From South Auckland, New Zealand to California, Anya Tonga came to the United States to make a difference straight out of high school.

Tonga is currently a Top 10 state track athlete, but the sport came to her coincidentally her junior year in high school.

“I signed up for the weightlifting class and the coach approached me and asked me if I had ever thrown a discus before,” said Tonga.

Her coach wanted to see how she did throwing the discus and was impressed with what he had seen.

“With that throw he told me I had beaten the league,” Tonga said. “I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing, I didn’t know what to do.”

With her coach’s mentorship and her ability she placed third in Central Coast Section Championship and qualified for state her junior year in high school with continued success the next year as well.

Anya Tonga’s talent and hard work lead to her placing first in CCS her senior year of high school and lead to a lot of schools taking interest.

“Imagine I’m from New Zealand, coming to another country, doing so well and all these people coming at you, I freaked out” she said, “ That’s why I decided to go on a mission to get away from track.”

After high school, track wasn’t in Tonga’s college plans.

“I’d done track in high school, and [track] coach [Nick] Mattis approached me and told me to check out the program at De Anza [College],” she said, “But I wanted to serve a mission first”.

Tonga spent 18 months in Arcadia, California on her faith based mission, then returned to De Anza to continue her studies as well as joining the track team.

Kelly Baxter, Tonga’s teammate, said that Tonga’s attitude makes the whole team better.

Coach Bob Bush acknowledged Tonga’s maturity and her leadership “Anya is very well accepted by the team,” he said. “She’s only a freshman but shows a lot of maturity for a freshman and will probably be one of the leaders of the team next year.”

For Tonga, coming to America coming to America she was surprised that people specifically in high school had free education and weren’t taking advantage of it noting how in New Zealand, you are required to pay for education from the beginning, she said.

Tonga credits her circumstances and the fact that she comes from a poor family in South Auckland, New Zealand as factors motivating her to do well.

Because she comes from a poor family, Tonga said her goal is to get a scholarship to a university so her mom doesn’t have to pay for anything. She also would like to help out other kids like her.

“One day if I make it big I’d love to help out Polynesian kids and give them the opportunities that I had,” she said.

Tonga said her secret to success is her faith in god. “I knew deep down, if I took the time to serve a mission and help others for 18 months, the Lord would bless me in anything I choose to do in life.”

“There’s a motto that goes ‘if you put the Lord first, he will put you first’ and I can honestly say right now, with just my first season in track and field, coming back from 18 months of doing anything far from being athletic, I’m reaping my blessings,” Tonga said.