Dreamcatcher

I’m spartan. No, not the kind that fought in the Peloponnesian War. I just wear plain shirts, take colorless notes, and have a bare room. But even in my bare room, there are a few decorations that illustrate my character.

Directly above my bed sits the dreamcatcher I bought on my first family trip after moving to Arizona from Japan. On the trip, I bought the most American souvenir I could find: a Native American dreamcatcher. Although the dreamcatcher serves its purpose of catching my dreams, it also represents my transition to the United States. For the first few years, I didn’t understand any English at school, but numerous people earnestly assisted me, including my ESL teacher, who drove an hour every day for me, and classmates who spent hours explaining simple vocabulary to me. This inclusive culture transformed a kid grieving about moving to a new country into a student optimistic about learning a new language. As a Japanese-American, I now regularly engage in this inclusive culture, from packing clothes for the homeless with Key Club to simply assisting an elderly woman carrying her groceries. Kindness has empowered me with empathy: a value that not only encourages me to aid those in need but also to refrain from jealousy because I never truly know others’ situations.

On my desk sits a miniature figurine of “Hagure Metal” from Dragon Quest, a game I played with my father when I was young. Whether it was playing video games with me or teaching me the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, my father never lost patience with the millions of questions I asked. Recently, I performed a research project with him on the training of neural networks, and throughout the project, my father took the time to answer every question I had about datasets or optimization, even if it took weeks for me to understand one topic. My father’s patience fostered my curiosity and will to explore, and I’ve continued pursuing this curiosity through solving Gabe’s Horn or contemplating the possibility of time travel with Special Relativity. The “Hagure Metal” figurine reminds me of my relationship with my father as well as the importance of remaining inquisitive.

Finally, hanging in my closet is my first soccer jersey. In first grade, I initially had my mind set on playing baseball, but when I discovered that baseball was in its off-season, I decided to temporarily join a soccer team. But after playing, I fell in love with the sport. Over the past eleven years, through practicing every day on my own and with the team, I developed from a bench player on a low-level club team into playing along professional players in the US Soccer Development Academy—the highest level of youth soccer. But what fascinates me is that a sport that I only intended to play temporarily ended up having tremendous significance. The most meaningful encounters often stem from unexpected circumstances, and the soccer jersey reminds me to approach every opportunity and person with an open mind.

While my room may seem bare, the objects in there make it extravagant in significance. What’s more, this minimalistic room leaves space for objects to be added. The Spartan empire refused to change, but my spartan room will continue evolving as I venture through college and beyond.