With two weeks until graduation, TMU seniors reflect on their time at Master’s before walking across the stage on Friday, May 4, 2018.

By: Leo Sakai, Class of 2018

As I reflect back on my time at Master’s and try to replay all that has happened in the past four years, I find it extremely hard to summarize all that I’ve experienced in a single event or memory.

As someone once described it to me, it really does feel like a mosaic of emotions, memories, and lessons that you just can’t quite thread perfectly together.

I remember coming in my first year, fresh off the boat from Japan, and being immediately thrown into the Master’s Cup, majorly jetlagged and delusional. There were countless runs to Buffalo Wild Wings with the guys in the dorm, but only on discounted nights because being in college automatically means you can’t afford the fancy wings. Late night hangouts on the wing with a fire-code-violating overflow of guys crammed together in the tiny dorm rooms, discussing everything from pizza toppings to biblical manhood. I experienced amazing opportunities to go overseas with different teams to interact with various cultures, seeing God at work in unique and life-changing ways.

When I bring my gaze back to the present, I am simply filled with a heart of thankfulness.

Thankful for my professors in the biology department who have challenged me to think critically and have stretched my mind academically in ways I have never been stretched before. Thankful for the leaders I got to work alongside of through mission trips, local outreaches, and other opportunities. Thankful for friends that have become lifelong brothers and sisters who I know I can partner with in the trenches of life. Most importantly, I’m thankful to end this chapter in my life with a deeper understanding and love for Christ, a stronger desire to know him more, and a greater passion to pursue him in the field of medicine.

After graduation, I plan to apply to medical school and pursue my dream of becoming a physician. I’m confident in the knowledge and understanding that the professors here have prepared me with to make this step, but at the same time eager to see how God will establish my steps and how he will use me. I’ve always had an interest for interacting with different cultures and visiting different countries so in the long-term I hope to see myself using my skills and knowledge to practically impact people and be a light in various communities overseas.

A lot of thoughts and emotions surround the idea of graduation, clouding it with a mixture of excitement and uneasy anticipation.

When you walk across that stage, there is an underlying sense that you will be walking into the foggy unknown. Yet, because of what I was able to experience and learn through these past four years, I take my first step with confidence.