 Aloha, Hawaii. I'm Wendy Lo, and I'm your dear friend as we journey to take your health back. We are coming to you live from downtown Honolulu from the studios of ThinkTekhava'i in the Pioneer Plaza building. Today our topic of discussion will be on exceeding expectations, and I'll let Nathaniel share his special trait himself. What I would like you to take away from today's discussion is the idea that the only obstacle stopping you from success, whether it's healthy living or career choices, is yourself. I just had the opportunity to meet this stellar of a young man last week Wednesday at the WAMCAC Waini Military Civilian Advisory Council meeting where he was being presented to share his journey. You know that I was so impressed and I had to have him come to my ThinkTekhava'i show to share with all my listeners his ordinary to extraordinary life's journey that I believe is just the beginning. So we'd like to welcome Nathaniel. Aloha. Thank you for having me. All right, so we got a lot to cover, a lot of great pictures that I want to share with everyone here. So you know I look at you, you're a handsome young man, but you must have been a really cute kid when you were growing up. Can you just share a little bit about your childhood? Okay, yeah, so I grew up in Waini, Hawaii, where I went to Makaha Elementary School and I went to public school all my life, so Makaha Elementary, Waini Intermediate, and Waini High School. And growing up I had 10 siblings, so I have five brothers and five sisters making 11 of us total, so that's basically the gist of it. Wow, I know that you came from a big family and you're a number 10 of 11. I was going to ask you to tell us a little bit about that, but I thought I only have 30 minutes here. You better make it quick, telling me all about your family and everything, but you just did and so I'm so excited that you of 11 children, your mom and dad, must be so proud of every one of you, and of course I'm sure you've got a special place in their hearts for accomplishing so much that you have up to this point in your life. So what was it like growing up with so many siblings? Yeah, so growing up with 10 siblings, most of them being older, so I actually had many nieces and nephews that were my age, so it was pretty hectic. We didn't get along at first and when we were little kids we would always fight, but as we grew older we grew to love each other and so we ran out all the time, every time I'm home and they had me babysit all their kids, so I have 37 nieces and nephews. Wow, so that's a lot of influence, input that everyone probably is guiding you because you were kind of like the baby of the family, one of the babies. So they all want the best for you and encouraging you in every which direction. So how much and how did your family influence you in your career journey? Okay, yeah, so most of my siblings being older than me, they had their own experience in life and I learned from them, so the older ones most of them actually got their GED or a few of them and then as we got younger and younger most of them started excelling in school and then the two siblings above me joined media and so I followed in their footsteps. In any media they were in the advanced program and did media, so I decided to do media and I was really inspired from my media teacher Miss Higuchi. She inspired all of her students to do well. And that's why Wainae High School is really world-renowned for their media productions division and departments there. I mean I know I've been to a few events where I was exposed to that and very impressed and I thought what a great opportunity for those students to be exposed to that because you're going to capture their excitement and their interest that they're going to be productive in life. As you were you were very productive and enjoyed media and production, so why didn't you continue that route in high school? Yeah, so in eighth grade we found out that we could take JRTC and set a PE and I was like I wanted to be a firefighter ever since I was a kid and then I found out you could go and be a military firefighter earlier. In Hawaii you could only be a firefighter at the age of 21 but at the age of 18 you can go into military. So I decided okay I want to join the military so I joined JRTC in ninth grade. You just try to figure it out and hopefully learn more about the military. But I also did media in ninth grade as well and then in the summer of after ninth grade I had to decide if I was going to stick with media or JRTC and I decided to stick with JRTC since it's more useful for my future career. Wow, what a brilliant career choice and you know as I sit in on a meetings for WAMCAT which is a military involvement with the local community of the West Side which I know WAMCAT is headed by Lieutenant Colonel Rock Arakaki and a dear friend now because I just am so passionate about what he's doing with all of the West Side and just making sure that the military meshes well with the local environment and just supporting each other in everything they do because we need each other. The locals need the military to be there. The military needs the corporation of the locals out there and if we could just continue to work together that way how much smoother and better life would be because they can protect us in a lower and I mean that's your job and that's what they're doing every day for us. So going to the ROTC program at Wainae High School and just you know going through all those great exercises like I saw you going over the swamp or what did you call it? The Talapia Pawn. So going over that those kinds of activities probably got you excited and it