Rarely do you find a 16-year-old willing to engage in serious political dialogue about campaign finance reform or political corruption. For Katherine Padilla, however, not only can she articulate complex views, she and her team were named as winners of the C-SPAN StudentCAM 2020 Western Division Champions.
“When you first start progressing in Kumon, it will get more difficult. Just know that the learning process will take time, but ultimately, it will all be worth it,” claims Padilla. “I am most proud of the two documentaries that I helped create for the C-SPAN StudentCAM contest. I found it as a great opportunity to interact with our community leaders, professors, and politicians that help shape our laws and policies,” she said.
This is the second year in a row that Katherine Padilla and her peers were recognized for their documentary. According to C-SPAN, Padilla’s team placed second last year. It said the production of this award-winning documentary was a rewarding experience and touched on crucial topics like campaign finance and political corruption.
According to Padilla, the accomplishment isn’t the first of Katherine’s culturally based awards. Her first award in a language-based competition dates to 2018 when she first started attending the Japanese Language School of Long Beach and placed first in the 2018 Japanese Speech Contest. She also won third place at the 2020 Japan Bowl of California, which is a Japanese Language & Culture Team Competition for high school students.
Padilla, now a Kumon completer in math and reading, has also mastered the Japanese language, the language in which Kumon was first developed. Not only is she able to communicate in Japanese but she is intrigued by learning about the culture and background.
In the summer of 2018, her family had the opportunity to host a cultural exchange student from Japan. Her exchange student, Himawari, was from the city of Yokkaichi, which is in Mie prefecture.
“Meeting her opened my eyes to new perspectives. Since my Japanese and her English were not perfect, we had to communicate on the basic human level of body language and learn each other’s languages along the way,” says Katherine.
“Hima taught me the value of trust and how to be a more tolerant person. Her visit had such an impact on the whole family. She fueled our curiosity and motivation to go to Japan and learn more about her culture as she did with mine.”
Katherine has always been inspired by learning. For this reason, she now considers The Kumon Method “invaluable” and essential to daily life, especially when someone is preparing to enter the workforce.
Someday, Padilla hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps in becoming a software engineer. “He is tech savvy and somewhat of a nerd,” says Padilla, and is always up to date with the latest trends. “He has influenced me,” she said.
“All the hours of work you do currently, and in the future, will be beneficial to you now and long into your academic career,” says Padilla.
Now a sophomore at Los Alamitos High School, Padilla thanks Kumon for making her ready for even higher goals and ambitions. “I think Kumon’s method is essential for daily life or whenever someone enters the workforce. Being able to figure out solutions to a problem in Kumon can parallel problem solving in the real world.”
Rarely do you find a 16-year-old willing to engage in serious political dialogue about campaign finance reform or political corruption. For Katherine Padilla, however, not only can she articulate complex views, she and her team were named as winners of the C-SPAN StudentCAM 2020 Western Division Champions.
“When you first start progressing in Kumon, it will get more difficult. Just know that the learning process will take time, but ultimately, it will all be worth it,” claims Padilla. “I am most proud of the two documentaries that I helped create for the C-SPAN StudentCAM contest. I found it as a great opportunity to interact with our community leaders, professors, and politicians that help shape our laws
and policies,” she said.
This is the second year in a row that Katherine Padilla and her peers were recognized for their documentary. According to C-SPAN, Padilla’s team placed second last year. It said the production of this award-winning documentary was a rewarding experience and touched on crucial topics like campaign finance and political corruption.
According to Padilla, the accomplishment isn’t the first of Katherine’s culturally based awards. Her first award in a language-based competition dates to 2018 when she first started attending the Japanese Language School of Long Beach and placed first in the 2018 Japanese Speech Contest. She also won third place at the 2020 Japan Bowl of California, which is a Japanese Language & Culture Team Competition for high school students.
Padilla, now a Kumon completer in math and reading, has also mastered the Japanese language, the language in which Kumon was first developed. Not only is she able to communicate in Japanese but she is intrigued by learning about the culture and background.
In the summer of 2018, her family had the opportunity to host a cultural exchange student from Japan. Her exchange student, Himawari, was from the city of Yokkaichi, which is in Mie prefecture.
“Meeting her opened my eyes to new perspectives. Since my Japanese and her English were not perfect, we had to communicate on the basic human level of body language and learn each other’s languages along the way,” says Katherine.
“Hima taught me the value of trust and how to be a more tolerant person. Her visit had such an impact on the whole family. She fueled our curiosity and motivation to go to Japan and learn more about her culture as she did with mine.”
Katherine has always been inspired by learning. For this reason, she now considers The Kumon Method “invaluable” and essential to daily life, especially when someone is preparing to enter the workforce.
Someday, Padilla hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps in becoming a software engineer. “He is tech savvy and somewhat of a nerd,” says Padilla, and is always up to date with the latest trends. “He has influenced me,” she said.
“All the hours of work you do currently, and in the future, will be beneficial to you now and long into your academic career,” says Padilla.
Now a sophomore at Los Alamitos High School, Padilla thanks Kumon for making her ready for even higher goals and ambitions. “I think Kumon’s method is essential for daily life or whenever someone enters the workforce. Being able to figure out solutions to a problem in Kumon can parallel problem solving in the real world.”