<Begin Segment 26>

KL: When did school start?

AO: In September. I was fortunate in having Ms. Maeda, who had been a teacher in Southern California, so she was a real teacher. And my physics class was taught by someone who was a college student or had had college physics, and was no means a teacher. And I was the only girl in the class.

KL: Was it an elective?

AO: Yeah. Well, I was taking the core class, which is English, history, civics, type of thing. And physics and algebra, too. That was my full load. And my algebra class was taught by Ben Sanematsu, who was not a teacher then, but he was working toward it. And he became a teacher here in the San Jose Cambrian district, yes. So I had contact with him afterwards, too.

KL: What were the facilities like for the school when it first opened?

AO: Well, we just, that first year, there was no school. So they just found empty barrack rooms and used those for classrooms. So I had my core class in Block 2, which is on the other side of the canal from Block 17, and then my physics class was... I keep thinking 19, but I don't think it was 19. Anyway, it was about in the middle of the camp. And then my algebra class was at Block 35, which was way off.

KL: How did they arrange the schedule?

AO: Oh, we had a walk, about a half hour or so, between. Because my physics class was about eleven o'clock, and my algebra class was at two-thirty. And two-thirty in the afternoon, Arizona. So when that happened, we moved it to seven o'clock in the morning.

KL: I don't know which is worse. [Laughs]

AO: No, it was okay. Much better than that heat. And so, yeah, I enjoyed my algebra much more than physics. Physics was just... the boys in the class had a friend, one of the boys had a friend who... I don't know if he was a teacher, but he should have been a teacher, because he could explain the physics, everything to these kids. But these were boys that I didn't know, and here I was all by myself trying to learn physics from a book.

KL: Was that tutor older or was he your age?

AO: He was older.

KL: But he didn't really work with you?

AO: Uh-uh. Well, I didn't even know what questions to ask him, plus, I mean, he was just the teacher for the class and he could care less, I think.

KL: Oh, I mean the friend, the friend of the boys. Was he older?

AO: Yes, he was older. In fact, before the year was out, he was drafted and sent to Italy and then was killed. That was the saddest thing.

KL: You remember that news?

AO: Pardon?

KL: You remember hearing in Poston that he was killed?

AO: The news, yes.

KL: How did you hear?

AO: Oh, it just went through the school because everybody knew him.

KL: What was his name?

AO: I was trying to remember. Started with an S. It's not coming.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.