was a fun as well as learning and the discipline. So how did all of this prepare you for going to West Point? Yes so JRTC definitely prepared me leadership-wise so they gave me leadership opportunities first as a discipline sergeant then a company commander and then finally as a battalion commander as you can see in this picture. So I led all the student JRTC students in Wainae High School so they provided me leadership opportunities. So JRTC isn't just to prepare you for the military it's just to prepare you leadership-wise and just to be a good civilian overall most people have the concept that oh they're just for the military but they actually help prepare you for college and just general life decisions. So that's a great piece of advice right there guys if your school has the JRTC programs that you should just get involved just because it's another like another curriculum that you could get involved with or extracurricular activity that you could get involved with and not just because you want to be in the military but like Nathaniel mentioned that it'll just give you a direction in life and discipline and I'm sorry to say this is not your case but sometimes discipline is lacking in a lot of our students and so they can't even handle the rigors of life because they're not prepared. So you're saying that ROTC did prepare you for life and now life in the military. Is that correct? And not just life in the military but they also teach community service which you talked about Colonel Rock. So there's a big community service aspect you get so many hours of community service and you learn to work with so many different people it's great. Yes I know kudos to Colonel Rock Lieutenant Colonel Rock because he is an amazing man I'm gonna say young man because he acts like a young man he's just in and every activity to get all the different ROTC programs to work together I mean there's not a Kuli High School there's Waianae High School and of course I'm only speaking on the west side there are many other branches as well but they're doing a fabulous program and allowing you all to come out to volunteer in the community get that exposure to just prepare you for life. All right so now you're going through your junior and you're going to start preparing for where you want to attend college. Where did you apply for colleges? I applied to West Point first so actually going junior year I applied for West Point they have this program where it's called summer leadership experience and so I applied for that at first and I didn't get accepted but they said hey continue the application into just the school itself so I just continued that application and then I also applied to Valley Forge and Virginia Military Academy and then Colorado School of Mind so all military schools I also applied for the ROTC scholarship in New York. Wow so you apply for a few schools you wait you get the letter congratulations you're now accepted to West Point how did your family react to that? So my family was very excited I think everyone that found out about it was more excited than I was when the news came out so I actually found out on Valentine's Day but I was at my friend's house and my mom caught me up said hey you're accepted into West Point and then I was just like okay cool and my friend he was like hey what just happened was like I got accepted West Point he was like oh wow and like everyone was more excited about it than I would it seem like so. Wow it was it I mean it was so exciting news the first Wai Nai alum to get accepted to West Point and now you're a West Point graduate that's that's exciting I mean I was I when I met you I couldn't I couldn't contain myself because I'm so proud of you from Wai Nai High School and also West Point Academy I'm so excited for you what was going through your head when you got there when you got to West Point and then you realize oh my gosh I'm gonna be on my own from this point on what's going through your head boy? So I actually got homesick after the first week but I just realized hey I have to stick it out I after the news came out I realized how much of inspiration I was to the community so I was like I need to provide an inspiration to everyone else actually when the news came out there's a little boy who knew my dad and he saw me on the news and he's like oh why is he on the news and then his mom told him and he's like I'm gonna be a doctor and so maybe I can be on the news for that so I realized I'm inspiration to multiple people so I need to stick this out for them. You have no idea Nathaniel you're gonna even by coming on to the show today I mean I just met you a few days ago you had the courage enough to say yes Auntie I want to share my journey I want to inspire other students of Hawaii and the world that you know not just playing at this level but just dreaming big and obtaining your dreams by how did you obtain these dreams hard work? Yeah so it's hard work and also a lot of support from the community and my family everyone just pushing me to do much better and that and some teachers actually so in ninth grade I had a math teacher who inspired me to do work beyond the classroom because the classroom work was too easy so he gave me an extra book to do work and learn higher level math on my own. I just love it as well I mean you're giving kudos to your teachers and you know that's the backbone of where you are as well I mean of course your family as you said earlier you know the first I don't know you want to quote numbers your older siblings you know they just went through life and now they are there to mentor you and encourage you and guide you and just hey you