By Kiera Nishimoto
Hello Everybody,
My name is Kiera Nishimoto. When I first gave my Senior Talk at the Graduation Service, I was sick. At that time, I was planning to attend Santa Clara University for a Mechanical Engineering degree. However, during the summer, I got off of the University of California, Irvine waitlist for Material Science Engineering and I will be attending there in the fall.
I joined Dharma School when I joined YBA my freshman year. While I had been around the Temple since kindergarten for Girl Scouts and later for Nakayoshi Gakko, I definitely didn’t feel as close to everybody as I do now. Everybody was incredibly welcoming and made me feel like I was there from day one.
I remember receiving a card before YBA started from one of my upperclassmen. It had been so long since I had seen a handwritten note that I was extremely excited to open and read the letter. I was really scared about joining YBA and being around the older kids, but the letter made me realize that they too, were a freshman once, just like me, and I had nothing to be afraid of.
Later on in my sophomore year, I was diagnosed with a major depressive order. I rarely attended school that year, and my friends heard very little from me. Those monthly YBA meetings at Cuesta Park were one of the few things that got me out of the house, and were even something I looked forward to. Between Ryan blurting out whatever was on his mind and my ridiculously low lawn chair, I’m thankful for all the small memories I made and everybody in YBA that kept me going that year.
All these experiences, through YBA, and just hanging around Temple grounds, taught me about kindness and selflessness. Everybody here is willing to lend out a helping hand without even asking what it is that they’re helping with first. That is one lesson that I hope to take with me for the rest of my life: to help others selflessly, persevere through the hard times, and to brighten other’s days.
By the way, if you ever see me, say “Hi!” I know my resting face can look scary, but I’m probably thinking about food. Hopefully I will be around for the holidays to say “Hi!”