Kentaro Vadney '19 Recruiting Profile

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentarov/

“Wake up, Ken! Let’s go running!” — This was my daily wake-up routine when my Dad introduced me to running when I was 10. I used to dread dragging myself out of bed and running. However, before I knew it I began to look forward to running more than my Dad, this time encouraging him to wake up earlier and to run more. I make myself better as an athlete by emotionally dedicating myself to my training regimen.

After being inspired by my Dad, I began making time to run no matter what. One time I even convinced my parents to let me leave a New Year’s Eve family party and run at 11 PM while it was raining. Even after a tough track or cross-country meet, I’d do sit-ups in the parking lot—much to my mother’s dismay.

I've learned a lot about winning and losing with grace by running cross country and track at CAMS. We've had our share of diversity but we've also competed and won several championships. I look forward to a strong senior year and to continuing my running career in college.

Other than striving to positively impacting sports and peoples lives, I push myself to improve public speaking and engineering as well. I founded the TED-Ed Club along with the annual student-run TEDx Youth event at the California Academy of Mathematics and Science (CAMS). The school club allows members to find their voices while the event gives a platform for the students to showcase ideas.

Additionally, I am interested in subaquatic engineering. My best friend and I revamped the CAMS submarine robotics team and improved our team’s performance from placing last at regionals in the prior year to 1st at the regional competition. We held many engineering seminars to educate the public about subaquatic engineering along with entering many showcase events to spark interest in subaquatic engineering. Although re-launching and founding organizations is difficult, these endeavors trained my heart to be dedicated to anything that I do - to be emotionally dedicated to living to my fullest potential in any field I am involved in. This mindset drives is what drives me to improve myself and my teammates.