Story Threads

CONGRATULATIONS KINSEI! Masters of Biological Sciences Graduate

By Layne Imada

We would also like to give a big congratulations to our own writer and contributor, Kinsei Imada! We are very proud of you! Kinsei will be graduating from the University of the Pacific on May 13, 2023, with her Masters in Biological Sciences. After graduation, she will be teaching at UOP for the summer and then moving onto her next adventure! We wish you good fortune and blessings!

Kinsei Imada

Where to begin. We asked Kinsei to write about herself and what her future goals are now that she’s graduated with her Masters degree. But, unfortunately she declined and ran away from us embarrassed. That’s how goofy she is. So, I won’t write about her, but rather I want to write a Thank You letter.

Dear Kinsei,

I know you’re happiest when you’re not the focus of attention. Privacy, anonymity, and all that. I get it, I really do. And that’s why I’ve always tried to respect your request to stay under the radar. Until now.

As I write this today, a couple of weeks before you graduate, I have to pour it all out into an article for all the world to see. I think we both know that I won’t be in any condition to talk to you day of. I waited 24 years for this moment. And here is usually where I do my best thinking.

Now there are dozens of things I could talk about here, I know that. And it’s been a challenge to think of just the right way to explain what I’m feeling as a dad, watching my first child learning to walk at the start of her true adult life. I could talk about all the pride I feel about everything you’ve accomplished academically. But I won’t. That would be too predictable and a little too braggy and you’d kill me, if I did that publicly.

I could share how beautiful it’s been to watch you strike out on your semi-own and live and thrive and manage your time and your life and your relationships like a bonafide grownup. But I’m not.

I could tell you how proud I am of all the ways you’ve reached out and connected with your college community and found your people and your path and your passion because that’s some inspiring stuff. But I’m not gonna go there either.

I’m also not interested in talking about the grades on your transcript or how many recommendations you have from your professors and peers, how well-positioned you are to land a job right out of school. But, that’s not what’s really on my mind.

Our own APA Living Today family member, Kinsei Imada

What I’m most focused on at this moment is who you’ve become as a person since you left for college freshman year — what you’re walking away with on the inside. That’s what’s filling up my heart today. And it’s what’s giving me the greatest sense of pride.

To me, it’s all been about your willingness to discover your best self. How tirelessly and deliberately you’ve learned how to engage with all the people around you to find your own unique place in the world.

It’s about the leaps of faith and risks you took by experimenting with things like majors and friendships and politics and social justice; and the pivots you made when you knew a direction didn’t feel right. Those are the big takeaways as far as I’m concerned and the reasons why we know you’re ready for what comes next.

So, as you get ready to walk across that stage, all I really want to do here is say thank you. Just thank you. Thanks for taking all these chances on yourself and believing that the sky is definitely the limit. Thank you for being willing to fall and fail and screw it all up before you got it right. Thank you for doing exactly what any parent hopes their kid does with this experience. Just. Thank. You.