"I get all teary; it's been such a long time."
And it is also a special day for her family, including for her father, the Samoan Minister of Education, Magele Mauiliu Magele, who will watch her graduate, among 330 graduands in science and biomedical sciences, at a 4pm ceremony at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin.
"I'm very proud and very humble," he says, adding his daughter has "worked hard" at her studies.
Ms Mauiliu (24) was an academically leading secondary school pupil in Samoa when she won a scholarship to study at Otago University in 2006.
Badly homesick during her first year of study in Dunedin, she nevertheless completed two years of her Otago three-year study programme in anatomy and structural biology before experiencing "burnout", far from her family.
And she decided to take a break and reassess her priorities.
She returned to Samoa in late 2008 and married, later returning to Dunedin and subsequently working as secretary to the Otago Health Sciences Associate Dean, Pacific, Dr Tai Sapoaga, before completing her BSc last year.
She is keen to continue her studies and ultimately wants to help, as a public health researcher, to overcome a "deficit" in Pacific health.
She is studying for a postgraduate diploma in public health this year and hopes to pursue master of public health studies next year.
She is part of a new wave of Pacific students undertaking tertiary study. Numbers of Pacific students have risen about 50% at Otago, to more than 670, over the past 10 years.
Mr Magele Mauiliu Magele said the close academic links which had developed between the National University of Samoa (NUS) and Otago University when he had recently been the NUS vice-chancellor had remained "very important".
He is encouraging Samoan people to pursue tertiary study, and says Samoa is now enjoying significant reverse migration.
People living abroad were giving an "incredible response" whenever significant jobs were advertised in Samoa.