can do this boy just let's go let's go so they all I don't want to say they rallied around you and encouraged you and then you had your teachers to support you at school to make better decisions so that you will be guided in the right direction which obviously you are and so you end up at West Point what is a day like at West Point for you? Okay so we have two different class days so you have day ones and day twos and so depending on the regiment so you would have everyone has class starting at 7 30 and class goes all the way up to 11 and then 11 30 ish to 12 30 ish we have lunch and then we have the entire study break and then class again until 4 4 30 we start company athletics so either you do company athletics which is just like intramural sports with cadets or you actually train for sports so like we have the football team and a wrestling team a bunch of other sports so depending on if you're a core squad or not that's you do that sport or come to athletics and then on day twos we would drill and then vice versa so that last photo we saw House of Tears was that just a photo op or was it was the story behind the House of Tears? Okay yes so during the summers we have trainings and that that training was my leadership experience so I was able to be a squad leader for the new cadets coming in and that House of Tears we just finished the gas chamber so that was us after the gas chamber. So with a mask or without a mask? So you go in with the mask and you take it off you decide your social security number and a bunch of other details and do either a song or something and then they'll let you out. Oh wow so real hardcore training right I mean real tears shed. A lot of people throwing up tears but it wasn't that bad like I'm going through it a second time the first time when you go as a new cadet it seems a lot worse and when you do it again like for some reason it doesn't seem as bad. But that's all in preparation of right I mean how much can you push with that much chemical warfare within your yes right in your face I should say. It's teaching you how to clear gas mass if there is ever a chemical warfare but that hasn't happened for a while. Wow but you're prepared. Yeah you're like a big boy boy scout. So how did Wisp point prepare you for the military? Okay yeah so it prepared me for leadership wise and also taught me a bunch of weapons training and then it also gave us opportunities to do internships so my internship was actually with the business side of the army it's called the acquisition corps. I was able to work with drones so unmanned aerial systems. I was able to fly this drone that you saw it's got a raven. I was able to fly it. I was able to crash it which is how it's supposed to land you just turn it off you know crash land. Wow you mean that was cool hmm when did you graduated with honors? No that sounds like fun but I know it's more than just that. Senator Daniel right now we are gonna take a 60 second break and we're gonna come right back to catch more of your journey and your fun and excitement at West Point so we'll be right back. Aloha I'm Marsha Joyner inviting you come visit with us on cannabis chronicles a 10,000 year artistry where we explore and examine the plant that the muse has given us and stay with us as we explore all the facets of this planet on Wednesdays at noon. Please join us Aloha. Aloha I'm Yukari Kunisue the host of Konnichiwa Hawaii Japanese talk show on Think Tech Hawaii. Konnichiwa Hawaii is all Japanese broadcast show and it's streamed live on Think Tech at 2 p.m. every other Monday. Thank you so much for watching our show we look forward to seeing you then. I'm Yukari Kunisue mahalo. Aloha and here we are back at Think Tech Hawaii studios and we are privileged and very honored to have Nathaniel Endo second lieutenant graduate of West Point and an alum alumni of Waianae High School. So Nathaniel was just sharing with us his grand experience of high school and growing up as a normal kid and I just want to say an ordinary kid doing extraordinary things and as a young man as a graduate of West Point just very inspiring to encourage others to just play at their highest game and not ever give up because all things are possible and I truly believe that all things are possible through Christ and so you know right now I just want to ask you Nathaniel what helped you to get through West Point and your high times and your down times what helped you get through it all? Yes so West Point has a strong Christian community so I believe God definitely helped me get through it and then the church group so we we had choir I participated in the Protestant choir and this picture is actually another cadet from Hawaii he graduated from Farrington he was a year ahead of me but yes so making those connections they definitely helped get me through and as well as the church group. That was a choir's uniform? So that was the West Point cadet uniform but that was our most formal wear and that's what the choir would wear when we went out. See I can't sing but if I could wear a uniform like that I would learn to sing. Oh that is spiffy boy that looks phenomenal so handsome and I believe you worship at Wainae Assembly of God is that correct? Yes so I go to Wainae Assembly of God every time I come that's the church I grew up in ever since I was a kid. Wow and kudos to the pastor and the family of that church for raising you up with the right heart and right eighth so thank you. So now what will you do in the army that you're a graduate and then you're gonna ship out soon what will you do in the army and what does it all entail you got to explain to us so don't just give us