Photo courtesy of Impact Action Photos and Ben Simon, CSG
The Columbus School for Girls’ (CSG) mission is to empower girls to discover their distinct potential as learners and leaders. Since 1898, it has done this many times over, but there may be no better modern day embodiment than current senior Bethany Yamamoto.
Sometimes in high school, and in life, seeking the path of least resistance seems like the best option; try to blend in, don’t rock the boat and just go about your business.
Not for Yamamoto.
True to the CSG mission, Yamamoto is both learner and leader, and most of the many activities she takes part in at CSG are teaching her how to become a better leader. The CSG students, faculty and staff frequently select Yamamoto for leadership positions at the school.
“We are all very supportive and constantly pushing each other to be the best soccer team we can be,” she says. “It’s like a mini family.”
This year, she serves as captain of the soccer team, and was selected for the Student Athlete Leadership Council and for the Olive Tree Scholars Program, a mentorship program aimed at increasing leadership skills and character founded by CSG alumna Kim Hall. In between, she finds time to play viola in the string ensemble and serve as a Gold Key Ambassador, giving tours of CSG to prospective students and their families.
Yamamoto cites sports as one of her favorite parts of CSG, where she is a member of the soccer and lacrosse teams. As a captain of the soccer team, on which she plays both forward and midfield, Yamamoto sees the strong bond that has formed among her teammates and coaches as one of the reasons for their success this season.
“We are all very supportive and constantly pushing each other to be the best soccer team we can be,” she says. “It’s like a mini family.”
Yamamoto’s family moved to New Albany when she was 9 years old, and despite some initial trepidation about leaving Atlanta, the move has been a good one.
“I can’t see myself anywhere else,” Yamamoto says. “New Albany is a great community that celebrates healthy families and healthy living. I think it’s a great city to grow up in.”
Yamamoto points to one experience in her high school career that has changed her in a profound way, more than her time with the soccer team or other groups, and one that she is now using to help educate others: the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC).
“This experience will forever be in my heart because I was pushed out of my comfort zone,” Yamamoto says.
The SDLC is a national conference attended by 1,600 students and 500 teachers, put on by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). The SDLC is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of high school students where participants, according to the NAIS website, “will develop effective cross-cultural communication skills, better understand the nature and development of effective strategies for social justice, practice expression through the arts, and learn networking principles and strategies.” To understand why this meant so much to Yamamoto, she says, you need to understand her background.
“My father is Japanese, Scottish and Irish, and my mother is from Trinidad and Tobago, and she is of Indian, African and Hispanic background. Growing up, I have always been interested in ethnicity, and different cultures,” Yamamoto says.
During the 2016-17 school year, CSG started Diversity Club for students to learn about various ethnicities, genders, religions and cultures. Members of the club were given the chance to apply for one of four leadership positions, and Yamamoto earned one of them.
She wasn’t sure what to expect from the conference, but it turned out better than she ever could have thought.
“This experience will forever be in my heart because I was pushed out of my comfort zone,” Yamamoto says.
Yamamoto hasn’t always felt at ease with her own diverse heritage, but the conference gave her an opportunity to change that. During the conference, Yamamoto says, the students were given a list of ethnicities, and were asked to sit in the group with which they identified for discussion.
BEN SIMON STUDIO
“I chose to go to the multiracial affinity group, and never in my life have I seen so many multiracial people in one room who had similar experiences with me,” Yamamoto says. “Growing up, I struggled with the race part of my identity, and sometimes I felt like I had to be put in a box, but going to SDLC really opened my eyes and made me realize I don’t need to.”
Choosing the best part of the experience, Yamamoto says, is easy.
“Now I can confidently say that I am multiracial.”
That newfound confidence has allowed Yamamoto to take the message of inclusion and belonging back to CSG and Diversity Club. As one of the club’s leaders, she and the others have worked to organize diversity-related activities for students and faculty, and they have even gone so far as to collaborate with the diversity clubs at Columbus Academy and the Wellington School.
When Yamamoto graduates at the end of the school year, she isn’t yet certain where she will go to college or what she will choose to be her major, but her self-confidence in her identity, bolstered by her experiences, will surely serve her well as she sets out after graduation. True to her CSG-cultivated learner and leader personality, she’s looking forward to what is to come.
“I’m excited to see where all of my fellow classmates take their next journey,” Yamamoto says. “I’m excited to explore and learn more about myself.”
Bob Valasek is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
RELATED READS
