Senior from Kiribati says his inspiration to study IT came from his dad, who is a BYUH alumnus and helps his community with his IT degree
Being inspired by his father, Tamuera Samuel Tune, a senior majoring in information technology from Kiribati, said he grew up assisting his dad with fixing computers, basic programming, networking and any other IT-related task. He said his early hands-on experience with his dad sparked his interest in pursuing an IT degree at BYU–Hawaii.
Living in Kiribati for most of his life, he said he grew up in a typical Latter-day Saint family of seven, with three brothers and a sister, in South Tarawa, the main island in Kiribati. He said growing up, his family environment was one centered on the gospel and the importance of education for everyone. “We were challenged to pursue an education when we grew up. It is because my parents are professionals. My dad, who graduated here at BYUH, works as an IT consultant in our local government while my mom works as a teacher for Moroni High School,” he said.
Island life
According to Boata Tenite, a close friend of Tune and a sophomore majoring in IT from Kiribati, the two became friends in 2014. “Coming from the same Church school, we grew up loving sports like basketball and we would hang out with other friends around the school,” he said. While at school, Tenite said they would take classes together and ended up in the same course focus studying art, history and geography.
Although they were enrolled in the same classes, he said there were times when Tune shared his knowledge and experiences working alongside his dad. “Our friendship grew through the years we spent together studying and having fun with each other’s company. After high school, we decided to serve missions together. We both applied at the same time, and we received our mission calls and were both assigned to labor in the Philippines together,” he said. After their missions, Tenite said both decided to pursue their degrees at BYUH. Tune was admitted first, and after a few semesters, Tenite said he joined him.
Life at BYUH
Tune said pursuing an IT degree is unusual for people living in Kiribati. He said Kiribati students would usually pursue degrees like political science, biology, chemistry and education. “Upon my arrival at school, never have I ever felt so excited to learn. A fresh start, a new place and a degree to work on,” he said.
After a few months, he said in-person classes were shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said there were times when he wanted to go back home because of his current situation but took it as an opportunity to build up his skills in the IT program.
He said during the lockdown when health restrictions were in place on the campus, he met his future wife who was also studying at BYUH before the lockdown. “It was a time of reflection and worry for me. There came a point where my hopes and dreams were blurry because of the current situation. I had a positive mindset and was eager to just continue,” he said.
When the health restrictions were lifted, he said he began networking with other students who had stayed on campus, until he met his future spouse in late 2020.
Angelina Kum Kee, an alumna from Kiribati, said she met Tune on campus in 2020. She said upon their meeting, the friendship they had developed to date led to an eternal marriage in 2022.
“Ever since we got married, all his time was devoted to his studies. Since his major demands a lot of time and effort to get a hang of it, I supported him in whatever he is doing,” she said.
Kee said after getting married, they welcomed their baby daughter into the world. She said it was a blessing to have a family with her husband, and at the same time, a big challenge for them as a young couple. She said as they progressed in their marriage, they had to balance schooling, work and family. “When we had our baby, it was one of the biggest blessings we had. Since I already graduated from school, I take care of the majority of chores at home and have him focus more on his classes. I normally do it for the whole week, and whenever the weekend comes, he shifts his focus to us and volunteers to help along with the chores,” she said.
She said their experiences together have been tiring, but at the same time fruitful. She said their sacrifices made together brought opportunities for work and school after graduation. She said she is grateful for their experiences together because they helped them to work better together as a couple.
She added God is at the center of everything the two of them do for their family.
Tenite said during their time at school, he and Tune had the chance to work together in the same IT department. He said while he works as a Network CSR technician, his tasks are a bit different. “While at work, I had the chance to meet with him and ask for suggestions and ideas on how to work in our department. Every time I talk to him, he shows me snippets of things he does in the office, like programming, configuring switches, terminating and installing network lines, troubleshooting, answering tickets related to network issues and more,” he said.
Aspiration
Upon the conclusion of his college life, Tune said he feels so blessed to have been able to improve and develop his skills in IT and at the same time meet mentors and network over the course of four years of study. He said his desire to further his knowledge in networking and cybersecurity became a reality when he accepted an offer to attend graduate school in Utah. “In the long run, I am taking all of my knowledge and skills back to my island and sharing it with the locals. I want to help back the community in Kiribati in educating them about cybersecurity and other useful scopes of networking,” he said.
Tune said his plans and aspirations for the future are still being determined. He said since he is bringing his family wherever he goes, he wants to keep their family intact and strong in the gospel. He said he believes that whenever they put God first, everything will fall into its path for their family.
“The future is still unknown to us. Although we had plans for our future, I still have to figure out the timing of our decisions. Even though there are worries, at some point, my wife always reminds me to stick with the covenant path and strive our best to keep the commandments,” he said.