some titles okay. Yes so I'm gonna be an air defense officer so I'll be shooting any incoming missiles or any drones or an aircraft but this is branch night so me and my two roommates during branch night one went engineers and the other went to field artillery so the one on the right or my left is actually gonna be going to Fort Soak, Oklahoma with me we'll both be doing training for artillery so here's these field artillery and I'm air defense artillery. So those little designs on that card is that telling you where you're going or what division you're going to? So that tells us the branch that we are in so the one I'm holding is the shape of the air defense branch. Wow. That is our insignia. Okay so now you you're sharing with me your journey you're gonna leave here you're gonna go to your buddy's place in Florida and then you're gonna end up where where are you gonna be stationed? Okay so first next month I drive to from Florida to Oklahoma Fort Soak Oklahoma as well be a training for as an air defense officer but then I finally got stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky so that's where I'll be going in December and I'll be there for three years so that's picture show branch night which is all the places that we will be stationed and I was actually able to be stationed with my roommate that you saw earlier. So how many locals how many people from Hawaii with you were with you in your first in your entry class? There are eight in the entry class but six graduated on time and then there's one who was turned back for medical issues so he'll be graduating August and then another will be graduating next year because of academic. So you all have a familiar bond of being Hawaiian? Yes. So when you were in school in West Point did you all hang out did you guys crave Hawaiian food at the same time what was it like care packages what was it like? So most of us hung out with friends we made at well at West Point but we'd get together every now and then I would check up on a specific friend from Kailua she went to Sacred Hearts her name was Haley Pound but also met up with Shiloh Bagley to make most of these in his room and then another cadet from Eva he his parents moved to Maine Maryland or actually so we went to his house for Thanksgiving and so I got to have some some wine food. So tell me did you have a rice cooker in your dorm in your room? I never personally had a rice cooker but I had another Japanese friend who did so still some of his rice every time you made it. I mean you must have gone through a lot of rice because that would probably be the staple with everything else. Well so mainly we ate in the mess hall so we would have to eat at the mess hall every every day in order to save money but also lunch is mandatory to eat at the mess hall and then breakfast was optional and dinner was optional. Okay so we talked about mess hall food tell me a little bit about that what was the quality of the food or was it a variety of great vegetables and fruits how healthy were your meals there? So they they actually try to keep healthy like with but they also gave you protein enough protein for the day but they also have a salad bar fruit bar like so anyone who doesn't want to eat meat they can just eat salad every day so I'd have a salad for every dinner and then eat fruits every breakfast. So you feel you had a very good well rounded nutrient level of intake? Yes I definitely did well I was there. Oh very good kudos to us point I love hearing that right because you have to perform at your highest so you need to feed your brain the food it needs and also be physically receiving nutrients physically so you can maintain the rigorous room chores and duties that they have required of you is that correct? Yes especially during the summer they they eat a lot more than you usually would because of the training that it goes on during the summer and so most people actually will gain 15 pounds because they have to eat a lot. So did you gain weight? Yes I went in at like 145 and then at the end of that training I was 160. So was the weight good for you though? Yes so it's definitely all muscle mass that I gained during those. Right and how tall are you Nathaniel? I'm about 6'1". Yeah you're pretty tall for a local brother there that's good so a little weight gain was I mean it's perfect for you look just perfect right now especially in your uniform. Oh yeah okay so how did your family support you while you were there in West Point? They were here they were there but you have some family members there as well. Yes so I have a sister who was in Virginia so I'd go visit her on most breaks so Thanksgiving and then I'd go for Christmas then I had another brother who's in Tennessee so when I was in Alabama for my internship I would go and visit him in Tennessee which was only two hours away. Wow you know that picture if you don't mind putting that back up Rob so that picture I mean that's like your whole family. Yeah so that is my family today with all the niece and nephews on it. Wow that's more than a football team. Yes. Oh you can play against each other and still have a substitute. Now our volleyball teams this is amazing how blessed are you to have that many or that much love in your immediate family. I just want to congratulate your mom and your dad for doing having such a call to to nurture such a family and and like I was asking you you guys all like each other and you get along so that's like I mean and even if 50% of you got along that's still good but you all do and so kudos to your mother and your father for doing such a great job in having those many that many children and then