Christina: All right, so let’s start with a little bit about yourself – where you’re from, where you go to school etc.
Sora: Okay, I’m Sora, I go to Aragon High School, I’m a rising senior and I was born in LA. I moved to San Mateo when I was 3 or 4 years old. I was supposed to go to San Mateo High School but transferred to Aragon.
Christina: What do you enjoy about school? Favorite subject? What do you like doing in your life?
Sora: Definitely the STEM side of things. I don’t really like English, I’m mainly a math person, math and science person. I enjoy having a definite answer. I know science there’s not always really true answers but there is also a finding solutions side and that’s what I enjoy.
I also play basketball. I’m not the best player but I still enjoy it and I really like to just hang out with my friends, go to the mall, watch movies, stuff like that.
Christina: How did you realize you really liked STEM? Have you always enjoyed science from a young age or was there a particular class or teacher that helped you realize it?
Sora: During elementary school I wasn’t an academic person at all. I did not care about academics and I wasn’t good at any of the subjects, but then I realized I need to get better. I was going to middle school and there was this advanced program for math I really wanted to get into but at my level, I wasn’t enough.
So I started going to Kumon. Obviously, it wasn’t really fun but when I started getting it and actually learned math well, l got to be ahead of the class. Once I knew what I was doing it became fun and I started to like math.
From there I started to have more confidence in academics, mainly just math at first, and that went on to science. In middle school, I was able to get into the advanced program. Then in high school I was able to move ahead and go to advanced classes.
Christina: Yea I feel like Kumon is this really common Asian American experience. It definitely does help you get those foundational skills down quick so that you can do the harder stuff, so I totally get that.
Is there a science class in high school that you’ve enjoyed the most? What classes have you taken?
Sora: Yea, biotech, biology, chemistry, AP bio and physics. I enjoyed AP Biology the most just because the teacher, Ms. Ward, she explains everything in detail and it’s not just like a teacher standing in front of the whiteboard explaining stuff – she really helps you understand. It’s actually like an entertaining show kind of thing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really complicated, I’m not saying it’s easy, but she makes it interesting.
Christina: I loved biology and had a great teacher as well. I totally know what you mean about her finding a way to make the subject fun and relatable and understandable. Have all those science classes changed the way you see the world or understand things?
Sora: Yea like just about my own body, how my heart pumps my heart and everything that happens daily to keep us alive. I’m thankful for it and am also amused by my body. All the unconscious stuff that’s going on in me and in nature. I think about everything that is behind it, on the molecular level which is amazing.
Christina: Yeah the body is truly amazing. You had mentioned you play basketball, what position do you play and how’d you get into basketball?
Sora: I play small forward andI started during middle school. Before that, I hadn’t even touched a basketball. But in middle school, I was on the taller end so I just wanted to try a sport. It was like a fun, easy sport for me during middle school. But during high school, my height didn’t go up that much, and I became on the lower end. I still really enjoyed it, so I didn’t want to give up but I struggled. But it’s fun practicing and making some improvements.
Christina: Is there anything else that you might want to share with our readers? Interests, hobbies?
Sora: I’m really into sports so I’m also a journalist at my school newspaper, covering sports in general. I’m also in a leadership position where I’m the Instagram manager for my high school. I take pictures at school dances and events. But I mainly like sports and sports photography. I think that love of sports is a transition to my career pathway. I’m looking into sports medicine and thinking about becoming an orthopedic surgeon. I’m also doing a research paper about ACL injuries using stem cells.
There’s already a method with this Bio-implant thing where you put a whole chunk of collagen in there between your torn ACL and that apparently it fixes a little faster. So I’m researching right now using stem cells in that thing to make it even faster and more convenient for like athletes because obviously ACL tear injuries are a big issue. They can ruin a whole athlete’s career. So I think it’s really interesting.
