Kotomi Marisol Otilia Tiscareño Sato is a 14-year-old short-haired, quick-thinking young lady with a lot of promise. In Japanese, Kotomi means ‘beautiful music’, and while is not fluent in her dad’s language, she does dabble in it, as she does in Spanish.
 
A freshman at Castro Valley High School, Kotomi is very active. She has been playing forward in basketball for the recreational Eden Athletic League, trading elbows for seven years. She is also a Purple Belt in Karate and will soon go for the brown belt. Then there is marching band, in which she plays the trombone and the baritone. At times all these activities play havoc with her schedule, yet her time management skills allow for full participation.

A quiet and modest young lady, Marisol does get talkative once she warms up. She talked up a storm at our interview, amid munching on her custard filled chocolate donut at Pixie donuts.
 
Her Likes? Sushi, marching band, and Marvel movies. What she loves about sushi is the presentation of the dishes, the color, and the taste. Her favorite is the Spider sushi, withOUT wasabi – ‘I call it Japanese guacamole, and don’t like it.’ Wakamatsu Restaurant is her choice.
 
Marching band means that’s it a joy being with friends, marching musically, feels that it is community involvement, and ‘a great art form.’ I agree. She actually is thinking, ‘that it would be cool to participate in next year’s DCI International’, a national event for marching bands.
 
As a true Marvel fan, she did know about the sad event of the 12th of November. We shared a silent moment in his honor. She has a few of the Marvel movies at home and has seen all of them. Likes them all, no favorites, NOT even Spiderman. She does agree that if ‘one has influence over other people, that is a great responsibility.’
 
Perhaps her love of the Marvel universe, has led her to also be a budding artist, doing Animé on her computer, with Auto Desk Sketch Book, but mainly with pencil and paper. She showed me some of the pieces on her iPhone…very nice! At the moment, however, ‘my motivation is taking a short siesta.’ We’ll have to wait then.
 
Dislikes? Mayonnaise, unattentive people and any type of smoke. Mayonnaise has no flavor, has never tried, and is not really sure why the dislike. I suggested she try French fries or broccoli with it. She was unamused.
 
Smoke, of any type, irritates her and her allergies. She went through 12 days of difficulties with the smoky Bay Area, due to the Paradise fire.
 
Academically, she is doing well at school, and after Castro Valley HS, CAL beckons, and mainly because that is from where mom and dad graduated. Interestingly, Otilia was born in Berkeley, because her parents went to school there. They immediately brought her to our Heart of the Bay so that she can claim Made in Hayward status. So, at the moment there is no particular university in mind, but ‘it would be cool to attend CAL’, following her parent’s footsteps. Major? Neuropsychology or biochemistry. Impressive.
 
There is Dad, Mom, older sister Milagro, 17, and younger brother, 12, but no dog or cat. There used to be Jaime, their gold fish. ‘He died of old age, since he was 6 years old. Is now buried by the lime tree.’
 
Dad, Genro, and mom, Graciela are from Japan and El Paso, respectively, which means that our Youngster is tricultural and trilingual! This diversity makes her proud, for she can go from talking about her ‘abuelitos’ to eating her favorite dish ‘unagi-don’ (Japanesely barbequed fresh water eel, over rice). At home there are taco bars, many meals with chop sticks, carnitas with sushi and tortillas, and remember, no wasabi. No soya sauce on the carnitas either. Breakfast can be ‘pan dulce’ with milk. To wash it all down there is green tea, tamarindo, aguas frescas, Desani flavored water, root beer or ‘manjo’ (tea candy). They do visit the grandparents and El Paso, and aunts in Chihuahua, yet really love it when they visit the family here in Hayward. Why? The gifts! ‘My abuelitos brought us a big bag of corazones de bombones!’
 
I first met Kotomi back in September 2015 when her older sister, was My Hayward Youngster of the Month. Then, a few weeks ago, I saw a report on KTVU by Rob Roth, entitled ‘Girl Scout sisters make lasting impression to the East Bay’. It should have said ‘Hayward’, right? There was Milagro with taller younger sister Kotomi, and my thought was ‘another Hayward Youngsters of the Month!’
 
The project was to earn a Silver Award, with Milagro, one that would have a lasting effect. The thought was making the museum’s exhibitions accessible to all, and in this case, for the visually impaired. Our Hayward Area Historical Society Museum had no braille material…now they do! This thanks to Kotomi and Milagro. They saw a need and filled it.
 
Hedy Lamar is a person admired by Ms. Sato, and it’s because besides being a Hollywood actress, she was an inventor, and came up with frequency hopping, which became important for communication.
 
Otilia’s likes to live by ‘treat others as you want to be treated, until they give you reason to treat you otherwise.’ I like it.
 
Kotomi, who describes herself as genuine, introverted, and thoughtful, is an impressive young lady. I salute her, thank her parents and her teachers, and am extremely honored and proud to present her to you. Let’s help her and my other Youngsters-of-the-Month be leaders. They will encourage leadership and volunteerism among their peers for the benefit of our fine city.