<Begin Segment 6>

TI: But going back to your regular school, in my notes I have that you were the salutatorian?

KY: Yeah.

TI: Which is like the, what, second highest?

KY: Second, yeah. I was second, yeah.

TI: And so you were quite studious, because that's a high honor.

KY: Yeah. I was, I guess, a pretty good, at least I earned some pretty good grades, I guess. And that was, I guess, what prompted me and the family to say, "Hey, this kid, he's not gonna make a good farmer, 'cause he's kind of puny. Puny little kid, and it's rough work, farming." So I'm sure my brothers and father said, "Yeah, let's give him a chance to go to college." In those days, going to college was something else because -- this is 1930s, you know.

TI: And before we go there, I just wanted to just finish up a couple things. Was it common for other Japanese Americans to have such high honors at the high school there? Is this Auburn High School?

KY: Yeah. Well, I don't remember much about other classes and so on, but I guess Japanese in general were pretty good students compared to other people. I think that... what do you call, one of the valedictorian or salutatorian, I think his name was Shimasaki, Shimasaki or something like that. But that's the only one. But, you know, in those younger days, and you're moving around a lot, I really don't remember too much, yeah.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.