okay rolling great great gosh great so your name which class and where you live
now oh my name is Emma Ryan Yamazaki I graduated from CA is the class of 2008
and right now I live in New York City so tell me a bit about CA had you end up
there why is your family in Japan um my I was born in Japan I was pretty much
raised in Japan my mom is Japanese and my father's English so they chose to put
me in a Japanese public school until I graduated from Japanese elementary
school and then I switched over to CA at the end of sixth grade and I spent my
entire middle school and high school career all the way through graduation at
CA was there any CA experience that had a great effect on you um I would say
that some of my my fondest memories of CA were the many lip syncs and talent
show events that the school held for us you know it was always a time for my
friends and I to get together and put on an act you know I was a performer and
dancer so there were just many ways to showcase and I spent a lot of time at
working hard with my friends to create something funny and there was just it
seemed like there were constant opportunities to perform whether they
were through music concerts or you know some sort of drama performance and so I
really enjoyed both being a part of that on stage like behind the stage and as an
audience member what would CA's attitude towards like your artistic interests um
CA was really the place where I realized that I wanted to be a storyteller and
that came probably first in the form of being a dancer and then I took some
camera classes and learn how to make a movie and then eventually I realized
that specifically I wanted to pursue being a filmmaker so CA really gave the
opportunity to for me to explore my different interests in storytelling and
then when I realized that probably filmmaking was the way to go they were
then really supportive to you know I could borrow equipment from them and they
gave me a chance to to film things around the school and then when I made a
film they're really supportive and even screened it at school sometimes so I
really felt like I was being supported and so that both you know made me figure
out what I wanted to do as well as then help me through it so it was a good
environment I think especially if because I wanted to do something that may not be
so typical as ending up in a big you know business company or something how
does CA like still support you in the arts do you find that they do um you know
I moved to New York and I've kept in touch with the CA community a lot like I
had my own I made a film in film school that premiered at CA and it was a great
response and I just feel like even though I'm physically not part of that
community anymore the community really transcends a physical place so I both
through with human relationships as well as like feeling a huge support every
time I go back there I still feel like even though you know I say it with pride
that my high school my middle school is still a big part of my life and in only
a good way do you still keep in touch with anybody there any of the teachers
yeah I keep in quite good touch with a lot of my teachers that I feel like
during my time at CA I was um I became friends with my teachers I don't know if
that's a common experience in the middle school or high school but obviously I
had friends my age but I really learned from my teachers not only in the
classroom like academic setting but just life lessons I feel like and I even
visited my economics teacher Mr. Livingston in Brazil once he moved
there and I was in college with a few days to travel so I feel like those
relationships really I we we had a kind of a situation where we could take it to
a more friendly level and to a more deeper level and I took those
opportunities and as a result I still feel very close to the school even though
I don't know as many students as I used to and I'm hoping that that will
constantly be a relationship that I can I can cherish so you feel like the
teachers there take personal interest in their students yeah I always feel like
I think it was because it's a small school but I feel like the teachers a
lot of the city teachers do take that extra step to care for the students I
feel like no one really slips through the cracks I feel like you know whether
you're a good student or maybe not such a good student in class like there's all
there's a place there was a place for everyone to to function and find what
they wanted to do at CA which I'm really happy that I came out of an
environment like that because it's not like it's not so much like that in the
real world I've noticed since I've left the CA community but it's good to know
it's good to build confidence there and then be able to know who you are to
face the real world um okay what was your most memorable
experience um I remember I was part of the show acquired that they called it
interlude the acapella group and I traveled to you know Shanghai the
Philippines and also the other international school in Osaka to to be
part of this you know music festival once a year and that was really a lot of
fun I think you know although I travel travel some with my parents like to
travel with the same age people within a school system like you get to take off
school because they think doing this thing is you know equivalently important
was a really nice feeling and to bond with other high schoolers from around
Asia was really fun and I really like I think you know there was a sports you
know those apex sports as well as different arts but I think being able
to I don't think that many high schools get to travel to different countries so
many times to do something they enjoy so I'm really I really enjoyed doing that
through CA so you how do you feel that CA is like a global kind of thinking
school like with all the nationalities and blah blah blah um you know coming out
of Japanese elementary school and then diving into CA um CA really taught me
how to be an independent thinker um and to be and let me be creative you know
Japanese school really taught me to be really good at doing what you're being
told and be part of a bigger collective and so then when I went to CA I was like
that and then quickly I learned that it's okay to be an individual and be
creative as well so I think it really and just it's the norm to have many
ethnicities many languages many religions in a classroom it's not even
something that you talk about almost um and then I think once you leave that
unique environment and come to like college or pursue your adult life you
realize that because that was the norm you're much more tolerant of things that
other people seem to have an issue with that you've never even considered to be
an issue so um I think growing up like that really um creates like a global
mindset and I know like a lot of CA alumni's go on to live around the world
and do a lot of you know some global things that are at a bigger big scale
and I think that is a reflection as to what how the the circumstance in which
you grew up not only the school specifically but you know the relationships
you you gain from that school and just the community that surrounds that kind
of a school so um was there any particular person at CA who inspired you
and so who is that person and how did they inspire you gosh I was really
inspired by a lot of people um in the CA community you know just from like my
bus driver who I saw every day for many years who just did you know who's a
Japanese guy who think was being a driver in the CA community for decades
just getting to know him for him getting to know me just people like that
through like the chefs who cook for us every day they're all Japanese people
that really I think enjoyed hanging out with us and we really love them for
making us good food and to keeping a Japanese side because it's often um you
know CA could get isolated as this foreign thing but we were in Japan and I
think it was important for me to feel like I was going to school in Japan and
those really staff members I really have fond memories of cherishing their
relationships I have with them um specifically teachers you know I'm
really there's so many but I think in terms of looking back you know I'm you
know I'm four years out of high school now and you know I've pursued my my
path of being a filmmaker and that's really because thanks to Mr. Mosser who
was my my theater tech teacher but really went beyond that in learning
support and equipment and just the skills to start my my storytelling
career and I don't know if I would have felt so passionately about it if I
hadn't had someone so I'm being passionate with me so I really um I'm
really grateful that he was around but and many other teachers as well
what do you expect from future CA students um I don't see is changing
every time I go back I feel like it's changing evolving with the time
the needs of the time um I just hope that you know it's hard to you almost take
for granted what you haven't see while you're there and I think I did too to a
certain extent um I hope that you know the people who are involved with that
school just like once in a while remember how special it is because I'll
always have that but I'll never be able to go back to that specific time and I
think I enjoyed it and lived it to the fullest that could at the time but I
think it's important to to remember how fortunate you are to to be part of a
community and I hope that future students and just the people who are
involved in the school remember the traditions you know I've heard so many
stories about the time the school was on a mountain and you know hundred years is
a pretty long time for a school to be around and I don't think when I was a
student there I even that even dawned upon me that the school existed a hundred
years ago so I feel like maybe once in a while reflecting on where the school
came from and to but cherishing the traditions is an important part of
CU's future. One word go. Describing my CU experience in one word, one phrase. It was
just it was the beginning for me like it was a place where I started and it was a
place where I formed and I really don't think I would have turned out in the way
I have had I not been to an environment like CA so in the way it was like the
big a place where I started my dreams and now I'll pursue my dreams and one day
achieve them so it was really the big a beginning place for me was what CA was.
Anything else? All right cut it.
