spent time in his lab assessing the fluctuation of temperature patterns and how it affected the sex ratios of developing Killifish. “Instead of working with cells, I wanted to work with something I could actually see, so it was a really good introduction to research and a wet lab”.
Balancing school, research, and life wasn’t always easy, and Motu struggled with the transition to living on the mainland, but he noted how much PSU and EXITO supported his transitions. He also felt conflicted about how to combine his passion for becoming a doctor and his budding interests in community health and public policy. Despite these challenges, Motu successfully completed the BUILD EXITO program and became active in student government on campus, eventually becoming the Associated Students of Portland State University’s first Samoan President. “ I want to be a doctor, I want to help people, but I realized I also want to help communities. I was always torn between policy and medicine, but then I got to talk to a lot of people and career mentors who told me I could do both”.
With this newfound knowledge, Motu confidently applied to the Masters in Health Policy track with the OHSU/PSU School of Public Health, and was admitted in the Summer of 2021. He knew that before moving onto the next phase of his career he wanted a foundational knowledge of community health. “I want to serve in a political realm where I’m helping to allocate funds towards specific projects that are going to help with community development, or community health promotion. EXITO gave me all these different options so I chose one that fit for my path”.
As for the future, Motu says,
“I’m gonna be a physician politician someday! Gonna be the first governor/doctor for American Samoa, a future NIH doctor? Imagine if I could pull it off!”
Advice for Current Students and Scholars
As a peer mentor, Motu’s advice centers around persistence, which has been central to his success. Persistence has helped him get through some tough times. “Folks should take full advantage of the program itself AND the people”. He also implores students to not let one bad experience ruin the whole program for students, or define a whole field of science research. Rather, these challenges can be a chance to practice exercising patience, a key skill he learned in EXITO. “For people who know me from my successes, you have no idea of my failures too… I don’t like to play the comparison game...everyone is on a different path, so just go with the flow on whatever path you’re on.”
He also suggests that all students get more involved in experiences on campus. “The network that I’ve built and the fact that I’ve been able to pay for school and tuition after the program was the fact that I got involved in extracurricular activities, student clubs, student council and student government. What’s nice is they really gave me a diverse understanding of what college is, so it was a really good learning opportunity for me. It really helped to fine tune the skills I already have for EXITO. I’m now comfortable talking with folks from the legislature”. Motu shared a statement at Oregon’s 82nd Legislative Session urging legislatures to fund college access programs. Thanks to statements from Motu and other BUILD EXITO Alumni and Community members, $5 million dollars was secured to help fund programs like BUILD EXITO at PSU (Learn more about the legislative hearing here).
Preparing for Life After-EXITO
Be prepared for the financial changes that will come after you finish BUILD EXITO.
- Do some research and asking for help to better understand how to create a new budget when you leave the program
Use the resources the program offers to career plan and plan for next steps after EXITO!
- Utilize the resources and workshops offered by BUILD EXITO to help figure out what you want to do next after you graduate!
- While still in the program, start short term and long term planning.
Shout Outs!
“Shout out to my original PI Dr. Jason P, I really appreciate and have so much respect for that man. To Dr. Crespo and Dr. Marriot, in my head of public health figures, so much respect for those two people. And a lot of EXITO staff. I feel like not enough people say thank you to all y’all who work behind the scenes, cos’ I know how behind the scenes works, and it’s not the easiest job. Thank you to everyone at PSU who helped me be who I am today. “