getting along as a family unit. Yeah and earlier we talked about how they inspired me in my early days and then so after I got into West Point all of them started going back to all my sisters started going back to college so it seems like I inspired them. So you know your job is done. I mean right they had you then and they used you as an inspiration but you started with inspiring your family and then even from that point every other kid in ROTC in the YNI program and other programs because I mean if you were here in Hawaii I would put you in front of many organizations and groups just to showcase that anything is possible and all things are possible and so I'm so grateful that you lived up to it and you made that happen. Okay so when was your graduation from West Point? It was May 25th 2019 so just a month ago. Wow okay and so of your family members how many of them came up who came up to be with you on that special day? So two of my sisters were able to make it up with all of their kids and then one of my brothers and then my mom and dad so those are the immediate family members are able to make it up and then we had my auntie and my grandma was able to come up to celebrate with us. Wow special and I see you have your lays there and everything so and but the other graduates the other there were six of you right from Hawaii you said? Yes six so their families also came up to give them lots of aloha. Yes so I went and visited them and then I also spread aloha with the lays that I had so I asked my mom them to bring up lay so I could give to others. Oh special special so I think that's another good recruitment for West Point. Keep bringing the Hawaiian kids up there they bring lots of aloha right yes and they make the whole journey that tough journey a little bit more doable because you guys bring up so much heart and aloha and that's important when you're to to create well-rounded officers I believe right so I I mean I just I when I met you I was so intrigued because I I couldn't get enough of this I mean I'm from wine wine I I'm from my claim to fame you're the first alum from wine I to graduate from West Point well I'm the first kindergarten class at Miami Elementary okay no no comparison but that's that's what I am all about okay so on the next picture you're shown here with this cutie this really cutie kid the next officer coming up in your family so tell us about this picture. Okay yes so this is my youngest nephew so he's four months out in this picture so that's my sister from Virginia that's her youngest boy and so the hat actually is so we no longer keep those white hats so we throw it up for graduation and then the kids are able to go and run up and get those hats and we leave inspirational notes for them and so one of their one of his siblings grabbed that hat and then put it on his head but they leave notes so my niece was actually able to meet the girl that wrote her note. Well I see we learned something new I never knew that oh well that's a tradition long long long tradition of West Point yes and so when you throw up your hat then they give you another one no you're so you're done with those uniforms so you won't wear that hat again anyways so now you wear the officer's hat that you'll see in the last picture. Oh the second lieutenant hat yes wow so that one's even more prideful I should say you've earned this next hat yes definitely okay so that's like a graduation cap you just release it back and it goes to the person who retrieved it and then the next the cadets coming in from freshman year they'll get their own and yes wow what a tradition okay so going up to West Point you're bringing a lot of aloha tell us on your day-to-day life in West Point how did you display aloha while you were there? Yes I shared aloha with mainly my company mates just by you know being daily inspiration and positive vibes there's a lot of negativity that goes on at West Point because of how stressful it is so just being high spirited and then also with those ladies I shared it with not just Hawaiian cadets but also some of the company mates that I made Wow so throughout your your time at West Point you were just a display of aloha with your smile and just your easy-goingness but yet your determination to finish up as an officer as you did wow so on your next picture here what's happening here in this picture okay yes so this is actually my commissioning ceremony so where my parents are able to pin my bars on so those are my second lieutenant bars that they have in their hands so that's officially making me an officer and then my sisters were able to hold the flag in the background so my every family member that came up was able to be a part of my commissioning ceremony and my brother-in-law was actually my first salute because he was in the Marines wow I'm just like I want to just tear up because it's it's it's amazing I just I'm so proud of you and you have no idea that's why I grabbed you and I said you have to be with me and I want to continue the relationship to bring you on when you come back to Hawaii and I want to put you in front of many other students that are just trying to figure out in life what are they wanting to do in life and so Nathaniel congratulations on your hard work your determination and just going forward and being the proud representative that you are from Waianae High School to West Point and back to Hawaii and then the world our prayers go with you daily and we just wish you all the best we love you and we just mahalo you so right now we're just we're going to wrap it up and just say thank you to Nathaniel and the second lieutenant graduate of West Point mahalo