My name is Hiro Kato-Teale. I am a student at Pacific University pursuing a double major in Fine Arts and Japanese. I am a 20-year-old transgender man of Hawai’ian-Japanese descent, and I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu in the Hawai’ian archipelago. Personally, the transgender experience has been a mix of highs and lows. I attended an all-girls high school, where my identity was hardly ever respected. I struggle greatly with mental health issues related to dysphoria and the societal treatment of transgender individuals. Nonetheless, I would never trade my identity for the world. In college, I have become friends with many of my transgender peers and take pride in being a part of a community that demonstrates such strong solidarity. One of the strongest “lows” I experienced was when I was in 6th grade. I was struggling heavily with several aspects of my identity. I was attending a Native Hawai’ian charter school at the time. Even if I knew I was indigenous, it was not visible to other people. My grandmother is a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Despite being half Japanese, my father was fluent in English by the time I was born. Thus, I never learned to speak the language my grandmother understood. Even though I knew how important it was to hear her story, I was unable to understand it from her mouth. I could not feel confident in any identity label placed on me. I was not treated as Hawai’ian, I had no connection with my Japanese family, and I knew I was not a woman. My classmates could also tell that I was not adhering to cisgender norms. Confronted with a gender presentation they were unfamiliar with, they reacted with disgust and often unintentional bigotry. Detached from any community I could be a part of, I felt completely isolated. During this time, my homeroom teacher was a transgender man. He never disclosed this information to any of his other students for the sake of privacy. However, he saw me with the choppy haircut I gave myself because I was too scared to ask a hairdresser for a boy's hairstyle. He saw me cry while writing out a suicide plan in my college-ruled notebook during the lunch break and gave me a space to talk about everything on my mind. He knew he was unable to give me all the answers I needed at the time. Yet he gave me hope that I would find the answers eventually. He knew that it was difficult, unfair, and painful but he reassured me that it does not have to be that way forever. That I needed to be strong and it would eventually become easier, and it did. Upon completing college, I aspire to pursue a career as an art teacher. I believe that fostering self-expression through art at a young age is crucial for building confidence in one's identity without needing to prove oneself constantly. Furthermore, my homeroom teacher inspired me to help and reassure the next generation of students the same way he supported me. I have decided to reciprocate his act of saving my life by extending the same support to the transgender youth of the future. My education is vital to actualizing my dream of becoming a teacher. Therefore I take my studies very seriously, however, I struggle greatly with the financial strain of university which has become detrimental to my mental health. I would be eternally grateful to this scholarship for aiding me in achieving my dream.

My name is Hiro Kato-Teale. I am a student at Pacific University pursuing a double major in Fine Arts and Japanese. I am a 20-year-old transgender man of Hawai’ian-Japanese descent, and I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu in the Hawai’ian archipelago. Personally, the transgender experience has been a mix of highs and lows. I attended an all-girls high school, where my identity was hardly ever respected. I struggle greatly with mental health issues related to dysphoria and the societal treatment of transgender individuals. Nonetheless, I would never trade my identity for the world. In college, I have become friends with many of my transgender peers and take pride in being a part of a community that demonstrates such strong solidarity. One of the strongest “lows” I experienced was when I was in 6th grade. I was struggling heavily with several aspects of my identity. I was attending a Native Hawai’ian charter school at the time. Even if I knew I was indigenous, it was not visible to other people. My grandmother is a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Despite being half Japanese, my father was fluent in English by the time I was born. Thus, I never learned to speak the language my grandmother understood. Even though I knew how important it was to hear her story, I was unable to understand it from her mouth. I could not feel confident in any identity label placed on me. I was not treated as Hawai’ian, I had no connection with my Japanese family, and I knew I was not a woman. My classmates could also tell that I was not adhering to cisgender norms. Confronted with a gender presentation they were unfamiliar with, they reacted with disgust and often unintentional bigotry. Detached from any community I could be a part of, I felt completely isolated. During this time, my homeroom teacher was a transgender man. He never disclosed this information to any of his other students for the sake of privacy. However, he saw me with the choppy haircut I gave myself because I was too scared to ask a hairdresser for a boy's hairstyle. He saw me cry while writing out a suicide plan in my college-ruled notebook during the lunch break and gave me a space to talk about everything on my mind. He knew he was unable to give me all the answers I needed at the time. Yet he gave me hope that I would find the answers eventually. He knew that it was difficult, unfair, and painful but he reassured me that it does not have to be that way forever. That I needed to be strong and it would eventually become easier, and it did. Upon completing college, I aspire to pursue a career as an art teacher. I believe that fostering self-expression through art at a young age is crucial for building confidence in one's identity without feeling the need to constantly prove oneself. Furthermore, my homeroom teacher inspired me to help and reassure the next generation of students the same way he supported me. I have decided to reciprocate his act of saving my life by extending the same support to the transgender youth of the future. My education is vital to actualizing my dream of becoming a teacher. Therefore I take my studies very seriously, however, I struggle greatly with the financial strain of university which has become detrimental to my mental health. I would be eternally grateful to this scholarship for aiding me in achieving my dream.

My name is Hiro Kato-Teale. I am a student at Pacific University pursuing a double major in Fine Arts and Japanese. I am a 20-year-old transgender man of Hawai’ian-Japanese descent, and I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu in the Hawai’ian archipelago. Personally, the transgender experience has been a mix of highs and lows. I attended an all-girls high school, where my identity was hardly ever respected. I struggle greatly with mental health issues related to dysphoria and the societal treatment of transgender individuals. Nonetheless, I would never trade my identity for the world. In college, I have become friends with many of my transgender peers and take pride in being a part of a community that demonstrates such strong solidarity. One of the strongest “lows” I experienced was when I was in 6th grade. I was struggling heavily with several aspects of my identity. I was attending a Native Hawai’ian charter school at the time. Even if I knew I was indigenous, it was not visible to other people. My grandmother is a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Despite being half Japanese, my father was fluent in English by the time I was born. Thus, I never learned to speak the language my grandmother understood. Even though I knew how important it was to hear her story, I was unable to understand it from her mouth. I could not feel confident in any identity label placed on me. I was not treated as Hawai’ian, I had no connection with my Japanese family, and I knew I was not a woman. My classmates could also tell that I was not adhering to cisgender norms. Confronted with a gender presentation they were unfamiliar with, they reacted with disgust and often unintentional bigotry. Detached from any community I could be a part of, I felt completely isolated. During this time, my homeroom teacher was a transgender man. He never disclosed this information to any of his other students for the sake of privacy. However, he saw me with the choppy haircut I gave myself because I was too scared to ask a hairdresser for a boy's hairstyle. He saw me cry while writing out a suicide plan in my college-ruled notebook during the lunch break and gave me a space to talk about everything on my mind. He knew he was unable to give me all the answers I needed at the time. Yet he gave me hope that I would find the answers eventually. He knew that it was difficult, unfair, and painful but he reassured me that it does not have to be that way forever. That I needed to be strong and it would eventually become easier, and it did. Upon completing college, I aspire to pursue a career as an art teacher. I believe that fostering self-expression at a young age is crucial for building confidence in one's identity without feeling the need to constantly prove oneself. Furthermore, my homeroom teacher inspired me to help and reassure the next generation of students the same way he supported me. I have decided to reciprocate his act of saving my life by extending the same support to the transgender youth of the future. My education is vital to actualizing my dream of becoming a teacher. Therefore I take my studies very seriously, however, I struggle greatly with the financial strain of university which has become detrimental to my mental health. I would be eternally grateful to this scholarship for aiding me in achieving my dream.