<Begin Segment 14>

BH: So your experience might have been a little bit different because you had mentioned also that in early March of 1943, you were allowed to leave the camp because you'd been accepted to college?

KH: Uh-huh.

BH: So can you tell me a little bit about that?

KH: Yes, I left camp with Hiroko, and Ish was accepted into a cadet nursing program. So we all left, three of us left camp together, and they went to Chicago and I went to St. Paul, Minnesota.

BH: And what school did you go to?

KH: The College of St. Catherine, which was a very nice thing that they did. The dean of the school said that the girls that are interned -- this is a private girl's college -- she said that they cannot go to school on the West Coast, but then she said, "We are allowed to accept students in St. Paul." So she let the Catholic community know that they will accept six students. And if, if need be, that they would give scholarships for those who need the scholarship. And I didn't know that, but Father Tibesar, who was the priest at Maryknoll in Seattle, followed us, had went to camp, and they gave him a room to do, say mass every day, and he was also able to stay in camp. And he applied to the College of St. Catherine for that scholarship. Then I got a letter from St. Catherine offering me a working scholarship, and I took it and left camp.

BH: So did you have to do any application process yourself, or was it all you receiving news?

KH: You know, I really didn't do any application.

BH: So this Father...

KH: Father Tibesar.

BH: He was, he was white?

KH: He, yes.

BH: He had volunteered to come to the camp.

KH: He sent my name in, and they offered me the scholarship.

BH: So you sort of have him to thank for...

KH: Then my records followed after that.

BH: So you left, you left the camp, and you left most of your family.

KH: Yes, I did.

BH: So how did you feel about that?

KH: [Laughs] Oh, I was very homesick.

BH: Really?

KH: Uh-huh.

BH: Nervous?

KH: Yes. 'Cause St. Catherine's is a pretty elite girls' school. But once I got settled, it was fine. Being so close to Fort Snelling, there were quite a few fellows from Broadway High School stationed at Fort Snelling.

BH: So you had a community that you could interact with?

KH: Well, I went on dates with the fellows.

BH: And when you got to St. Mary's...

KH: St. Catherine's.

BH: Or St. Catherine's, I apologize, can you tell me about going to school there and your perception? I mean, how did people receive the Japanese?

KH: We were a novelty to them, I think, but then, they were very nice. I think religion probably has a lot to do with it, too, "Love thy neighbor." And the nuns were great. I, I worked for the registrar of the college, and she was very good.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.