Seniors of CPS: Kate Mikami

Interview conducted by Elsa Chun '28

Monday, October 27th, 2025 at 11:27 AM

Elsa: Okay, I'm gonna start the interview. I'm gonna start with the rapid fire questions: Favorite Trader Joe snack?

Kate: I would say the chocolate dunkers, you know, like the long cookies.

Elsa: Alright, Freshman physics or Asian worlds?

Kate: Asian worlds. 

Elsa: Gym deck or student commons?

Kate: commons.

Elsa: Go-to karaoke song?

Kate: Oh, I forgot this was on the list of questions. Um, probably like… Dude I don't know. Go to the next question. 

Elsa: You can think about it. 

Kate: I'll think about it. We'll come back to it at the end.

Elsa: Yeah, okay. Best way to spend a rainy day?

Kate: Probably just watching a movie. I really want to watch La La Land- it's going off Netflix soon, so I really need to watch that before it goes.

Elsa: Oh no! Favorite day of the week?

Kate:  Unpopular opinion, but Wednesday.

Elsa: What??

Kate:  Well maybe that's just because that's my off day in swimming right now. Maybe that's why, but I feel like Wednesday is a pretty good day, lowkey. 

Elsa: Yeah, okay, I see that. One item on your bucket list?

Kate:  Sleep overnight in IKEA.

Elsa: Ooh, that's good.

Kate: I have to, bro, I have to. 

Elsa:  Okay, these are the longer questions so take more time to answer them. What is something that not a lot of people know about you? 

Kate:  Uhh… that's difficult. Can we also come back to that one at the end? Thanks Elsa. 

Elsa: Yeah! If you could say thank you to one place on campus, what would it be?

Kate: I think it would be the English ii room. A) I had a really good English two class, and that was fun but B) I feel like it's the coziest place on campus. There's usually not that many people in there. Sometimes I go in there to lock in, or if I need to put my head down, I usually go to that classroom, so yeah. 

Elsa:  All right, what's one of your favorite CPS memories?

Kate: I think.. Like CPS on campus, or like CPS in general?

Elsa: In general. 

Kate: I think one of my favorite memories, maybe it’s just on my mind because of the Laramie Project, but tech week for last fall was really fun. I think everyone got a lot closer in tech and I just did a lot of building and stuff that I hadn't done up to that point. It was a good time. 

Elsa: Aww, that’s so wholesome! If you could give advice to your freshman year self, what would it be?

Kate: Do more stuff? Like, I thought I was so pressed for time freshman year! [laughs] But when I look back, I had a lot of free time that I could have been using to go to a club, or trying a different sport or something. So, yeah.

Elsa: Where do you see yourself in five years?

Kate: I think… I think… Bro, what is this talking about? 

Elsa: Like in general? 

Kate: Oh, in general. I think I see myself happier. I hope I learn to cook more tasty meals by then. And I hope I'm living in a big city, somewhere nice, hopefully in the Bay Area, actually.

Elsa: And coming back to “what is something that not a lot of people know about you?”

Kate: Right [laughs]. Well, I have no answer for this. Help. SOS. 

Elsa:  Do you have like, a secret sibling, or a secret twin?

Kate:  I do not have a secret [sibling]... Oh! Well, one thing, my dad grew up in the country, so I spend a lot of time out in the country. I feel like I've grown up, kind of, in two places. 

Elsa: Oh, that’s a really good one. And then “go-to karaoke song?”

Kate: Right, right right right right. Umm, SOS. Oh! Don’t go breaking my heart, the Elton John song.

Elsa: Okay, that's good. All right, thank you for the interview! Good job. 

Kate: You're welcome!!

Freshman year Kate doing the cart lab in physics!