So yeah, even if I can’t be like an athlete for my career, I want to be in a career that’s involving sports because yeah, I love sports. You can still hang out with them, you can still, you know, go to the games – awesome!
Christina: That is so cool and I think that totally makes sense for you. I can’t believe you’re already doing research about this issue that seems to plague athletes. Also you’re using biotech with the stem cells.
Do you know where you might want to pursue that path?
Sora: Yea college, I definitely want to stay in state; I like the weather here. I haven’t really been out of state so I can’t really compare but I know that this climate is for me, yeah. So probably somewhere that will put me in a good position for medical school, like UC’s maybe some private schools but I don’t know a specific one.
Christina: Yeah for sure, you have a lot of options in California. Let’s talk about your work with BABEC – what was your experience like?
Sora: So, like in general, we help with like equipment, mainly equipment, like micropipette, calibrating and cleaning them all the equipment that lab lends out to the schools, cleaning those, checking there’s the right amount, and then after that, we got to make like reagents, aliquoting all that.
That was like the biotech part that I enjoy, especially the repeat pipettors, I like using them. And then also the labs we got to like explore at the end. We also helped improve or change some of them. For example, the plant antibiotics lab, we knew the garlic worked but we wanted to find other samples. That small bit of research was the thing that I enjoyed the most, the experimentation.
Christina: So what did you find? Did you find other plants that work as well?
Sora: We tried like 40 different plants but unfortunately, none gave us the circle that forms around garlic. We tried ginger and turmeric, I thought those had strong antibiotic properties because you drink them when you’re sick. It didn’t work as well as garlic, that’s really interesting.
Christina: Yeah my understanding is that ginger and turmeric are excellent anti-inflammatory plants, so it’s excellent for things like arthritis and the inflammation from a cold. But I guess now we know for sure that it doesn’t have as strong bacteria killing properties. Even though it’s not what you were looking for, that happens pretty often in science.
What inspired you to pursue the internship at BABEC?
Sora: When Mr. Ikeda gave us options, I saw BABEC and I knew it wasn’t the first time I heard it. I went back to my biotech notebook and I found that we used some of the curriculum from BABEC. I was really thankful my high school offered the biotech class because I really enjoyed that class. It was a completely new field and then reading the job description and finding out that BABEC helps high school students experience the Biotech field, I really wanted to help.
I wanted to support this mission of providing high school students opportunities to experience biotech. I also wanted to see the professional side, the lab side of a biotech company and get some exposure.
Christina: Yea that makes sense! What would you say motivates you to do all this?
Sora: I would say, I’m fortunate enough to have a house and everything, but I don’t always get what I want and I’m hoping to have a life like that. I don’t know if that sounds kind of weird but I want a rich kind of life where I get to have what I want. Having a wealthy life or a stable life that allows me freedom and I know that I need a stable job for that, and before that I need an education.
Also, I feel like being able to work with athletes is kind of cool. That also requires an education. So it all ties back to education. That’s why I think I’m working right now. Once I complete my education, I’m hoping to have a life where I can do whatever I want.
Christina: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you said. Don’t be ashamed. I think that everybody wants the freedom to live as they please and we live in a world that requires money and resources to do that.
Last question, are there any accomplishments that you’re really proud of?
Sora: Yes, one accomplishment I’m proud of is a research experience I had at Berkeley. I cold-emailed a student who was working on creating a heart valve using stem cells. He invited me to visit the lab, but I couldn’t go because I was on vacation, so everything was done online. My role was small, but I helped research reliable components for the valve, focusing on materials to culture and grow stem cells. I provided a detailed list of pros and cons for each candidate material.
Later, the student emailed me, saying my research was really helpful, which made me proud. It started as just a summer project, but getting that feedback was incredibly rewarding. I had reached out to several professors when I was exploring the biotech field, and one forwarded my email to this student, which led to this opportunity.
Christina: That’s amazing and a great example of what a go-getter you are! Thanks Sora!
