Spotlights

When I came to tour Post, it was just like I knew it was for me. I had toured other big schools and it just was overwhelming. So to come onto Post’s campus, it was intimate. People came up to me, asked who I was, and then remembered who I was. They knew how to get me where I wanted to be.

“Kathleen Kimiko Takita, known to all as Kat, is the 2021 main campus valedictorian.”

I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my academic career and my life in general, really. And I’ve come to the conclusion that I stand here before you today, decorated in regalia of half a dozen organizations, the product of almost unbelievable privilege.

I am a straight, white, cisgender-passing individual with a first name rooted in Western culture, who was raised Roman Catholic in a middle-class suburban neighborhood. I have never had anyone tell me that I couldn’t practice my religion. I have never been treated differently because of the color of my skin or who I decided to date.

My privilege gave me a nine-foot ladder to get out of a 10-foot hole. I built a 12-inch step stool and got out of that hole with very little difficulty. And looking around, I see a group of amazing college graduates who did the very same thing. Some of whom had much smaller initial ladders to get out of that same 10-foot hole, who put so much more work into scaling the rest of that wall.

Here’s the thing about Post. It doesn’t matter where you came from or what your background is, how often you tried to start school, there’s always going to be someone there for you to connect to. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about with getting help. You’re not judged here, and the access to whatever support you need is everywhere.

I have all this knowledge, all of this experience, all of these resources, and yet there are still so many people down in that hole. I have decided to devote my life to the field of social work, where I will serve as an advocate for those of us still down in that hole. And choosing this path, I am devoted to a lifetime of learning, adapting, and applying the resources my privilege presents to me, in the hopes that I can get as many people out of that hole as possible.

The idea of support has a stigma in our society. The reality is no one can succeed alone. I’m going to show other that. And Post already does it. They go all-in on support.

Some of us here will go on to be doctors or nurses. To break the medical boundaries for those of us still down in that hole. Some of us will enter the business world, where they will prove that diversity is a valuable asset, not just a measurable quota. And some of us will enter the legal system where they will fight to end this debate over whose lives are worth living.

Because, at the end of the day, we need to stop putting qualifications on the right to exist. Privilege, whether or not we’d like to admit it, is real, tangible, and makes a hell of a difference when it comes to who makes it out of that hole and who spends years of their lives scrambling for even ground. And that’s where we need to make a difference.